The Lantern

Former professor turned congressional candidate discusses arrest and campaign

Don Leonard, an Ohio State professional practice assistant professor and candidate for Ohio’s 15th congressional district, in his Ohio State faculty photo. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State A decision to attend a Grove City “No Kings” protest with a bullhorn ended in an arrest for a former Ohio State professor running for Congress. Don Leonard, a candidate in the Democratic primary for Ohio’s 15th District, was charged with obstructing official business and violating a noise ordinance, according to court documents obtained by The Lantern.  Leonard, who taught city and regional planning at Ohio State for the past 10 years stepped down to run for Congress, and said he was arrested “while exercising my first amendment right to speak.” The Grove City No Kings protest was one of many spanning the country criticizing President Donald Trump. Leonard faces former Democratic U.S. Rep. Adam Miller, who represented Ohio’s 17th and 6th districts from 2017 through 2025. Miller did not respond in time for publication. The 15th District, currently held by Rep. Mike Carey, R-Columbus, includes portions of the city’s southern and western neighborhoods, several western suburbs and extends to include Clinton, Fayette, Madison counties as well as portions of Clark, Miami and Shelby counties. Carey also did not respond in time for publication. Leonard said he complied with the officers and handed over his bull horn. “When the officers tried to detain me by moving me towards a cruiser, I refused and indicated to them that I’d prefer to stay, you know, in a safe spot off the road where there are witnesses, and that’s when the officer made the unfortunate decision to arrest me,” Leonard said. Leonard said the arrest only fueled his campaign.  “They had no business trying to detain me. And I think that just shows us that we have got to use our voice, because otherwise, I’m worried that people will just turn inward and close their eyes and hope this whole thing will go away, and we have to stand up,” Leonard said.  Arthur Stadlin, a third-year in economics and history, had Leonard as a professor last year. He said he was thrilled to hear that Leonard had decided to run. “I think everyone is kind of fed up with being governed by what seems to be either the hopelessly corrupt, the hopelessly stupid, or both, and I know [Leonard] is none of the above,” Stadlin said. “So I was mostly excited to just be governed by a person who I had faith in, you know, who I knew to be a good man and an intelligent man.”  Leonard said his campaign is focused on economic fairness and working class families.  “What I care about is how this country grew to be so unequal and unfair economically. We’re now in a place where, even for a middle class family, one job just isn’t enough to support oneself, everybody’s having to find a side hustle or a second gig, and it just should not be that way in the wealthiest country on Earth,” Leonard said.  Leonard said he sees the current state of the United States as broken. “We are living at a time when freedom is on the line. You know, Donald Trump and his cowardly converts like JD Vance are trying to distract us from this broken economy by trying to turn us against one another, by blaming immigrants and trans folks,” Leonard said. “We can build an economy where you know, one paycheck is enough, where families have time to spend together, and where we have to fight for democracy.” Given his background with Ohio State, Leonard said higher education is also an important value to his campaign. “I was really disturbed when Senate Bill One came out of the Ohio State legislature in January of last year. I think it does several things that really threaten intellectual freedom in higher education,” he said. SB 1 prohibited diversity, equity and inclusion programming, per prior Lantern reporting. In August, Ohio state banned students from chalking on sidewalks on campus, citing the number of grievances reported to the university, per prior Lantern reporting. “I think a college campus without sidewalk chalk is like a college campus without squirrels in the trees. It just doesn’t make any sense,” Leonard said.  He continues by addressing the leadership patterns that Ohio State has recently seen. In 2022, former President Kristina M. Johnson resigned, per prior Lantern reporting. It is still unclear why she resigned.  “I think from the beginning, the ousting of Kristina Johnson as president was grossly mishandled by the Board of Trustees,” Leonard said. “She was a fantastic leader, leading important initiatives like Scarlet and Gray that would prevent students from leaving Ohio State with student loan debt, something that’s very near and dear to my heart. I’m 47 and I still have over $100,000 of student loan debt to pay off.” Four years later, former President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr. resigned due to an inappropriate relationship on March 9, per prior Lantern reporting. Leonard also claims that the Board of Trustees has sent the university on a poor path with Carter as president.  “Getting Don Leonard into Congress means there is a man who is pretty intimately familiar with the issues that college students face and their struggles,” Stadlin said. “I think if you’ve ever spoken to the man in his capacity as a professor, if you’ve ever taken his classes, it’s evident that this is a man who genuinely cares about college students and making their lives better and giving them a better future,” Stadlin said.  More information on Leonard can be found on his website, donforohio.com.