Dem chair, candidates campaign in city

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper and several political candidates drove into town as part of the Democrats’ statewide “People First” bus tour.

In addition to Pepper, candidates speaking at Smiley Park on Tuesday included Michael Galbraith, who is running against Republican incumbent Bob Latta for the Fifth District U.S. House seat; Adam Papin, who is challenging Republican incumbent Rob McColley in the 1st Ohio Senate District; and Aden Baker, who is running against incumbent Republican Craig Riedel for the 82nd Ohio House seat.

Pepper first touted the success of statewide candidates, including U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, who is comfortably leading his Republican challenger, U.S. Representative Jim Renacci, in his bid to retain his Senate seat; while several other candidates, including gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray and his running mate, lieutenant governor candidate Betty Sutton, are running neck-and-neck with their Republican opponents.

Pepper also made note of the bus tour’s slogan, “People First”, noting that Democratic candidates are doing just that in their campaigns.

“You watch Columbus, you watch Washington, you watch the television ads: everything seems to be about everything but the everyday people of Ohio,” Pepper said. “Our folks are ready to go to Columbus, to go to Washington, put people first again, and start solving the problems that frustrates families every day around Ohio.”

Galbraith then spoke about his challenge to Republican U.S. Representative Bob Latta, noting that the Fifth District is a microcosm of the country, and added that his opponent doesn’t seem to care about those with pre-existing medical conditions who could lose their insurance coverage if something isn’t done to shore up the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

“We have people with pre-existing conditions who are afraid that their access to affordable health care is going to be compromised,” Galbraith said. “My personal feeling is that nobody should feel any kind of financial distress for medical reasons.”

Galbraith also spoke about farmers and Ohio businesses who are being adversely affected by President Trump’s trade tariffs.

“Farmers are really starting to hurt,” he said, adding that commodity prices have fallen 25 to 30 percent following the announcement of tariffs against China and other countries.

He also noted that Republicans are threatening cuts to social security, Medicare, and Medicaid to help reduce the $1.2 trillion deficit created by giving tax cuts to wealthy Americans.

“They consider (those programs) to be an entitlement, but this is a benefit into which all of us have paid,” Galbraith said of social security.

“We cannot have circumstances as we have in Columbus and Washington where middle class people and working class people and the less well-off continue to be squashed by the rich and powerful,” he noted. “This is why this election is so important because our democracy is under threat.”

Papin, a blue-collar worker himself, noted that he doesn’t feel that the election is a partisan contest, but a choice of whether to work together to solve the state’s problems.

“This election is about us versus them, but about what we can do together to take responsibility for addressing problems that Ohio faces,” he told the handful of people who braved the blustery conditions to listen to what the Dem candidates had to say.

Papin also decried the gerrymandering he said Republicans have used in Ohio and other states to make it easier for them to get elected and said Ohio districts need to be redrawn: “not so that every seat favors Democrats, but that every seat is competitive so that every single candidate has to work just as hard across both sides of the aisle.”

He also said he feels politicians need to do a better job of interacting with their constituents, something he would implement if elected.

“It’s about making sure that we get the money out of the politics; it’s about making sure state legislators go back to their districts and hold town hall meetings so that they actually hear from the voters and constituents that they represent,” Papin said.

Baker, a Grover Hill resident and Wayne Trace graduate, spoke passionately about why he decided to run for office.

“My opponent rans as a reformer in 2016 and promised this area that he was going to work to make it better,” Baker said. “But when you run as a reformer, and you fail to implement any of those reforms, you tell folks that it’s time for a gut-check.”

Baker said one of the biggest challenges for this area is youth retention, something he plans to work hard to change. He also spoke out against Right to Work laws, noting that Right to Work is not something Ohio needs, but real economic development.

“We need to invest in fighting this opioid epidemic, and we need to invest in our crumbling roads and bridges,” he said, adding that, in his opinion, businesses wanting to move into an area aren’t worried about whether employees want to start a union, but whether they can find enough workers who aren’t on drugs to fill the jobs they have available.

“If our region is going to remain sustainable, we need to figure out how to keep young people here and how to keep them employed,” Baker concluded.

Pepper ended with an appeal for local Democrats to get the vote out and volunteer locally to help with the campaign.