Ohio GOP Lawmaker’s Domestic Violence Habit Finally Costs Him His Job

Republican Ohio State Rep. Bob Young has resigned over his multiple domestic violence arrests after two months of saying that he would not resign over his multiple domestic violence arrests. This also follows two months of his fellow legislators asking him to please leave and, ultimately, stripping him of his committee chair position this week.

On July 7 of this year, at a private party at his home following a GOP fundraiser, Bob Young was arguing loudly with a guest when his wife, Tina, held her hand up to quiet him — and he (allegedly) slapped her in the face. She tried to get her phone to call 911, but he threw that in a pool. She then grabbed her kids and fled to his brother Michael’s house for safety, but the next morning, Young showed up there and demanded to be let in to speak to her. His brother said no and instead of leaving, Young (allegedly) charged into him and through a glass door trying to get into the house. Police were called, he was arrested and two days later was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence and assault.

“He came, and just lowered and charged,” Michael Young told deputies at the time. “And he went through the glass — landed right over there.”

Unsurprisingly, literally all of Young’s colleagues felt that he should probably resign after this, but he had other ideas. He wanted to stay. He seemed to think that things were somehow going to shake out in his favor, but two months and another arrest later — Young was also arrested for violating a protection order by leaving several voicemail messages for his wife — he is finally resigning. The fact that even Gov. Mike DeWine had also asked him to resign and that he had been stripped of his committee positions probably also had a little something to do with it.

And yet, Young is far from recalcitrant! In a statement, he suggested he was really only resigning “while these matters are pending” and that the only real problem with his situation is that it had become a “distraction.”

“All of the allegations that I am facing have become a distraction. I will be vigorously defending myself, and I’m looking forward to personal and legal vindication as the court process plays out,” Young wrote. “I was hopeful that this matter could be resolved before this point, but I can no longer deny the distraction that this matter has caused the Ohio House of Representatives as an institution, as well as my colleagues, with whom I serve.”

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It seems like this matter is not actually going to be resolved in his favor, given that there are multiple witnesses to his violent tantrum.

Ironically, Young is also currently being sued for defamation over campaign ads in which he falsely accused his then-opponent, Matt Shaughnessy, of having committed domestic violence 20 years ago.