Thomas A. Raga (born 1965) is an American business executive and former politician of the Republican Party who represented the 67th district (

Warren County Warren County is the name of fourteen counties in the USA. Some are named after General Joseph Warren, who was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War: * Warren County, Georgia * Warren County, Illinois * Warren County ...

) 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 ...

. In February 2006, he was named by

Ken Blackwell John Kenneth Blackwell (born February 28, 1948) is an American politician, author, and conservative activist who served as the mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio (1979–80), the Ohio State Treasurer (1994–99), and Ohio Secretary of State (1999–2007). ...

as his running mate in the May 2, 2006, primary for

governor of Ohio A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

. Blackwell and Raga won the Republican nomination, but lost the November general election to

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 ...

and

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 ...

60-36%.

Political career

A native of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Raga graduated from

Moeller High School Moeller High School ( ), known as Moeller, is a private, all-male, college-preparatory high school in the suburbs of Cincinnati, in Hamilton County, Ohio. It is currently one of four all-male Catholic high schools in the Cincinnati area. Histo ...

in 1984 and from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

received a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in agricultural economics. Raga moved to

Deerfield Township, Warren County, Ohio Deerfield Township, one of the eleven townships of Warren County, Ohio, United States, is located in the southwest corner of the county and is part of the Cincinnati, Ohio MSA. The population, according to the latest American Community Survey (2017 ...

in October 1995. Raga's first elective office was as a trustee of Deerfield Township, elected on November 4, 1997, by defeating long-time incumbent Bob Carter. In the three-way race for two seats, the results were 2,338 (33.65%) for Raga, 2,480 (35.69%) for Larry Backus, and 2,130 (30.66%) for Carter. He served from January 1, 1998, to his resignation in December 2000. (Barbara Wilkens Reed was appointed his successor.) On March 7, 2000, he won a three-way primary against attorney and former Mason mayor Betty Davis and Clearcreek Township trustee Ed Wade to replace Republican state representative George E. Terwilleger, who was forced to retire because of Ohio's term limits. Both Davis and Wade had lost the 1992 Republican primary to Terwilleger for the open seat. Raga wrote in the ''

Dayton Daily News The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately ...

'' he was running because

We all know the issues affecting our daily lives, including: education dilemmas with inequitable and insufficient funding, meaningful achievement standards and learning in an environment free from fear; health-care issues affecting the affordability, accessibility and quality of care; and controlled and balanced growth issues involving expansion of infrastructure while maintaining green space and our own unique community standards and way of life.

The ''

'' wrote "Mr. Raga, a Deerfield Township trustee, calls for lower taxes and putting families first on Ohio's agenda. He favors local control of schools and basic education. But he is short on details about how he, as a state representative, would accomplish those goals" and endorsed Davis. Davis had the backing of former Warren County representative Corwin M. Nixon, Terwilleger's predecessor and Republican leader in the Ohio House for years. Raga campaigned hard in northern Warren County and had the support of the Warren County Right-to-life organization. Raga spent $50,000 on the primary. The results were 11,875 votes (45.32%) for Raga, 9,432 (35.99%) for Davis, and 4,898 (18.69%) for Wade. On November 7, 2000, he was elected State Representative for the Second District, which comprised all of Warren County. In the general election, Raga faced landscaper Richard J. Inskeep, 42, of Mason. Inskeep had previously lost races for the Mason city council and the Seventh Senate District, losing to Richard H. Finan. Inskeep told ''

The Cincinnati Enquirer ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, alth ...

'' "I'm not looking at beating Tom Raga. I'm looking at putting the issues out on the table that I think are important." The ''

'' endorsed Raga, saying "He is a more proven quantity", unlike Inskeep, who "has no experience in government and little in community leadership." Raga easily defeated Inskeep in the heavily Republican county 48,498 (75.39%) to 15,833 (24.61%). Raga raised over $120,000 for his 2000 campaign. After redistricting, Warren County was split into two districts. Raga's district became the Sixty-seventh and comprised about two-thirds of Warren County including all of

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 ...

, Clearcreek, and Turtlecreek Townships, and the western part of Deerfield Township, plus all of the cities of

and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

; the Warren County portions of the cities of

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

, Springboro, Monroe and Middletown; and most of the city of

Mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cut ...

. Since his election in 2000, Raga has been re-elected without opposition in every primary and general election.

Business career

After leaving political office, Raga continued his public service at Sinclair Community College as Senior Director of Regional Strategy and Development where he worked in the president's office on college-wide policy, tactics and its expansion to a Warren County Learning Center. In 2008 Raga was promoted to Vice President of Advancement, where he led the college staff focused on relationships and resources. The division includes the offices of foundation, grants, alumni affairs, public policy and entrepreneurial investments. In 2010, Raga joined The Dayton Power and Light Company as director of government relations. Raga also worked as vice president of external relations before being named president and CEO in 2015. As president, Raga oversaw Dayton Power and Light's transition to a regulated electric transmission and distribution company. The process included state and federal regulatory decisions addressing the separation of DP&L's generation assets to a subsidiary and the filing of DP&L's third electric security plan (ESP). In 2018, Raga was named vice president of DPL Inc. whose principal subsidiaries include The Dayton Power and Light Company, Miami Valley Lighting, Inc. and AES Ohio Generation, LLC. Raga also serves as executive director of The Dayton Power and Light Company Foundation.

Personal

Raga is married to Jean M. Raga, a real estate agent with Sibcy Cline Realtors. They have two children.

References

*Kevin Aldridge. "Statehouse race poses uphill battle for Democrat Inskeep." ''

''. March 19, 2000. B5. *Lawrence Budd. "Raga Unapologetic About War Chest: Campaign coffer in state race tops $120,000." ''

''. October 27, 2000. 1B. *"Betty Davis Best Choice in 2nd House District." (Editorial). ''

''. February 17, 2000. 16A. *Tom Raga. "2nd Ohio House District: GOP." ''

''. February 17, 2000. 16A. *"Raga Best Choice for 2nd District." (Editorial) ''

''. October 26, 2000. 16A. *Richelle Thompson. "2nd District up for grabs." ''

''. January 8, 2000. B1. *Howard Wilkinson. "Blackwell picks Raga: State representative from Mason joins campaign for governor." ''

''. February 6, 2006. C1.

External links

Official websiteOfficial Blackwell for Governor site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raga, Tom 1965 births Living people Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni Republican Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives Politicians from Cincinnati People from Warren County, Ohio 21st-century American politicians