Nannette L. Whaley (; born January 23, 1976) is an American politician who served as the 56th mayor of Dayton, Ohio, from 2014 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served on the city commission for two terms and presided over the United States Conference of Mayors from 2021 to 2022. She was the Democratic nominee in the 2022 Ohio gubernatorial election, losing to incumbent Mike DeWine in a landslide.
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Early life and education
Whaley grew up in Indiana, but she has lived in Ohio since attending the University of Dayton from 1994 to 1998, where she earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry. In college, Whaley was the Ohio chair of the College Democrats of America. Whaley is also a four-time delegate to the Democratic National Convention, worked for John Kerry's presidential campaign, and served as a presidential elector. Whaley later earned a Master of Public Administration in urban studies from Wright State University.
During the 2000 presidential election, Whaley was an Ohio state co-chair of GoreNet. GoreNet was a group that supported the Al Gore campaign with a focus on grassroots and online organizing as well as hosting small dollar donor events.
Career
Whaley was first elected to the Dayton City Commission in 2005. She was one of the youngest women chosen for a commission seat. Whaley served on the Montgomery County Board of Elections and as a deputy to Montgomery County Auditor Karl Keith.
Whaley was first elected mayor of Dayton in 2013, winning 56 percent of the vote. In 2017, she was unopposed for reelection, making it the first uncontested mayoral race in the city's history since voters have elected the office separately. Before her election as mayor she served on Greater Ohio's Community Revitalization Committee, the Learn to Earn Executive Committee for Education, the Montgomery County Planning Commission and the Dayton Access Television Board of Trustees.
Early in her time in office, Whaley founded the Dayton Region Manufacturing Task Force, "a regional effort committed to advocating for manufacturing and promoting a strong manufacturing workforce." Initiatives like this and a surge of high tech and research jobs have spurred $600,000,000 in investment in the region. During Whaley's term, the unemployment rate in Dayton declined from 9.3% to 5.5%.
In response to a statewide surge in opioid-related drug overdoses, Whaley declared a citywide state of emergency and developed a needle exchange program. Dayton also began to ensure that first-responders had access to the overdose-reversal drug naloxone. Whaley has been consistently critical of the state government for failing to adequately fund opioid treatment and recovery programs. In 2017, Dayton was the fourth city in the country to sue the pharmaceutical companies, opioid drug distributors and physicians they say are responsible for Ohio's opioid addiction and overdose crisis.
The City of Learners initiative was launched by Whaley in early 2014 as a citywide effort to support Dayton's schools and students. A committee of community leaders and volunteers identified five areas of community focus: ensure all children attend a high quality school, ensure high quality preschool is offered to all children, increase business partnerships with schools, provide mentors to more children, and expand sites for after school and summer learning. In 2016, Dayton voters passed a 0.25% income tax increase which included a guaranteed year of preschool to all Dayton families with a 4-year-old.
2019 mass shooting
After a mass shooting occurred on August 4, 2019, she and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown accompanied President Donald Trump on a visit with survivors at the local hospital. Ten people were killed, including the perpetrator; and twenty-seven were injured. She joined over 200 mayors in encouraging Congress to act on gun control legislation that is already before them. The group included Dee Margo, the mayor of El Paso, Texas, where a shooting occurred the day before. According to Dayton NAACP President Derrick Foward, Whaley received the Dayton Unit NAACP Community Service Award for the leadership she provided in guiding the City of Dayton through the violent and horrific mass shooting that took place in the Historic Oregon District.
Gubernatorial campaigns
2018
Ahead of the 2018 election cycle, Whaley considered a run for Congress before declaring her candidacy for governor of Ohio. On May 8, 2017, Whaley announced that she was running for governor in the 2018 election on a platform of job creation. She dropped out of the race on January 12, 2018, and endorsed Richard Cordray.
2022
On April 19, 2021, Whaley announced her candidacy in the 2022 Ohio gubernatorial election. She faced former Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley for the Democratic nomination to be Governor of Ohio. On May 3, Whaley won the Democratic primary election and became the Democratic nominee for Ohio Governor. This made her the first woman to win a major party nomination to run for governor of Ohio and, because she was running with Cheryl Stephens, part of the first all-female ticket nominated by a major party for governor and lieutenant governor in that state. Whaley and Stephens lost the race to incumbents Mike DeWine and Jon Husted getting 37.4% of votes to DeWine and Husted's 62.4%. Whaley gave her concession speech on November 8, 2022, in Dayton, Ohio.
Personal life
In 1998, she settled in the Five Oaks neighborhood in Dayton where she and her husband Sam reside today.