Many assumed that if Richard Cordray quit the CFPB to run for Ohio governor, other Democratic candidates would step aside. That doesn’t seem to be the case
Even before Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray announced that he would leave his position at the end of this month, it was widely speculated that he would resign from the CFPB before his term ended in order to run for Ohio governor. Now that Cordray has officially confirmed his impending departure, that speculation has kicked into overdrive.
“I can’t think of any other reason for him to announce that he is leaving his job at the end of the month unless he is going to come back to Ohio to run for governor,” Tim Burke, chairman of the Hamilton County, Ohio, Democratic Party, told WOSU Public Media.
But another widely held assumption may not be accurate – that if Cordray decided to run, the other four Democratic hopefuls for the governor’s mansion would get out of the way. Cordray, a former attorney general for the state, has a good case for a successful candidacy. But political analyst Kyle Kondik told WOMU that he’s not sure Cordray’s candidacy is a sure thing.
While the other candidates have been running for most of the year, Cordray has yet to even officially declare his candidacy – something election law prohibits while he holds a position in the executive branch. That means other Democrats have already made inroads that Cordray hasn’t.
“He’s getting in a little too late to win this by acclamation,” Kondik told WOMU.
And the other Democratic candidates for the office don’t seem inclined to step out of the way for Cordray. Within hours of the announcement of his resignation, in fact, three out of the four candidates had attacked Cordray for walking away from the CFPB, according to WOMU.
Gubernatorial candidate Connie Pillich put out a statement saying that it was “disheartening and disappointing that my friend, Richard Cordray, would abandon his role of protecting our nation’s consumers by turning over this critical agency to Donald Trump.”
Related stories:
Richard Cordray’s last act as CFPB head
Trump eyeing Mulvaney as temporary CFPB director
“I can’t think of any other reason for him to announce that he is leaving his job at the end of the month unless he is going to come back to Ohio to run for governor,” Tim Burke, chairman of the Hamilton County, Ohio, Democratic Party, told WOSU Public Media.
But another widely held assumption may not be accurate – that if Cordray decided to run, the other four Democratic hopefuls for the governor’s mansion would get out of the way. Cordray, a former attorney general for the state, has a good case for a successful candidacy. But political analyst Kyle Kondik told WOMU that he’s not sure Cordray’s candidacy is a sure thing.
While the other candidates have been running for most of the year, Cordray has yet to even officially declare his candidacy – something election law prohibits while he holds a position in the executive branch. That means other Democrats have already made inroads that Cordray hasn’t.
“He’s getting in a little too late to win this by acclamation,” Kondik told WOMU.
And the other Democratic candidates for the office don’t seem inclined to step out of the way for Cordray. Within hours of the announcement of his resignation, in fact, three out of the four candidates had attacked Cordray for walking away from the CFPB, according to WOMU.
Gubernatorial candidate Connie Pillich put out a statement saying that it was “disheartening and disappointing that my friend, Richard Cordray, would abandon his role of protecting our nation’s consumers by turning over this critical agency to Donald Trump.”
Related stories:
Richard Cordray’s last act as CFPB head
Trump eyeing Mulvaney as temporary CFPB director
