People in the news

Mary Jo Kilroy

Former U.S. Representative

(GPOaccess.gov)

Why She Matters

In 2006 and then again in 2008, Kilroy was involved in extremely tight House elections that were not decided before more than a month of counting, legal wrangling and state Supreme Court rulings. While she lost the first race by 1,062 votes, a 2,311-vote victory two years later gave her the right to represent Ohio's closely-divided 15th district, which includes portions of Columbus.

After defeating foe Steve Stivers (R) in 2008, she was unable to emerge the victor in a 2010 rematch.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Franklin County Commissioner (2001-2008), Columbus School Board (1992-2000), attorney (1981-1992)
Birthday: April 30, 1949
Hometown: Columbus, Ohio
Alma Mater: B.A. from Cleveland State University (1977), J.D. from Ohio State University (1980)
Spouse: Robert Handelman
Religion: Roman Catholic

Committees: Financial Services Committee, Homeland Security Committee
DC Office: 1237 Longworth HOB: (202) 225-2015
Columbus Office: (614) 294-2196
Email
Web site

Path to Power

After graduating from Cleveland State University 1977 and receiving a law degree from Ohio State University in 1980, Kilroy worked as an attorney for 11 years. She also served as an editor for The Columbus Free Press, a progressive publication. In 1992, she was elected to the Columbus Board of Education, a position she held for two four-year terms.

In 2000, a 1-point victory over state Rep. Bill Schuck (R) got Kilroy on the Franklin County Commission, a three-member board that oversees the 34th most populated county in the country. As both of her fellow commissioners were Republicans, Kilroy initially found herself isolated.

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Yet, Kilroywas in the majority after 2004: On the same day she secured a second term by defeating state Sen. David Goodman (R) in a rough race, Democrats picked-up another seat. Kilroy became the commission's president.

In 2006, Kilroy announced she would challenge incumbent Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio), the fourth-ranking member of the House Republican leadership who was seeking her eighth term.

Kilroy relentlessly tied Pryce to unpopular President George W. Bush. "This race is about a failure of leadership and about a Bush Congress with the wrong priorities," she said. By the fall, Kilroy had edged ahead in polling and Pryce was considered an underdog. Yet, even as Democrats scored dozens of pick-ups across the country that Election Day, Kilroy got left behind: A long count made Pryce the winner by 1,062 votes.

2008 House Race

Kilroy wasted no time before positioning herself for a rematch, but Pryce unexpectedly announced in August 2007 that she would not seek reelection, setting up an open-seat race that looked certain to be competitive.

But it took Republicans a long time to convince a prominent candidate to enter the contest, but they eventually fielded state Sen. Steve Stivers. In an expensive general election, the GOP denounced Kilroy as leaning too far to the left while she attacked Stivers' years as a financial-industry lobbyist and sought to capitalize on the electorate's hostility towards Republicans.

Just as in 2006, Kilroy was believed to be the frontrunner heading into Election Day, but the initial count once again found her trailing her opponent. This time, however, absentee ballots put her on top after a month-long legal battle that required the state Supreme Court's intervention.

On Dec. 7 2008, she came out on top by 2,312 votes. Kilroy benefited from Barack Obama's coattails, which help drive heavy turnout in liberal neighborhoods and African-American precincts, and from the presence on the ballot of two conservative candidates who drew 9 percent of the vote.

Stivers has already announced he will seek a rematch in 2010, and the two rivals continued to do battle throughout 2009.

In 2009, national House Republicans had started airing radio ads attacking Kilroy's record, including going after her vote in for climate change legislation. Kilroy has benefited from a fundraiser headlined by Vice President Joe Biden.

The Issues

Kilroy said she was committed to reigning in spending, cutting budgets and managing the government as though it were a business. Some of her positions on the Franklin County Commission led The Columbus Dispatch to label her a "fiscal conservative." Nonetheless, Kilroy didn't shy away from calling herself a "liberal" or a "progressive."

Kilroy denounced the tax breaks championed by the George W. Bush administration, including cuts to the wealthiest Americans' income tax or the repeal of the estate tax.

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In the House, Kilroy supported Obama's stimulus plan and legislation that allowed bankruptcy judges to restructure mortgages on family homes.

Labor

Kilroy was a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would have make it easier to unionize and is labor's legislative priority. In May 2009, she joined 54 other Democrats in writing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) an open letter denouncing the Panama Free Trade Agreement.

Before joining the House, Kilroy pushed the Franklin County Commission towards labor-friendly policies. She chose a unionized contractor over lower bidders looking to construct a ballpark, and wrote letters to company officials letting them know that she supported their employees' unionization efforts. She also pushed for a "fair share" provision to be included in the contracts of county employees.

Kilroy prioritized issues relating to employment. She successfully sponsored an amendment improving access to scholarships for laid-off workers looking to attend community colleges for retraining. She also took the lead in writing a letter to Chase, co-signed by 41 other lawmakers, in which she asked the bailed-out bank not to move jobs to India.

Health-Care Reform

In November 2009, Kilroy voted in favor of House Democrats' legislation reforming the health-care system. In the months leading up to the vote, she had enthusiastically defended the bill. In particular, she supported the inclusion of a "robust public option" to guarantee private insurance companies face competition. However, she never joined a block of lawmakers that vowed to oppose a bill without a public option.

