Theodore S. "Ted" Celeste (born September 27, 1945) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

businessman and former politician. He is a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

. After serving in the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...

, Celeste, the brother of former Ohio governor and U.S. ambassador

Dick Celeste Richard Frank Celeste (born November 11, 1937) is an American former diplomat, university administrator and politician from Ohio. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 64th governor of Ohio from 1983 to 1991. Early life and career C ...

, ran for the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

in 2000 and lost to the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

incumbent

Mike DeWine Richard Michael DeWine (; born January 5, 1947) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 70th and current governor of Ohio. A member of the Republican Party, DeWine began his career as a prosecutor before being elected to the O ...

. In 2006, Celeste was elected State Representative of Ohio's 24th District, and served until 2012.

Early life, education, and business career

After graduating from the

College of Wooster The College of Wooster is a private liberal arts college in Wooster, Ohio. Founded in 1866 by the Presbyterian Church as the University of Wooster, it has been officially non-sectarian since 1969 when ownership ties with the Presbyterian Church ...

, Celeste and his wife taught school in

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

via the Peace Corps. Following that, he served as acting chief of the Bureau of Consumer Services in the Ohio Department of Public Welfare and then in the Ohio Department of Finance. A former real estate developer, Celeste helped chair Governor and brother

's gubernatorial campaigns

Ted Strickland Theodore Strickland (born August 4, 1941) is an American politician who was the 68th governor of Ohio, serving from 2007 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the United States House of Representatives, representing ...

's 2006 gubernatorial campaign. Celeste also served for nine years on The

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

Board of Trustees.

2000 U.S. Senate election

He ran for the

for the seat held by Republican U.S. Senator

. In the Democratic primary, he defeated perennial candidate Marvin McMickle, former State Representative

Richard Cordray Richard Adams Cordray (born May 3, 1959) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the COO of Federal Student Aid in the United States Department of Education. He served as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFP ...

, and activist Daniel Radakovich 44%-24%-24%-8%. He won all but five counties:

Pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

Pickaway Pickaway County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,539. Its county seat is Circleville. Its name derives from the Pekowi band of Shawnee Indians, who inhabited the area. (See List of Ohio county ...

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

, and Cuyahoga counties. Cordray defeated Celeste in his home county (Franklin) 49%-34%. In the general election, DeWine won re-election to a second term by defeating Celeste by a landslide 60%-36%, while Republican Governor

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

defeated Democratic Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

in Ohio 50%-47%.

Ohio House of Representatives

Elections

In 2006, incumbent Republican Geoffrey C. Smith was seen as vulnerable, and Celeste entered the Ohio House race to try and unseat him. However, despite his name recognition, Celeste faced a four-way primary in 2006. He ended up winning 67% of the electorate. In the general election of that year, Republicans began to run negatively against Celeste, yet he vowed to stay positive in his campaigning. In the end, Celeste ended up defeating Smith, winning by about 4,300 votes. Early on in the 2008 cycle, Celeste was in considerations for leadership if the House were to go into Democratic hands. However, he faced strong opposition for caucus leader from

Todd Book Todd Book is a former Democratic member of the Ohio House of Representatives who was first elected in 2002. He served the 89th House District, which includes all of Scioto County, the western half of Lawrence County and the eastern half of Adam ...

and

Armond Budish Armond D. Budish ( ; b. Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 1953) is an American politician currently serving in his second term as Cuyahoga County Executive. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a four-term Ohio State Representative (8th dist ...

. In the 2008 general election Republicans looked to take back the district, and fielded attorney Timothy Rankin to take on Celeste. Celeste won a second term by around 9,000 votes. Less vulnerable in 2010 but still contentious, Celeste faced Republican Nathan Larger. However, the race proved to be closer than anticipated, and Celeste won by less than 3,000 votes.

Tenure

In the end, Budish defeated Celeste, Book, and

Matt Szollosi Matthew A. "Matt" Szollosi (; born June 4, 1972) is a former Democratic member of the Ohio House of Representatives, representing Toledo and Lucas County. As of 2022, he is executive director of Affiliated Construction Trades Ohio, an organiz ...

to take the Speaker position. Celeste was vocal about concerns regarding a bill to replace overtime with comp time. "I think we've gone in the wrong direction," he said before voting against the bill. Along with

Nickie Antonio Nickie J. Antonio (born June 2, 1955) is an American politician from Ohio. A Democrat, she serves in the Ohio Senate representing the 23rd district, which is located in the western portion of Cuyahoga County and contains the western third of Clev ...

, Celeste has introduced legislation to end the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. Celeste has cited the financial burden that death row brings to the taxpayers, and that there should be a discussion on the death penalty included in the upcoming budget deliberations. Celeste has pointed to evidence that the penalty has been discriminatory toward minorities. Celeste has stated that he believes Republicans have embarked upon a "

starve the beast "Starve the beast" is a political strategy employed by American conservatives to limit government spending by cutting taxes, to deprive the federal government of revenue in a deliberate effort to force it to reduce spending. The term "the beast ...

" strategy, with their main intent being to hurt the future financial support of the Democratic Party with Senate Bill 5, and the voter-ID bill will make it harder for the traditional base to collect votes. He also stated the influence they will be able to gain through

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

. With

Andrew Brenner Andrew O. Brenner (born January 14, 1971) is a U.S. Republican party politician and member of the Ohio Senate, currently serving his second term for the 19th Senate District. Biography In 2010, former Representative Kris Jordan moved to the Ohi ...

, Celeste has sponsored a bill that aims to support children with

dyslexia Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

. His legislation sought to demonstrate and evaluate the effectiveness of early reading assistance programs for children with dyslexia and to evaluate whether those programs can reduce future special education costs.

Committee assignments

He was named Chairman of the House Alternative Energy Committee, and the Higher Education Subcommittee of the House Finance and Appropriations Committee. Currently, he serves on the committees of Health and Aging; Economic and Small Business Development; Education; and State Government and Elections.

2012 congressional election

In November 2011, he decided to retire from the Ohio House to run for the newly redrawn

Ohio's 3rd congressional district Ohio's 3rd congressional district is located entirely in Franklin County and includes most of the city of Columbus. The current district lines were drawn in 2011, following the redistricting based on the 2010 census. It is currently represent ...

, based in

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

. Celeste placed last out of four contenders.http://vote.franklincountyohio.gov/assets/pdf/2012/primary/un-sum-fconly.pdf

References

External links

The Ohio House of Representatives: Rep. Ted Celeste (D-Grandview Heights)
''official site'' *
Notable Former Volunteers / Education
. Peace Corps official site. Accessed 5 January 2007. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Celeste, Ted Peace Corps volunteers Democratic Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives Living people 1945 births American expatriates in Fiji 21st-century American politicians People from Lakewood, Ohio People from Grandview Heights, Ohio Candidates in the 2000 United States elections