![]() Wade nationally, adding more transparency to campaign finance “to report in real time and make it clear who is buying your representative,” and gun reform. If elected to Congress, Esrati said his top priorities will be restoring the abortion protections of Roe v. My business involves working with people,” he said. Montgomery County Democratic Party Chairman Mohamed Al-Hamdani said there was no official reason Esrati wasn’t endorsed and that party members all had their own reasons for voting not to endorse anyone in that race.Įsrati noted his work as president of his neighborhood organization and forming community and business groups as examples of connecting people and getting things done. “The Democratic Party in Montgomery County is only interested in keeping their friends and family in power,” he said. Esrati raised $13,958 and was left with $2,750.Įsrati said Turner is backed by billionaires and he expected local, state and national Democratic organizations to support him financially as they had other Turner challengers when the district was less winnable by a Democrat. The most recent Federal Election Commission data says Turner raised $1.1 million from January through June, and ended the reporting period with $583,444 on hand. Turner holds a substantial fundraising advantage. And he says he advocated for a project to bring low-income housing for veterans to Dayton.Ĭongressional redistricting made the 10th congressional district more competitive than in previous elections. Turner is working this year to get legislation through Congress - which has gotten President Biden’s support - that would restore pensions for salaried Delphi retirees. “All of these are projects that I’ve both been active in and assisted in providing funding and assistance,” he said. Turner said he is proud of work done on behalf of WPAFB, but he has provided other benefits for his district as well in recent years: funding for the redevelopment of the Salem Mall area, the Mound in Miamisburg, On Main in Dayton, and the West Carrollton riverfront. The library settled for $35,000, which Esrati says he used to start Reconstructing Dayton, an organization advocating consolidating area governments to increase efficiency and decrease waste in local government.Įsrati has stayed an unrelenting critic of Turner, saying Turner “has been bought, sold and paid for by the military industrial complex,” and isn’t accessible to voters.Īsked if this race was personal for him, Turner said: “My opponent has a history of assaulting the community, and his own personal record has resulted in the Democratic party refusing to endorse him.” In 2018, Esrati sued the Dayton Metro Library after a security guard there kicked him out of the downtown branch for taking photos. He has sued the Montgomery County Board of Elections and Dayton Public Schools alleging Open Meetings Act violations. He currently has an open Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Justice seeking investigative records from an investigation into corruption by multiple Dayton officials. Turner said he was worried about public safety, according to Dayton Daily News archives.Įsrati sued the city for $1 million and settled for $100,000 in 1998 after courts ruled that the arrest violated Esrati’s right to free speech.Įsrati has since used the courts to take on other entities. Esrati wore the mask to protest proposed limits to public comment at meetings. He ran successfully in 2002 for the congressional seat vacated by Democrat Tony Hall and has been re-elected ever since.Įsrati’s most famous confrontation with Turner came in 1996, when Esrati was arrested after Turner had him removed from a Dayton city commission meeting for wearing a ninja mask. Turner beat out Dixon and served as mayor until 2001, when he was unseated by Rhine McLin. They were among five people trying to unseat Dayton Mayor Clay Dixon, with whom Esrati got into a fight after a candidates forum that made news, according to newspaper archives. The two faced off politically for the first time in 1993. “For 20 years, (voters) have had somebody who was chosen for them, who doesn’t meet with them, who doesn’t represent them,” Esrati said in an interview. His activism includes lawsuits challenging local government actions. His blog reflects his willingness to be confrontational. He has run for several political offices but never won. ![]() “You can’t drive through this district and not see some area in which I have impacted the community,” he said.Įsrati is an Army veteran and owner of a marketing firm. In an interview with this newspaper, Turner touted his impact on the region during his time in Congress.
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