Ohio
Meet the libertarian drag queen running for Congress in northwest Ohio
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It started with a Facebook post.
David Gedert − also known as the drag queen Sugar Vermonte − criticized Republican state Rep. Josh Williams on the page for his Toledo food truck, Maybe Cheese Born With It. Williams, who is running for Congress in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, has sponsored legislation to criminalize certain drag performances.
The Lucas County Libertarian Party responded, “SUGAR FOR CONGRESS!” And a campaign was born.
Gedert announced that he’s running as a libertarian in the 9th District, which includes Toledo and swaths of northwest Ohio. Current Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur, the longest serving woman in Congress, faces an uphill battle after lawmakers made the district more Republican in the latest round of redistricting.
Williams, former state Rep. Derek Merrin and Air Force veteran Alea Nadeem will face off in the GOP primary in May.
“The two-party system that pretends to work for us is ridiculous,” Gedert told the statehouse bureau. “We have to stop pretending that it’s working. We all recognize that it’s broken in one way or another, but someone has to stand up.”
Who is David Gedert, a.k.a. Sugar Vermonte?
Gedert grew up in a Detroit suburb, but he moved to Toledo at age 17 after both of his parents died. His resume includes a bit of everything: drag queen, Realtor, McDonald’s corporate manager and paraeducator for children with autism.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Gedert said, he bought a camper and some pink paint and opened Maybe Cheese Born With It. He then landed on the Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race and took second place.
Gedert said he’s always been politically engaged and evolved from a registered Democrat to independent. When the Libertarian Party contacted him about a bid for Congress, he reviewed the platform and said it aligns with much of what he believes.
Gedert also said the people of northwest Ohio deserve a better candidate for Congress, even though he respects Kaptur and her service.
“She came up in politics in an absolutely different world than the one we live in now,” Gedert said. “I think it is absolutely time for a fresh vision and someone who can really speak to the issues we are facing right now.”
Gedert doesn’t think that person is Williams, who reintroduced a bill last year that would restrict drag performances deemed “obscene” to adult-only clubs and bars. As Sugar Vermonte, Gedert has hosted Dolly Parton brunches to raise money for Blood Cancer United and contends Williams’ bill is “ridiculous.”
“Bless his heart,” he said of Williams − with a tinge of sarcasm.
Representatives for Kaptur and Williams did not respond to requests for comment.
This isn’t the first time a libertarian has run in the 9th Congressional District. Business owner Tom Pruss received more than 15,000 votes in the 2024 election that Kaptur narrowly won. The outcome raised questions about whether Pruss siphoned votes from Merrin, who lost to Kaptur by nearly 2,400 votes, according to the Ohio secretary of state’s office.
To Gedert, 2024 showed that 15,000 people in northwest Ohio wanted something different from their elected officials.
“If the two-party system doesn’t like it, too bad buttercup,” Gedert said. “You don’t always get what you like.”
State government reporter Haley BeMiller can be reached at hbemiller@usatodayco.com or @haleybemiller on X.
Out of prison, Indiana’s caviar king back on Ohio River to find fishing holes taken
David Cox, of English, Indiana, says once he began setting his nets again after a two-year prison sentence and a three-year ban on commercial fishing, all of his once-secret spots were taken.
Can you eat fish from the Ohio River?
In 1975, future presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, then governor of Massachusetts, bet 20 pounds of New England cod that the Red Sox would defeat the Reds in the World Series. If things went south for Boston, Ohio governor James Rhodes promised to send Dukakis 10 pounds of Lake Erie perch and 10 pounds of Ohio River catfish. The Reds ended up winning and the cod was sent to the Convalescent Home for Children, in Cincinnati.
At the time, people were still eating catfish from the Ohio without too much concern. The fish were also served at several restaurants along the river.
There were warnings in 1977
But two years later, in 1977, The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission released the results of a study of contaminants found in the tissues of Ohio River fish. They warned anglers in cities such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville, Wheeling and Gallipolis that man-made chemicals known as PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, had been discovered in the river fish. Later, high concentrations of mercury were discovered in the fish, too.
Thanks to the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the environmental regulations that followed, the river is now cleaner than it was in the seventies. And it’s still teeming with a variety of fish, including catfish, striped bass, drum and black bass, among other species.
But even though PCBs were banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1979, they are still found in fish, since they remain in the sediment in the bottom of the river. “Organisms live in the sediment and fish feed on them,” Rich Cogen, the executive director of the Ohio River Foundation told The Enquirer. Mercury is also a big problem, according to Cogen.
So the question is: Can you eat fish caught in the Ohio River?
The short answer is yes. But it depends on what species you are eating and where along the river you caught it.
There are also very strict limitations on how frequently you should eat them, according to the web site for the Ohio Sport Fish Consumption Advisory, part of the Ohio Department of Health.
In areas of the river between the Belleville Lock, located 204 miles downstream from the river’s origins in Pittsburgh, to the Indiana border, the advisory agency currently recommends consuming Ohio River fish no more than once a month max. That area includes Adams, Brown, Clermont, Gallia, Hamilton, Lawrence, Meigs and Scioto counties.
Here’s where to check
Recommendations change throughout the year, but you can keep up by visiting the Ohio Department of Health’s Sport Fish Consumption Advisory page, which provides updated information on when certain fish, usually bottom feeders such as carp, are deemed too dangerous to eat at all.
Here’s who should take a pass on Ohio River fish
The agency also warns that people who are more likely to have health effects from eating contaminated fish, includingchildren younger than 15 years old, pregnant women and women who are planning to become pregnant to avoid Ohio River fish altogether.
Just because you have to limit the amount of fish you eat, doesn’t mean the river is a bad place for fishing, as long as you limit your intake or do catch-and-release fishing. Just make sure you have a proper fishing license before casting your line.
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It isn’t over until it’s over. That’s the case for both the UCLA Bruins football program recruiting and for quarterback Brady Edmunds. Edmunds is currently committed to head to Ohio State but he took a visit from UCLA offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy earlier this week.
Kennedy met Edmunds on Thursday despite the fact that the quarterback has been committed to the Buckeyes since December of 2024 but could the UCLA Bruins be making a run at flipping the quarterback?
Edmunds has only had an official visit with Ohio State but could UCLA heave a heat check on the 6’5” quarterback? New UCLA head coach Bob Chesney is off to an unbelievable start to his recruiting with the Bruins and flipping a recruit of Edmunds’ caliber would be his most impressive move yet.
247 Sports has Edmunds as the No. 16 quarterback in the class, which would give UCLA a clear predecessor for Nico Iamaleava whenever the Bruins current starting quarterback decides to head to the professional level.
It’d be a full circle moment for the Bruins, as Edmunds was originally recruited to Ohio State by former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly, who bailed on UCLA to go run the Buckeyes offense. Ohio State is a great spot for a developing quarterback, as the Buckeyes produce tons of NFL talent, especially at the wide receiver position, which would help Edmunds put up some gaudy numbers in Columbus.
Chesney and the Bruins have geography on their side, Edmunds attends Huntington Beach High School in Southern California, which could potentially become a factor if Edmunds views UCLA as a program on the rise that’d be much closer to his friends and family than out in Ohio.
Time will tell if Kennedy’s visit will make a difference but UCLA’s recruiting has made waves in the first offseason under Chesney and the new regime.
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