SIDNEY — Shelby County Democrat Party Chairperson Tom Kerrigan has announced that David Pepper will keynote the Party’s Jefferson/Jackson annual dinner and fundraiser to be held Monday evening, May 1, 2023, at Hussy’s Restaurant in Port Jefferson Ohio beginning at 6 p.m.

Pepper is a lawyer, writer, political activist, former elected official, and adjunct professor, and served as the Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party between 2015 and 2021.

In that role, he was engaged in numerous fights and extensive litigation over voter suppression and election laws in the Buckeye State. Stemming from that work, Pepper appeared in “All In”—the documentary highlighting Stacey Abrams’ nationwide fight for voting rights.

Pepper has written four novels that bridge real-world politics and fiction—including A Simple Choice (Putnam, forthcoming June 2022). His first novel, The People’s House, earned praise for having “predicted the Russia scandal.” The Wall Street Journal named Pepper “one of the best political-thriller writers on the scene.”

Pepper’s latest work includes Laboratories of Autocracy which exposes corrupt politicians in statehouses across the country who pose the greatest dangers to American democracy. Amid all the chaos, these statehouses, including ours in Ohio, are hard at work, every day, hacking away at core principles and protections of our democratic system. And they’re getting more audacious every year.

Born and raised in Cincinnati, Pepper is a fifth-generation Cincinnatian. He earned his B.A. magna cum laude from Yale University, where he was Phi Beta Kappa, and later earned his J.D. from Yale Law School.

“We couldn’t be more excited to have David headline for us here in Shelby County. It’s truly time to reinvigorate a local Democrat Party whose interests are workable solutions for all people as opposed to enraging our neighbors through culture wars and seeking retribution against individuals,” said Kerrigan.

Tickets for the Jefferson/Jackson dinner are $30. Reservations for the prime rib dinner can be made by calling Kerrigan at 937-726-0625.