The Shelby County Democratic Party has finalized a new platform and is going to share it with area residents at the Shelby County Fair next week.

The Party held a platform convention in early June to come up with a list of values and issues it supports. Volunteers will be distributing flyers with the platform at the fair, along with details on the Party’s revamped website and social media accounts.

“Democrats in these red counties in the Midwest, not just Shelby County, but many counties, were in hiding,” Shelby County Democratic chairman Chris Gibbs said. “So I want them to stand up and say, ‘This is why I’m a Democrat,’ and for people to know why they’re associated with the Democratic Party.”

Voters in rural parts of Ohio and the Midwest have leaned more heavily toward Republican candidates in recent decades, and to a greater degree since former President Trump became involved in politics before the 2016 election.

Gibbs, who left the Republican Party in 2018, said he researched local election results in the 1980’s and 90’s to find out how many elected officials in the era were affiliated with the Democratic Party.

“You had all the typical names, whether it was whether it was Billing, whether it was Meininger, whether it was Becker, all of those traditional names,” Gibbs said. “What were the values of those people, what were the values of those people that got them elected with over 50 percent many times in countywide races?

“In the past couple decades, Democrats have been framed as very far to the left and outside of what folks in the Midwest, what folks in Shelby County, believe is their core values.

“… My hypothesis was that the values that those candidates in Shelby County held 20, 30 years ago are no different than the values that Shelby County Democrats hold today. So I said, ‘Alright, I’m going to prove it.’”

Gibbs sent invitations to the platform convention to about 550 people who had voted with a Democratic ballot in primaries last March and in 2022. About 55 people showed up for the convention.

Gibbs said there were two questions he posed to participants: what are your values, and have they changed in the last two decades?

“We got them thinking, and we wanted to know what they believe and why they’re a Democrat,” Gibbs said. “They didn’t have trouble necessarily with the values part, but they had a heck of a time saying why they were Democrat.

“I said, ‘All right, now I suspected that. I said, ‘Here, I’ll help you. I still make it easy for you.’ I said, ‘If you don’t know why you’re a Democrat, you’re not going to be able to answer the guy at the Walmart with his index finger in your chest. Why are you a Democrat? You need to be able to answer that. That’s part of standing up and being brave and getting out from hiding.’

“I’m involved in the arts, and I compared it to when they were in school and did a sculpture. You had a lump of clay, make a bird out of it, or make a coffee cup out of it. You don’t know what to do. Just chip away everything that’s not a coffee cup. I told them, ‘We’ll do the same thing here. Then tell me why you’re not a Republican.’ Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. All the answers came very quickly at that point.”

Gibbs said the participants were separated into smaller groups during the platform convention, and values and policies from each were used in crafting a platform for the County Party. Ohio Rep. Joe Miller, D-Amherst, came to the convention and helped moderate the discussion; he is involved in a movement called Democrats 101.

Shelby County Democratic Party officials codified the platform in late June. Officials designed a flyer that volunteers will hand out during the Fair next week.

One side contains values listed under “what we believe.” Among the values listed on the card is that the constitution “is the supreme law of the land,” that a government’s role is “to protect freedoms and opportunities,” and that “individuals’ freedoms shall be protected.”

Another side contains policies listed under “what we support.” Among the policies listed are “a woman’s right to manage her healthcare free from political interference,” “access to quality, affordable and comprehensive healthcare,” and “responsible gun ownership and the right to bear arms.”

“Democrats have had terrible trouble in rural America. They’ve not been able to communicate. Part of it is they haven’t showed up for two decades,” Gibbs said.

“… Many people are values voters. They vote on values, not policy. The Democratic Party has to demonstrate that they have shared values with the voter, the legacy Republicans and the undeclared.

“… You can’t talk policy. What Democrats always want to do is to talk policy. They want to show up and start talking policy. Doesn’t make any difference. I don’t hear you if you’re talking policy, if I don’t trust you, I don’t trust that we share values.”

Gibbs said that the Shelby County Democratic Party will use the platform as a guide when issuing statements or endorsing candidates or issues.

“There’s nobody else in the state doing this. to this extent,” Gibbs said. “We have built this ourselves from the ground up. We have built this for Shelby County.

“… The cavalry’s not coming from the high Democratic Party or the DNC to rebuild the brand in a county like Shelby County. We’ve got to do it ourselves in Shelby County, Ohio. So that’s what we’ve done. We’re going to shout it from the rooftops.”

Reach Sidney Daily News editor Bryant Billing at 937-538-4822, or follow @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook or @TopBillingSport on X (Twitter).