During the health-care debate, Kilroy focused on the issue of medical debt. She argued that credit ratings should be reformed so that delinquent medical debt does not durably affect a consumer's rating.

National Security

In 2006, Kilroy made her opposition to the Iraq war a focus of her bid to unseat then-Rep. Pryce; for instance, she said that American presence in Iraq is "a calling card for terrorists, a recruiting tool for terrorists."

In June 2009, she voted in favor of a war supplemental bill opposed by 32 Democrats, most of them progressive. Kilroy has also said she would only require authorities looking to wiretap a terrorism suspect seek a warrant after the fact.

Social Issues

A supporter of abortion rights, Kilroy voted against an amendment to the 2009 health-care bill sponsored by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), which toughened limits on public funding for abortion procedures.

While she served on the Franklin County Commission, Kilroy repeatedly opposed resolutions that lent support to the National Day of Prayer; she argued it is an unconstitutional governmental endorsement of one religious group's events.

She also voted against a resolution supporting a constitutional amendment allowing school prayer.

The Network

Kilroy has not joined any of the four ideological groups that divide the Democratic caucus (the Blue Dog Coalition, the New Democrats, the Progressive Caucus and the Populist Caucus).

She has teamed up with fellow Ohio Democrats to work on employment issues. For instance, a letter Kilroy sent to Chase bank to protest potential job displacements was co-signed by Reps. Charlie Wilson, Tim Ryan, Betty Sutton, Dennis Kucinich and Marcy Kaptur. All of them also joined Kilroy in signing a letter opposing the Panama Free Trade Agreement.

Additional Resources

Torry, Jack and Nash, James, "Kilroy, Pryce run neck-and-neck," The Columbus Dispatch, November 2006
Kirkpatrick, David, "Concentration of Competitive Races Puts Ohio at Center of Midterm Battle," New York Times, November 2, 2006
Torry, Jack, "Kilroy defends 'public option'," The Columbus Dispatch, August 20, 2009 and Siegel, Jim and Riskind, Jonathan, "Health-care supporters rally," The Columbus Dispatch, September 2, 2009
Williams, Brian, "Commissioners back prayer in public places," The Columbus Dispatch, February 20, 2002
Nash, James, "Kilroy gets help after last close call", The Columbus Dispatch, October 27, 2009
"Strickland will attend high-speed-rail summit," The Columbus Dispatch, July 26, 2009
Riskind, Jonathan and Wartenberg, Steve, "Expand locally, not in India, Chase urged; Amid rumors, Kilroy, city appealing to bank to invest in America," The Columbus Dispatch, March 18, 2009
Torry, Jack and Nash, James, "Kilroy and Pryce pitch centrist messages," The Columbus Dispatch, September 17, 2006
Rothenberg, Stuart, "For Some Incumbents, Vulnerability Is Already a Fact of Life," Roll Call, September 19, 2009
Hamsher, Jane, "Sorry, can't pass health care bill without a public option," FiredogLake, August 16, 2009
Nash, James, "How did Kilroy do it?" The Columbus Dispatch, December 14, 2008
Roll call vote
Nash, James, "Candidates differ on bailouts, sick days, union cards," The Columbus Dispatch, September 20, 2008
Nash, James, "Kilroy, Stivers trade potshots," The Columbus Dispatch, September 7, 2008
Washington Post Live 2010 Election Results
Vitale, Robert, "Kilroy criticized for letters supporting unionization vote," The Columbus Dispatch, October 7, 2004
Woods, Jim, "Democrat Kilroy has harmonious first year," The Columbus Dispatch, January 7, 2002
Nash, James, "Kilroy attacks Stivers' work as bank lobbyist," The Columbus Dispatch, October 1, 2009
Roll call vote
Kucinich, Jackie, "Ohio Compare And Contrast; Buckeye State Freshmen Display Different Tactics on Reform," Roll Call, September 8, 2009
"Kilroy measure boosts colleges that help jobless," The Columbus Dispatch, September 20, 2009
Roll call vote
Nichanian, Daniel, "In aftermath of cap-and-trade vote, NRCC targets 14 other Democrats," Campaign Diaries, July 2, 2009
Vitale, Robert, "Commissioners, minus Kilroy, support National Day of Prayer," Columbus Dispatch, May 3, 2005
Rowland, Darrell, "Sparks fly as Kilroy, Pryce spar," The Columbus Dispatch, October 13, 2006
Woods, Jim, "Democrat Kilroy has harmonious first year," The Columbus Dispatch, January 7, 2002 and Hallett, Joe, "Kilroy might give Dean essential help," Columbus Dispatch, December 7, 2003
Woods, Jim, "New commissioner anticipates sparks," The Columbus Dispatch, January 2, 2001
"O La La! Kilroy Appears In French Socialist Film," Roll Call, October 2, 2008
Torry, Jack and Nash, James, "Kilroy and Pryce pitch centrist messages," The Columbus Dispatch, September 17, 2006
Nash, James, "Candidates spar on taxes, sick leave," The Columbus Dispatch, September 11, 2008 and Torry, Jack and Nash, James, "Kilroy and Pryce pitch centrist messages," The Columbus Dispatch, September 17, 2006
Nash, James, "Ready to rumble, Pryce calls out Kilroy," Columbus Dispatch, October 20, 2006
Vitale, Robert, "Kilroy, Goodman argue over everything," The Columbus Dispatch, October 5, 2004
Roll call vote