Capri Silvestri Cafaro (born November 21, 1977) is a former Democratic 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 t ...

, representing the 32nd District from 2007 to 2016. From the

Mahoning Valley The Youngstown–Warren, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area, typically known as the Mahoning Valley, is a metropolitan area in Northeast Ohio with Youngstown, Ohio, at its center. According to the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau, ...

, Cafaro served three terms as an Ohio State Senator (2007 to 2016), including a stint as Minority Leader from 2009 to 2012. Her district included all of Trumbull County, Ashtabula County and portions of Geauga County (including the City of Chardon; but excluding Chardon Township). She is a TV personality, appearing as a contributor on

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, primarily as a semi-regular co-host of the afternoon talk show '' Outnumbered''.

Early life, family and education

Cafaro was born and raised in

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...

. Her father is

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

developer John Cafaro. She is of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

descent. She attended Youngstown private schools Kennedy School and then Ursuline High School at age 12. By age 19, she graduated from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

with a BA in American Studies and from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

with a MALS in International Studies.

Career

Cafaro served on the Trumbull County Senior Services Advisory Council and was a State Policy Liaison for Ohio with the National Patient Advocate Foundation. She was also a State Advocate Representative for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare and served as a councilor for the Medicare Rights Center. Cafaro has also acted as an Economic Policy Associate for Global Action on Aging, an NGO with consultative status at the United Nations. As a political novice, Cafaro won a surprise victory in the 2004 Democratic primary for Ohio's 14th congressional district, topping a five-candidate field, which included 2002 nominee Dale V. Blanchard, columnist Herb Hammer, U.S. Marine Charles L. Wolfe, and Ohio state Rep. Ed Jerse (who received the endorsement of the '' Akron Beacon Journal'' newspaper). Cafaro polled 54% of the vote, while Jerse, the second-place finisher, managed 19%. In the general election, however, she lost to Republican Steve LaTourette. Cafaro again ran for the Democratic nomination in the open 13th Congressional District in 2006, placing second in a nine-candidate primary, behind future Congresswoman

Betty Sutton Betty Sue Sutton (born July 31, 1963) is an American politician who currently serves as a Judge of Ohio's 9th District Court of Appeals. She previously served as a U.S. Representative for from 2007 to 2013. She is a member of the Democratic Par ...

. That seat was vacated by U.S. Representative

Sherrod Brown Sherrod Campbell Brown ( ; born November 9, 1952) is an American politician who served from 2007 to 2025 as a United States senator from Ohio. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for from 1993 to 2007 and the 47t ...

, Democrat who replaced Republican

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

Mike DeWine Richard Michael DeWine ( ; born January 5, 1947) is an American politician and attorney serving as the 70th List of governors of Ohio, governor of Ohio since 2019. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served a ...

in the U.S. Senate after defeating him on November 7, 2006. As of 2017, Cafaro was the Executive in Residence at

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

's School of Public Affairs and gave commentary on political events as a contributor on

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

Ohio Senate

In 2007, Cafaro was appointed to the 32nd District of the

to replace Marc Dann after Dann won the

Ohio Attorney General The Ohio attorney general is the chief legal officer of the 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 of the att ...

's race on November 7, 2006. One year after becoming a member of the Ohio General Assembly, Cafaro secured a leadership position as the assistant minority whip for the Senate Democrats. In 2008, Cafaro was elected to her first full term after running unopposed in the general election. Soon after, she was elected Minority Leader by her colleagues for the 128th General Assembly. Cafaro again served as Minority Leader in the 129th General Assembly. Cafaro would serve as Leader for three years until she stepped down and was replaced in 2012 as Ohio Senate Minority Leader by Senator Eric Kearney. She won a second full term to her Senate seat in the 2012 general election, defeating Republican Nancy McArthur 67% to 33%. Cafaro played a prominent role in the Medicaid expansion efforts in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, and has sought to codify the expansion permanently in Ohio law. She has offered legislation numerous times to do so. Cafaro did not seek reelection to the Ohio state senate in 2016 due to term limits.

Election history

References

External links