Don Leonard

Don Leonard describes the weeks after his daughter's birth in 2025 as a time of caring for his family and supplying the music for father and daughter dance parties.¹ He says thinking about the country she would inherit helped persuade him and his wife that he should enter politics.¹

Leonard grew up with a single mother and experienced poverty and homelessness.¹ After college, he spent two years in the Peace Corps in South America.¹ He met his wife while doing postdoctoral work at Tulane University, and both later taught at Ohio State.¹ He taught city and regional planning before launching his congressional campaign.¹²

His campaign emphasizes changing the role of money in politics, including a constitutional amendment addressing corporate and foreign lobbying money.² He says he refuses corporate PAC contributions and supports restricting congressional stock trading while allowing diversified investments.²

Leonard supports reproductive rights and more support for public schools, including special education and programs outside regular school hours.² He questions data center developments that strain local land, electricity and water resources, while distinguishing those objections from opposition to every project.² His printed November opponents are Republican Mike Carey, Libertarian Brennan Barrington and Gary Josephson.³