Nickie J. Antonio
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Nickie J. Antonio (born June 2, 1955) is an American politician from Ohio. A
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
, she serves in 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 ...
representing the 23rd district, which is located in the western portion of
Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County ( or ) is a large urban County (United States), county located in the Northeast Ohio, northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the Canada–United States border, U.S.- ...
and contains the western third of Cleveland and some of the nearby western suburbs. She previously served in the Ohio House of Representatives representing the 13th district from 2011 to 2018. A former member of Lakewood City Council, Antonio was elected to the lower chamber of the legislature in 2010 and took office on January 3, 2011, and was re-elected in the 2012 General election, receiving 75% of the vote. She was re-elected consecutively in the General elections of 2014 and 2016. After being term limited in the lower chamber of the legislature, Antonio was elected to the upper chamber of the legislature in 2018 and took office on January 7, 2019.


Early life and career

Antonio attended Lutheran High School West and is an alumna of
Cleveland State University Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in operation since 1923. ...
, where she earned both a Bachelor of Science degree in Education and a
Master of Public Administration The Master of Public Administration (M.P.Adm., M.P.A., or MPA) is a specialized higher professional post graduate degree in public administration, similar/ equivalent to the Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the issues of ...
from the
Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs The Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs (Levin) is an accredited college of urban studies, public administration, urban planning, environmental studies, and nonprofit management at Cleveland State University located in Cleveland, Ohi ...
. In 2011, Antonio completed Harvard University's
John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government as a
David Bohnett David C. Bohnett (born April 2, 1956) is an American philanthropist and technology entrepreneur. He is the founder and chairman of the David Bohnett Foundation, a non-profit, grant-making organization devoted to improving society through social ...
LGBTQ Victory Institute Leadership Fellow. She is a former special education teacher, adjunct professor and non-profit administrator, as well as a former chair of the Cuyahoga Democratic Women's Caucus. Antonio was first elected to Lakewood City Council in 2005, winning an
at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...
seat. She was re-elected in 2009, receiving the most votes in a field of six candidates chasing three seats.


Ohio House of Representatives

Antonio won in the Democratic primary against fellow Lakewood councilmember Tom Bullock. In the primary election held on May 4, 2010, Antonio defeated Bullock by 54% to 46% - a margin of 609 votes. No Republican filed for the seat in the heavily Democratic district so Antonio won the general election unopposed. She took her seat in the House on January 3, 2011. In the 129th General Assembly, she served on five committees: Finance and Appropriations, HHS Finance Subcommittee, Commerce, Labor and Technology, Education (as Ranking Member), and Health and Aging. She also serves on the Unified Long-Term Care Advisory Workgroup, the 21st Century Manufacturing Task Force and the Community Health Futures Task Force. Antonio won a landslide victory reelection to a second term in 2012, by obtaining 75,86% of the vote over Republican John Zappalla. She would go on to be re-elected two more times.


Policies and initiatives

In one of her first legislative priorities along with
Ted Celeste Theodore S. "Ted" Celeste (born September 27, 1945) is an American businessman and former politician. He is a member of the Democratic Party. After serving in the Peace Corps, Celeste, the brother of former Ohio governor and U.S. ambassador Dick ...
, Antonio introduced legislation to eliminate 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 ...
in the state of Ohio. Celeste has pointed to evidence that the penalty has been discriminatory toward minorities. Antonio is a staunch opponent of S.B. 5, which looks to eliminate many aspects of collective bargaining. When asked if she would work to amend the bill, she stated it is beyond repair. Along with Mike Foley, Antonio introduced a Works Progress Administration-style provision that would allow for $200 million to be appropriated to allow for the creation of 5,000 entry-level jobs across Ohio. Antonio calls it a jobs plan that would help to stimulate the economy. Pro-choice, Antonio has fought against numerous anti-reproductive choice initiatives since becoming a state representative.


Personal

Antonio is the first openly gay person to have served in the
Ohio General Assembly The Ohio General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio. It consists of the 99-member Ohio House of Representatives and the 33-member Ohio Senate. Both houses of the General Assembly meet at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus ...
, and a long-time advocate of same-sex marriage rights. After a 21 year engagement, she was finally able to marry Jean Kosmac in 2013. The couple have two daughters.


References


External links


The Ohio Senate: Sen. Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood)
''official site''
Nickie Antonio for State Senate
''campaign website'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Antonio, Nickie Living people 1955 births People from Lakewood, Ohio Lesbian politicians LGBT state legislators in Ohio Cleveland State University alumni Democratic Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives Democratic Party Ohio state senators Women state legislators in Ohio 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians