EXCLUSIVE: Ohio Dem operatives admit Sherrod Brown, Emilia Sykes are ‘key’ to gaining power for far-left progressives: undercover camera

In video obtained by The Post Millennial, Smith admitted that Brown is the "key to the door" and that a voting public is not swayed first by progressive candidates, but that the progressive movement has to build toward that, as she says happened in New York with socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

"The youth," she said, unaware that she was being recorded, "especially in like Hungary, in the Balkans, in Eastern Europe, they had such a strong history with all the color revolutions being started by the youth, by students, so I think that ousting Viktor Orban wasn't necessarily like 'How do we get the youth on board to vote? It was a youth, like a youth and college and young person-led movement.

"I cover a lot of young people in this area," she went on, "I mean it includes Ohio State. And they're upset that we didn't put up more progressive candidates on the Democratic ticket. And in response to that is growing a progressive movement is something that starts truly at the grassroots level. Electing a progressive to city council, electing a progressive to school board. And we're trying to accomplish that here in Columbus alone. And if we want to build a progressive movement, it first starts with getting a Democratic elected."

"New York City was not able to have a candidate like Mamdani, have a candidate like AOC or a person like AOC emerge because they were a Republican state that automatically just took the massive sweep of the left. These are blue states that have built the framework in like the public consent is the wrong word to use, but like condition the public conscience to accept more progressive candidates. And in Ohio, we've got to protect the progressive movement we've got to get Democrats in at higher levels of office. And it's not going to be changed by not voting or by being mad that we don't have more progressive candidates.

"It's going to start by electing a freaking Democrat," Smith added.

"So Brown would be like the key to the door?" Asked the undercover operative.

"Yes, exactly," Smith said, and then added, "Because the thing with Brown and both of our like in all the Senate races, I'll do it again in 18 months. You know, so this is a this is a special election. So it's like this is just the start."

Cecily Antares, the District Organizing Director in Ohio's 13th congressional district, said that Sykes will be far more progressive once she's in office. Until then, Antares said, Sykes "has to be careful" not to say too many progressive things, or else she may not get elected in the highly divided district where many people are "right on the edge of being a Democrat."

"If you go ... far-left, then she could lose for that voter base and not get reelected. So I think that she should do what she needs to do to get reelected. But then, when you're in office, you know, then you take care of those people," Antares said.

"Like maybe during campaign season it's one thing, but like you know, once she's reelected, in office, just to make sure that she's voting in line with them, and keeping that pressure."

Brown is running against incumbent Senator Jon Husted, who was appointed to the position after JD Vance departed his seat to become vice president. Incumbent Sykes is facing GOP challenger Carey Coleman.

According to the RealClearPolitics polling average for the Senate race, Husted lead by just 1 percentage point above Brown. The race between Coleman and Sykes is also considered to be close given the district's history with the 2024 election results tallying up to 51.1 percent of the vote going to Sykes at the time and 48.9 percent going to Republican Kevin Coughlin.

The Ohio Democrat Party, Zoie Smith, and Cecily Antares were reached for comment.