CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Early on, people told Aftab Pureval his uncommon name would be a liability on a ballot, and encouraged him to consider changing it. But during his successful 2016 campaign for Hamilton County Clerk of Courts, his first time running for office, he managed to turn it into a strength.
First, he had to teach people how to say it. His campaign deployed a campy talking duck puppet in its commercials, alluding to the Aflac insurance mascot.
"It's maybe not dignified, but it's incredibly memorable. And we were successful. It stuck out," Pureval said during an interview this week.
Pureval, a 35-year-old Democrat, is now running for Ohio's 1st Congressional District, challenging Republican Rep. Steve Chabot. He was this week's guest on Ohio Matters, cleveland.com's politics podcast. Each week, reporters Andrew Tobias, Mary Kilpatrick and Seth Richardson sit down for in-depth interviews with politically important people in the Buckeye State.
Pureval said his early plight with his ballot name reflects a common challenge for people like him who want to run for office.
"There was a tipping point... There is a point at which it's a strength. But early on, it's a challenge. And that's a reality that a lot of diverse, first-time candidates have to deal with," he said.
Pureval, joking, also downplayed his image within Ohio Democratic circles as a rising star within the party. He said it reflects the national party's thin bench, something he hopes will be addressed in the coming years.
"I think it's overblown," Pureval said. "If you are elected and you have a pulse in the Democratic Party, you're the next big star. It's a low bar."
Otherwise, Pureval discussed growing up in Dayton as the child of immigrants, Ohio politics and of course, his current race, deftly and repeatedly criticizing Chabot along the way.
Previous episodes can be found here and include full-length interviews with Citizens for Community Values President Aaron Baer on evangelicals in Ohio, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Richard Cordray on if he's as boring as people say and Republican congressional candidate Anthony Gonzalez on his transition from pro sports to politics.