Former three-time congressional candidate Janet Garrett has formed The Jordan Watch Political Action Committee to generate support to unseat Ohio’s District 4 Representative, Jim Jordan. Garrett, a former schoolteacher and Oberlin native, ran against Jordan in 2014, 2016, and 2018. However, she will not be running in 2020, and is instead shifting her energy into this PAC, first announced in a March 5 press release. The goal of the organization will be to “work to expose Jim’s ideology to the people he is supposed to represent.”

This is not the first time Garrett has organized to cultivate opposition to Jim Jordan. In her most recent campaign, she raised more than $900,000 and had over 500 volunteers. The Jordan Watch aims to continue the momentum built over her previous campaigns.

The members of The Jordan Watch believe their organization can help provide resources to candidates who choose to run against Jordan.

“Part one of what we did was [Garrett’s] campaign,” explained Zach Stepp, Garrett’s former campaign manager and new executive director of The Jordan Watch. “I see part two as handing over the fundraising apparatus to her supporters.”

According to Stepp, the Garrett campaign developed over 47 thousand fundraising contacts that could be useful in the next election cycle. He hopes to cultivate active communication between Garrett and the future candidate for the OH-4 seat.

“A lot of times in these congressional races you have a really good campaign [but] there is no hand-off of resources for the next cycle,” Stepp said.

In addition to providing candidates with resources, The Jordan Watch hopes to find and encourage future candidates to run against Jordan.

“We will be working in the short term to recruit qualified candidates on both sides of the aisle to run,” the press release read.

Garrett noted that the individual who runs must be someone who can “serve the needs of the district.” She feels that Jordan has failed in this regard and “has no legislative successes, no initiatives in the district, and … promotes his own agenda [over the needs of his constituents].”

Garrett believes that unseating Jim Jordan is an urgent matter.

“He has a terrible agenda,” she said. “He voted against everything that would put forward women, workers, the elderly, in favor of the Koch brothers’ agenda.”

The Koch brothers are prominent Republican donors who, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, donated $10,000 to Jordan’s 2018 campaign.

Ilana Foggle, former operations fellow for the 2018 Garrett campaign, is excited and supportive of the newly formed PAC.

“Its goals aren’t necessarily Democratic or Republican,” Foggle said. “They are bipartisan. Everyone in the district, no matter their political affiliation, should want better leadership from our district.”

Although Oberlin Democrats were involved in the 2018 Garrett campaign, they are not currently involved with The Jordan Watch.