Dayton real estate mogul-turned-politician Theresa Gapser hopes to defeat Republican incumbent Mike Turner in Ohio’s 10th U.S. Congressional District race in November.
What’s the catch? Gasper used to be a Republican in 2004, The Dayton Daily News said. She began drifting in her political values, and then voted for President Barack Obama in 2008 after reading his book “The Audacity of Hope,” a sequel to “Dreams from My Father.”
“I saw more and more people in the community who I respected and who were Republicans doing the same thing,” she told the newspaper. “I realized I wasn’t the only one losing their mind: Either we all were, or we were all finding it.”
Turner, who is seeking his ninth term, won 79 percent of the votes among Republicans, The Daily News said. John Mitchel and John Anderson split the remaining vote.
Gasper won with 68 percent of the votes among Democrats, according to the Ohio Secretary of State. Robert Klepinger received 24 percent of the vote, and Michael Milisits took 7 percent.
Earlier this month, Breitbart listed the district as one of 62 the GOP must hold onto following the indictment of U.S. Rep. Chris Collins (R-NY-27) on insider trading charges by the Department of Justice. The indictment placed a “Safe Republican” seat into play and increased the number of GOP-held seats Republicans must win in November to maintain a majority.
Political analyst Scott Rasmussen rates Turner’s seat status as “Strong.” His race ratings at ScottRasmussen.com are determined by averaging the ratings of four top analysts — Decision Desk, Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball, the Cook Political Report, and Inside Elections.
The Daily News points out, however, that Cook and Sabato had downgraded Turner’s chances, in part, because of what the newspaper called an “ugly divorce.”
Rasmussen says Inside Elections and Real Clear Politics ranks Turner as “Strong Rep.” while the other two do list him as “Likely Rep.”
Can Gasper pull off an upset? She will not lack for money for trying.
Gasper made her fortune rehabbing inner-city houses in her childhood home of Dayton, specifically with her company Full Circle Development in the Historic South Park Neighborhood. For example, Gasper once said she bought her family home at 659 Oak St. to fix up. The Montgomery County, Ohio, Auditor website lists the sales history of the property. She bought the property on June 24, 2008 from the Dayton Metropolitan Housing Authority for $15,000. She sold it on Oct. 30, 2015 for $152,500.
Full Circle’s Facebook page describes it as, “A philanthropically motivated project renovating Historic South Park in Dayton OH since 2006 – transforming ugly ducklings into beautiful swans.”
Gasper and her husband Dave live in the Beavercreek suburb. Dave made his fortune selling Gasper Corp., according to The Dayton Foundation website. Gasper Corp. provides business automation software that drives more than 20 percent of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) worldwide and was purchased by NCR Corporation in 1999. Today he runs Initial Point LLC, also a software development company.
