Matt Barrett is a former Democratic member of the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

, who represented the 58th District from 2007 to 2008.

Life and career

Barrett is a graduate of Embry Riddle University and of the

Cleveland State University College of Law Cleveland State University College of Law is the law school of Cleveland State University, a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It traces its origins to Cleveland Law School, founded in 1897, which merged in 1946 with the John Mars ...

. He is licensed to practice law in

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, and the federal court systems. He is married with several children. In 1997, Barrett began his political career by running at-large for city council in

Amherst, Ohio Amherst ( ) is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States. It is located west of Cleveland within the Cleveland metropolitan area. The population was 12,681 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History The original village, which e ...

, he would be reelected three more times.

Ohio House of Representatives

In 2004, Barrett ran for state representative against Kathleen Walcher, but lost 53.99% to 46.01%. However, Walcher resigned midway through her term. Barrett ran again for the seat in 2006, and this time defeated Walcher's replacement,

Dan White Daniel James White (September 2, 1946 – October 21, 1985) was an American politician who assassinated George Moscone, the 37th mayor of San Francisco, and Harvey Milk, a fellow member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, inside San ...

, by a margin of 51.20% to 48.80%. He was sworn into office on January 2, 2007. Only eighteen months into his first term, Barrett was caught in an ethics scandal after mistakenly allowing

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

to be shown to high school children during a presentation. While he initially blamed it on his teenage son, he later acknowledged that the mistake was his. He soon after resigned, and was succeeded by Tom Heydinger.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Matt Democratic Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Ohio General Assembly Living people 1970 births People from Amherst, Ohio