Charleta B. Tavares is a former member of the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the se ...

. She represented the 15th District from 2011 to 2018. Her district included much of central Franklin County, including the cities of

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and Grandview Heights with the majority encompassing the historic neighborhoods of

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. Tavares previously had served in the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

from 1993 to 1998.

Life and career

Tavares has an extensive public service career starting as the Legislative Assistant to Ray Miller in the Ohio House of Representatives. She also served as Chief of the Children's Protection Section for

Ohio Attorney General The Ohio Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state, State of Ohio in the United States. The office is filled by general election, held every four years. The Ohio Attorney General is Republican Dave Yost. History The office ...

Lee Fisher Lee Irwin Fisher (born August 7, 1951) is an American attorney, politician, and academic. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 64th lieutenant governor of Ohio, with Governor Ted Strickland, from 20 ...

prior to her appointment in 1993, as state Representative and the first African-American and Democratic woman to serve in the Legislature from Franklin County in the state's history. Tavares was elected in 1994 and served until 1998. She was elected by her colleagues in 1996 to serve as

Minority Whip The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding t ...

, making her the first African-American woman ever to hold a leadership position in the Ohio Legislature. In 1998, Tavares gave up her seat to run unsuccessfully for

Ohio Secretary of State The Secretary of State of Ohio is an elected statewide official in the State of Ohio. The Secretary of state is responsible for overseeing elections in the state; registering business entities (corporations, etc.) and granting them the author ...

. The Republican,

J. Kenneth Blackwell John Kenneth Blackwell (born February 28, 1948) is an American politician, author, and Conservatism in the United States, conservative activist who served as the mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio (1979–80), the Ohio State Treasurer (1994–99), and Ohi ...

won the election. However, Tavares was appointed to

Columbus City Council The Columbus City Council is the lawmaking body of Columbus, Ohio. It has 7 members who are elected at-large. It meets in the City Council Chambers located on the second floor of Columbus City Hall. Starting in the 2023 election, City Council w ...

in 1999, and won re-election that year. Tavares was asked by the Democratic Party in 2002 to run as lieutenant governor with her running mate,

Tim Hagan Timothy Hagan (born March 18, 1946) is an American politician who served as Cuyahoga County Commissioner and other local offices from the 1980s through 2000s, and was his party's nominee for the governorship of Ohio in 2002. Early life Hagan was ...

who was nominated to run for governor. They lost the election. She won re-election to City Council in 2003 and 2007.

Ohio Senate

In 2010, Senator Ray Miller was term limited and unable to run for another term in the

. As a result, Tavares, Representative Dan Stewart, and politician novice Oyango Snell ran to replace him. Tavares won the Democratic primary nomination with 52.39% of the vote. She went on to defeat Republican Alicia Healy with 72.8% of the vote. On January 3, 2011, Tavares was sworn into her first term in the Senate and once again became both the first Democratic and African-American woman to serve in the Ohio Senate from Central Ohio. She is also the first woman Democrat to serve in leadership in both the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate in Ohio's history. In 2014, Tavares was elected as Assistant Senate Democratic Leader. She was re-elected to the Senate 15th District in 2014 with over 73% of the vote. She was also re-elected to her leadership post. Tavares's legislative agenda includes providing benefits and protections for domestic workers, eliminating health disparities, eliminating disparities caused by school expulsions and suspensions, investing in Ohio's infrastructure, and creating equity and racial fairness in the judicial system. She has been an advocate for raising the

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...

, and for a refundable

earned income tax credit The United States federal earned income tax credit or earned income credit (EITC or EIC) is a refundable tax credit for low- to moderate-income working individuals and couples, particularly those with children. The amount of EITC benefit depends ...

Committee assignments

Committee on Rules; Ways & Means (Ranking Member); Health and Human Services (Ranking Member); Finance; and Corrections Subcommittee (Finance). She was also appointed to the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR), Joint Medicaid Oversight Committee (JMOC), and the Constitutional Modernization Commission (co-chair).

Electoral history

References

External links

Campaign website, Tavares4senate.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tavares, Charleta B. Women state legislators in Ohio Living people Democratic Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives Democratic Party Ohio state senators Year of birth missing (living people) Politicians from Columbus, Ohio 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians African-American people in Ohio politics 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians