The department’s chief, Nicholas Summers, acknowledged personally sharing the post and denied that Frankart or his campaign requested it. Summers said emergency personnel were present at the event for an official public-safety assignment.

But the department’s original Facebook caption said nothing about emergency operations. It celebrated the political gathering and thanked someone for an invitation.

The agency added an explanation about its emergency-response capabilities only after questions were raised.

County account celebrates Republican event

The original post came from Frankart, who described hosting Tuesday’s “Rise and Rally” event in Clyde.

The gathering featured prominent Republicans, including U.S. Sens. Jon Husted and John Thune, Dr. Mehmet Oz, U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, state Sen. Bill Reineke and state Rep. Gary Click.

Frankart’s post included photographs of political figures walking through the venue, addressing attendees and interacting with participants.

At 10:39 a.m. Wednesday, Seneca County Emergency Services shared the post on its official Facebook page, adding:

We were excited to be apart of this special visit! Thanks for the invite 🫶

The message contained no reference to medical standby, emergency planning, ambulance deployment or any other public-safety function.

Frankart is president of the Seneca County Board of Commissioners and the Republican nominee for another term in the Nov. 3 general election. His position is confirmed by the county’s official website, while his campaign website confirms his reelection bid.

Post changes after questions

TiffinOhio.net contacted county emergency-services officials Wednesday morning to ask why the department had shared the political post, whether public resources had been used and whether Frankart or campaign officials had requested the publicity.

At 11:42 a.m., the department edited its caption.

Facebook’s publicly accessible edit history shows the original post was published at 10:39 a.m. and revised 63 minutes later.

The department retained its original message expressing excitement about the visit but added:

This truly highlights our emergency response capability working with Federal, State and Local Public Service Agencies.

The edit followed TiffinOhio.net’s initial inquiry. The timing is documented, although the department has not explained why the revision was made.

The added sentence introduced an emergency-response justification that had been absent from the original caption.

Chief admits sharing post, denies campaign involvement

At 4:05 p.m. Wednesday, Summers responded to the news outlet’s initial questions by email, ahead of a 5 p.m. reporting deadline.

He confirmed that he managed the department’s Facebook feed and personally shared Frankart’s post.

I managed the department’s Facebook feed and shared the post.

Summers said the department’s presence at the gathering was an official emergency-response assignment because of the prominent political figures in attendance.

Seneca County Emergency Services was present in an official emergency response role because high-value political targets were present.

According to Summers, department personnel participated in emergency planning and staged along the roadway to provide assistance if needed. He said additional emergency resources remained available throughout the department’s service area.

He also acknowledged that department personnel and operational resources were committed to the assignment.

However, Summers did not identify the employees who attended, specify how many personnel or vehicles were assigned, or directly answer whether those employees were receiving county compensation.

He also did not provide a cost estimate or say whether event organizers reimbursed the county.

When asked whether Frankart, his campaign, event organizers or other elected officials requested or encouraged the Facebook post, Summers said no.

He said the decision was his and that the intent was to demonstrate the department’s emergency-response capabilities and raise awareness of rural EMS, not support a political campaign.

That explanation addresses the department’s presence at the event. It does not fully explain its separate decision to share a politician’s celebratory account of the gathering through an official government communications channel.

Ohio law restricts political use of public resources

Ohio Revised Code Section 9.03 prohibits political subdivisions from using public funds to communicate material supporting or opposing candidates for public office. It also restricts compensating public employees for activities intended to influence election outcomes.

The Ohio Auditor of State’s Office has warned that public resources and official government communication channels must not be used for election advocacy.

Whether the EMS Facebook post constitutes prohibited political activity has not been established. Providing emergency medical coverage at a political event is not, by itself, evidence of improper campaign activity.

Summers cited the Seneca County Board of Commissioners Personnel Policy Manual, which contains provisions governing political activity and social media.

The manual imposes restrictions on certain partisan activities by classified employees. Its social media policy also states that the county has an overriding interest in determining what is communicated on its behalf.

Summers said he could not identify a provision specifically addressing partisan content published through an official government social media account. He did not establish whether the commissioners’ manual had been adopted as the governing policy for his department.

Department publishes reporter’s questions on Facebook

The department later used the original rally post to publicly respond to TiffinOhio.net’s reporting.

In a comment beneath Frankart’s post, the official emergency-services account identified TiffinOhio.net before reproducing questions submitted to county officials and the department’s responses.

The comment began:

Here was some questions posed by Dylan from Tiffinohio.net

The department’s public explanation repeated Summers’ position that emergency personnel had attended in an official readiness capacity because prominent political figures were present.

The comment appeared while TiffinOhio.net was continuing to seek answers about the original Facebook post, its subsequent revision and the resources assigned to the political gathering.

Staffing, costs and Facebook edit remain unexplained

Following Summers’ initial response, TiffinOhio.net submitted additional questions about why the department shared Frankart’s political post instead of publishing a neutral account of its emergency assignment.

The news outlet also asked who revised the caption at 11:42 a.m. and why, whether the department provides comparable publicity for events featuring Democratic candidates and who requested the emergency standby.

Further questions sought the number of personnel and vehicles assigned, whether employees were receiving county compensation and whether the operation generated additional costs.

Summers had not provided further substantive answers as of 5:53 p.m. Wednesday.

Frankart was separately contacted for comment but had not responded as of that time.

Summers says the department’s presence at Tuesday’s event was an emergency-readiness assignment. But the original Facebook post said nothing about emergency readiness. It celebrated a Republican political gathering hosted by a commissioner facing voters six days later.

The department added its public-safety explanation only after TiffinOhio.net began asking questions. Who made that revision and why remain unanswered.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 34 million people have either gone to the polls to cast a ballot or have mailed in their vote, and the current tally is on track to surpass early voting in the 2022 midterm elections, said Michael McDonald, a professor of political science at University of Florida who runs the UF Election Lab that tracks early voting.

With one week until Election Day on Nov. 3, McDonald said he’s not sure if voters will surpass record-breaking early voting of 2018, but it’s clear that the surge in early voting will eclipse turnout in the 2022 midterm elections, where nearly 46 million Americans voted early, according to the UF Election Lab. 

“Right now, the data that I can see, it looks like we’re running at least even to the 2018 election. If the voting continues through Election Day, we would be somewhere around that number,” he said. 

“That’s a high water benchmark,” McDonald said, adding that the 2018 election was the highest turnout for a midterm election since 1914. 

Motivations for the surge

Some states are reporting heavier voter turnout.

Twenty-seven states record party affiliation, and of the roughly 16 million early voters in those states, 45% are Democrats, and about 31% are Republicans, with 24% unaffiliated with either party, according to the UF Election Lab. 

McDonald said he can’t tell from the data the motivation behind a surge in early voting, but he has two ideas. The first is a post-COVID 19  explanation, where voters are less likely to partake in mail-in-ballots, so “we’re sort of reverting back to a normal election.”

“The other is the potential that (President Donald) Trump’s potential threats with trying to monkey around with the U.S. Postal Service, has made some people decide that they don’t want to vote by mail and vote in person instead,” he said.

The U.S. Supreme Court in September kept in place a lower court’s order blocking Trump’s embattled plan to place new restrictions on mail ballots for this year’s midterm elections.

The GOP is vying to maintain its narrow majority in the House and Senate, though Democrats remain heavily favored to win back the majority in the House, and Senate races continue to move in the party’s favor, according to elections forecasters. 

The party of the president historically loses seats in the midterm elections. Trump is also facing anemic approval ratings amid the war in Iran and its impact driving up gas prices. 

The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter shifted 19 House races in the direction of Democrats on Oct. 23. The elections forecaster lists 17 races as toss-ups, with Republicans defending 12. 

In the Senate, the Cook Political Report identified seven toss-up races across the country, including in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Ohio and Texas.

Early voting in the battlegrounds 

As early voting continues in key battleground states, Republicans are aiming to hold on to their majority in the upper chamber.

In Alaska, as of Monday, more than 46,000 people have voted already, according to the UF Election Lab. Former House Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola is seeking to unseat incumbent GOP Sen. Dan S. Sullivan.

In Iowa, as of Tuesday, nearly 307,000 people have cast their vote early, as Democratic state legislator Josh Turek and U.S. House Republican lawmaker Ashley Hinson compete in a toss-up race for the U.S. Senate seat.

GOP incumbents Susan Collins of Maine and Roger Marshall of Kansas are also trying to keep their Senate seats in tough challenges from Democrats. In Maine, more than 196,000 people have voted, according to Monday data from the UF Election Lab. And in Kansas, more than 245,000 people have voted as of Tuesday, according to the UF Election Lab. 

More than 1.3 million people have already voted early in Michigan as of Tuesday, according to the UF Election Lab. 

The Wolverine State is home to a highly competitive Senate race in an open seat between Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed that the Cook Political Report has declared a toss-up. 

In Ohio, as of Tuesday, nearly 1.2 million people have voted early as well, per the tracker. A tight Senate race also listed as a toss-up by the Cook Political Report features Ohio GOP Sen. Jon Husted and Democratic candidate and former Sen. Sherrod Brown. 

In the Lone Star State, more than 5 million people have cast their ballots as of Tuesday, according to the UF Election Lab. 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, and James Talarico, a Democrat, are battling it out in a race dubbed a toss-up by the Cook Political Report. Trump was campaigning in Texas on Tuesday.

Big turnout in some states  

As early voting takes shape across the country, some states are seeing sweeping turnout figures during the beginning days of early voting compared with earlier elections. 

In Tennessee, midterm early voter turnout stood 57% higher compared with the 2022 midterms in the Volunteer State during the first eight days, according to a Monday report from the Tennessee Lookout. 

Meanwhile, North Carolina is witnessing an eagerness among unaffiliated voters, who cast 34% of ballots in the first five days of early voting in the Tar Heel State, NC Newsline reported. 

The Louisiana Illuminator reported that Black voters comprised a larger share of participants on the first day of early voting in the Pelican State compared with nearly every other election over the past 18 years. 

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Over the summer, Ohio campaigns report what they raised on a monthly basis, but not what they spent. So, when it comes time to make their final filing ahead of Election Day, they’re reporting two weeks of fundraising but more than four months of spending.

The gulf between the two in Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s report is large. While his campaign brought in $1.5 million, it spent $51.1 million. Ramaswamy also reported making another $5 million loan to his campaign. That brings its total outstanding debt to $41.3 million.

Continuing a recent trend, Democratic candidate Amy Acton reported raising far more than her Republican competitor. Acton’s campaign reported bringing in $3.9 million — more than double Ramaswamy’s take — while spending $26.2 million.

Ramaswamy’s report

Among Ramaswamy’s donors making contributions of $10,000 or more are American Electric Power, the Ohio branch of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, Elevance Health — formerly Anthem, and a political committee representing Ohio banks.

The Winkelvoss twins, who notably almost invented Facebook, both made maximum donations to Ramaswamy’s campaign. The brothers now run a venture capital firm and head up a cryptocurrency Super PAC called Digital Freedom Fund.

That PAC has spent another $5.9 million in Ohio attacking Democrat Sherrod Brown or boosting his Republican opponent U.S. Sen. Jon Husted.

Ramaswamy’s campaign spent more than $35 million on media and television ad placements between July and Oct. 14. The biggest single media expenditure is the most recent — nearly $8 million on Oct. 8.

From the outset of his campaign, Ramaswamy faced criticism for crisscrossing the state in a private jet. In September, NBC reported on growing unease among GOP officials who urged him to “park the damn jet.”

Ramaswamy didn’t take their advice.

The pre-general report includes nearly $870,000 in charges related to Ramaswamy’s private jet travel. The campaign maintained two concurrent aircraft leases totaling almost $386,000. In addition, Ramaswamy’s campaign reports spending nearly $484,000 with the private jet charter company Talon Air.

Ramaswamy also reports making two in-kind contributions to Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s campaign to fly to campaign events.

Acton’s report

The biggest contributions Acton reports are a pair of donations totaling about $262,000 from the Ohio Democratic Party candidate fund. She also got donations of $10,000 or more from committees representing Franklin County Engineer Adam Fowler, Columbus teachers, the Ohio life sciences industry, and the Ohio Hospital Association.

But the OHA appears to be hedging its bets. Every contribution its PAC has made since Oct. 2025 has gone to Republicans. And although it gave Acton $10,000, it gave Ramaswamy a maximum donation of $16,615 two weeks prior.

Two notable individual donors backing Acton are executives with the defense company Anduril, which is building a manufacturing facility called Arsenal-1 just outside Columbus. CEO Brian Schimpf and COO Matthew Grimm both gave Acton maximum donations.

Acton’s campaign reports spending about $22.3 million on advertising placements and production. Roughly $1.7 million of that was later refunded to the campaign bringing the total closer to $20.6 million.

Like Ramaswamy, Acton’s campaign logged a lot of flight miles. But because they fly commercial it cost a lot less. Despite scores of airfare reimbursements, Acton’s total bill was about $57,600 — or less than a month and a half of Ramaswamy’s cheapest aircraft lease.

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

That includes Ohio’s 10th Congressional district, where 12-term Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Turner faces a late surge from Democratic challenger Kristina Knickerbocker for a chance to represent the Dayton area in Congress.

The data from Ohio reflects a national trend of both parties redirecting spending to newly competitive battlegrounds in traditionally Republican areas.

House Majority PAC, a super PAC aligned with House Democratic leadership, released a poll Wednesday showing Democratic nominee for the 15th Congressional district Don Leonard up 3% over Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Carey. It was one of six polls showing Democratic challengers leading in Republican strongholds.

Both districts were rated “Solid Republican” by Cook Political Report until August. On Oct. 16, the election forecaster shifted both to “Lean Republican.”

“For the first time in years, Democrats have genuine pickup opportunities deep into Trump territory, in districts that were once considered entirely out of reach,” House Majority PAC said in a press release.

Congressional candidates must file several financial disclosures throughout the year of their election. Reports for the first two weeks of October were due Oct. 22.

Democrats widened cash advantages in the 7th and 9th Congressional districts, which are rated “Toss-Up” by Cook Political Report, and in the 1st and 13th Congressional districts, which are rated “Likely Democratic.” Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Carey, who represents the 10th Congressional district, was the only Republican to outraise his opponent.

Even as independent polls of the Congressional generic ballot point to a favorable environment for Democrats, National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Zach Bannon said the GOP is “on offense” across the state. 

Although the NRCC spent on ads supporting Turner in recent weeks, neither incumbent is on the organization’s list of vulnerable Republican congressmembers.

“Congressmen Mike Turner and Mike Carey are battle-tested leaders who have delivered real results for their communities and earned Ohioans’ trust,” Bannon said.

Democrats had the largest fundraising advantages in the two districts rated as toss-ups.

Democratic nominee for Ohio’s 7th Congressional district Brian Poindexter reported over $3.1 million in direct contributions from July through the first half of October, far more than incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller’s $180,000 in reported donations.

Miller put $1 million of his own money into the race in August after allegations of domestic abuse prompted several national Republicans, including both of Ohio’s U.S. Senators, to call for him to drop out. 

He spent almost $2.4 million in the third quarter, but just over $22,000 in the first two weeks of October, leaving him with around $135,000 in cash on hand. Poindexter reported a cash balance of around $793,000, making Miller the only incumbent in any of Ohio’s competitive Congressional districts with less cash on hand than his opponent.

“After Max Miller loaned himself $1 million to try to buy himself out of trouble, tens of thousands of grassroots supporters stepped up to help send a union ironworker to Congress,” Poindexter said in a press release. “I am grateful for their support.”

Meanwhile, Democratic U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur spent over $3.2 million in the third quarter of her rematch with Republican nominee Derek Merrin. It’s the most Kaptur has spent in a single quarter over her 44 years representing Ohio’s 9th Congressional district, and more than her spending in all but two election cycles.

Kaptur beat Merrin by 0.7 percentage points in 2024 despite President Donald Trump winning the district by seven percentage points. The Ohio Redistricting Commission redrew the district’s boundaries in 2025; had the 2024 election used the new map, Trump would have won the new 9th Congressional district by 10.6 percentage points.

Kaptur is spending more of her own committee’s money and getting less outside help compared to the third quarter of 2024. Back then, super PACs spent over $4.4 million to support her or oppose Merrin while she spent just $2.2 million. Super PACs make independent expenditures, meaning that they are barred from coordinating with candidates by federal law.

Kaptur reported around $697,000 in cash balance to Merrin’s $430,000 cash on hand.

Ohio’s 1st and 13th Congressional districts were within Republicans’ sights at the start of 2026. 

Democratic U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes won reelection to the 13th Congressional district by just 2.2 percentage points in 2024. Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman’s 1st Congressional district was redrawn from one that favored Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris by seven percentage points to one that would have favored Trump by three percentage points.

Cook Political Report rated the 1st Congressional district “Toss-Up” and the 13th Congressional district “Lean Democratic” in March. The National Republican Congressional Committee added 1st Congressional district nominee Eric Conroy to its “MAGA Majority,” a list of challengers to vulnerable U.S. House Democrats, in April.

As the national environment deteriorated for Republicans in the summer and fall, the outlook for Republicans in both districts worsened.

Democrats and Republicans cut back on previous commitments to spend in the 1st Congressional district in October. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with House Republican leadership, pulled all remaining advertising after announcing it would spend $4 million in the district. Their Democratic counterpart, the House Majority PAC, canceled around $192,000 in future advertising on Oct. 19.

A significant portion of that money is instead being spent on two ruby-red Congressional districts that Democrats believe they could flip.

Turner is in his 24th year of representing the Dayton area, which the 10th Congressional district encompasses entirely. He won all 12 of his regular Congressional election campaigns by 10 percentage points or more.

He was outraised from July through the first half of October by Democratic nominee Kristina Knickerbocker, who reported around $642,000 in direct contributions to Turner’s $417,000. He still has around $191,000 more in cash on hand from previous campaigns.

Carey reported around $772,000 while Democratic challenger for the 15th Congressional district Don Leonard received around $550,000 in campaign contributions over the same span. Carey had a cash advantage of around $272,000 as of Oct. 14. 

Although the NRCC spent on ads supporting Turner in recent weeks, neither incumbent is on the organization’s list of vulnerable Republican congressmembers.

“Congressmen Mike Turner and Mike Carey are battle-tested leaders who have delivered real results for their communities and earned Ohioans’ trust,” said Bannon, the NRCC spokesperson.

Independent polls are yet to be conducted for either district, but outside spending from both sides soared in October. Independent-expenditure groups spent a combined $5.4 million on ads in the two districts just in the week between Oct. 16 and Oct. 23.

A Democratic dark money group called Your Community PAC has spent close to $3.9 million in both races, making it the second-biggest spender in the two districts behind the party leadership-affiliated House Majority PAC. Knickerbocker and Leonard reject corporate PAC donations, and both have called for campaign finance reform.

Neither have any control over outside groups’ decisions to boost their campaigns, said Atiba Ellis, a Case Western Reserve University professor who studies campaign finance. 

“Candidates certainly could denounce ads that cut against their message. But at the same time, that could spin off into other misunderstandings that could affect the electorate,” he said. “So, even if it’s not a contribution, the outside spending and the commercials that result define the campaign in ways that it’s really hard for politicians to fight against.”

It reflects a larger trend of outside groups holding increasing influence on elections, even for campaigns with mostly grassroots donor bases, Ellis said. Republicans hold a large spending advantage in Ohio’s U.S. Senate and governor’s races despite being outraised by Democrats, largely because of outside groups.

These outside groups often spend on attack ads against candidates’ character, Ellis added, which can take attention away from important policy issues.

“Their premise is to motivate people using the least common denominator they can find concerning the candidate they oppose,” he said. “It’s ironic that in the name of getting out the vote, we’re being distracted from having serious debates about the issues that should guide people on how to vote.”

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s morally incomprehensible hit piece against Democrat Dr. Amy Acton in the Ohio race for governor will be studied and deconstructed (in all its atrociousness) long after the 2026 midterm elections are over. You know why.

The decision to platform a mother complicit in the rape of her daughter — as an obscene strategy to blindside a political opponent — went way beyond the pale of personal attacks in the heat of a campaign. It was a sick act by a struggling candidate to capture voter attention that few saw coming.

The ad featured the estranged mom of Ramaswamy’s gubernatorial rival. Donna Arthur fled Youngstown 48 years ago with Acton’s alleged rapist after the then 12-year-old victim testified against him in court.

The 80-something woman in Ramaswamy’s toxic ad chose to live on the lam with Acton’s fugitive stepfather, Cledith Arthur, until he died in 2004. Neither Acton nor her younger brother saw or spoke to their mother since she skipped town in 1978 with the man arrested, charged, and indicted by a grand jury for raping Acton.

It was this troubled character, who abandoned her daughter and son as children, that Team Ramaswamy brought direct to camera with scripted venom. Arthur delivered. The performance was staged in a cozy, softly lit kitchen to exude warmth in chilling scene from a twisted story.

Acton, whom Arthur rejected as a shattered tween in a courtroom, called her now 60-year-old daughter a serial liar with mental health issues who needed help. She warned Ohio voters “don’t let her become your governor.” The message was meant to stop people cold. It did. But after the bombshell went viral so did the backstory.

The tables turned. So did stomachs as viewers (across the political spectrum) realized how next-level despicable the ad was in elevating an aging abusive mother with a checkered past who ditched a traumatized daughter to run off with the child rapist who assaulted her. 

The Ramaswamy obscenity, thrown on the air less than two weeks before the election, has been widely vilified as the re-victimization of young Acton to win power at any cost.

Imagine the buried pain it must have triggered. The ad is still running in a shortened version — as if that sanitizes reprehensible. Tellingly, not only does Ramaswamy stand by his viral outrage, but vows to promote it with more than $4 million in bought airtime across the state.

As disgust grew (and grows by the day) over the exploitation of a tortured childhood for political sport, Ohio’s finger in the wind Republicans responded on a scale from minimal to militant.

“I would not have run the ad” was the mealy-mouthed comeback from Ohio U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, running in a tight race with former Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown to keep his seat, and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, running for a placeholder spot as state auditor against Annette Blackwell, a third-term Cleveland-area mayor.

“I hope the ad will be taken down,” said an equally mincing former Ohio U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, who added the rising incivility in politics “should concern us all.”

It took Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine a full day to denounce the weaponization of childhood sexual abuse that gut punched his former state health director who was instrumental in helping Ohioans navigate a frightening and fatal pandemic.

“It’s just plain wrong,” he said. Finally. “Deeply, deeply troubling.” DeWine also said he stood by his endorsement of Ramaswamy despite the vileness manifested in his contemptible ad for the ages. Ever the profile in cowardice.

Notably, all the Ohio Republicans who had something to say about the appalling Ramaswamy ad that revictimized the girl who grew up to become the Democratic nominee for Ohio governor — still stand with the GOP nominee for governor who launched the unconscionable clickbait and has never stopped defending it.

Ramaswamy blames backlash to the ad, which has generated massive national and local attention, on (wait for it) a “flawed and failed media” that is “lying about an ad that is about lying.”

JD Vance, a confessed liar who admitted creating stories out of thin air to command similar exposure, piled on by declaring his disgust not with the vicious strike against a child rape survivor but with Republicans “whining” about it.

The ad is “not really my concern,” sniffed the smug, amoral veep from Middletown. Couldn’t care less about whether resurfacing Acton’s MIA mother to score political points was appropriate or abhorrent.

Vance, who also survived an abusive childhood, summoned no compassion or moral clarity about the depravity that drove Team Ramaswamy to malign yesterday’s abused and neglected child for political sport. With JD, power trumps principal. Winning is paramount. Decency is an indulgence. Republicans can’t get hung up on humane if they want control.

Vance’s boss doubled down on defense of the indefensible. Trump embraced the Ramaswamy ad as a gift from heaven and urged the candidate to leave it up.

He was thrilled the ad blowing up on social media “was hitting pay dirt” and insisted his party own it. But when you stand with vile — smearing a child rape victim to win dirty — you reveal much about yourself.

Which Ohio Republican will stand with Trump when he returns to Ohio Wednesday? The president welcomes vileness as a means to an end. He demands supporters follow suit or be branded as “disloyal to the Republican Party. Watch who joins him on the stage at the Chillicothe rally. Always revealing. 

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

And there are many of you. Even among those registered, ten percent do not cast ballots. In the 2024 national elections, fully ten percent of registered voters did not turn out. That is 18 million registered non-voters in a closely fought election decided by two million votes. 

When I was quite a bit younger and before I knew much history I had little understanding about the long struggle for the right to vote and the democracy of which it is a key part. Most of humanity for most of our history has been governed by narrow cliques of thieving oligarchs or autocratic royals, many of whom relied on violence and terror to retain power. 

At the start of the democratic era it took great courage to stand against the powers that be. But many thousands of people did so anyway, even realizing that they might well pay with their lives to resist. Great numbers of them had to know that they themselves would be unlikely to ever live to exercise the right to vote. They sacrificed their own lives and welfare so that the rest of us could live in a democratic society. Among those epic struggles were the American and French revolutions, but they were not the first. The people of ancient Athens also rose up against tyranny for democracy. Of course there were also many others.  

So I argue that we owe a debt to those who struggled on our behalf. We have a duty to them to vote, and to do so intelligently as best we are able. It is easy to forget that women and minorities were excluded from voting in the United States for long periods of time, and had to struggle mightily for the voting franchise. Some of them paid with their lives. By voting, we can show respect their sacrifices. 

Another argument against voting is that our votes do not count for much. Well, there is some truth to that in the United States, especially with an Electoral College winner-take-all presidential system in which our votes do not count at all if our candidate loses in our state. But on the other hand, there are many state and local offices, as well as school, park, health, safety and other local levies, for which our votes can matter a great deal. And in fact, local elections have a significant impact on the quality of our lives. 

We also hear it said that politicians in general are corrupt and “all the same”. There is a grain of truth to that point of view. Many politicians are indeed narcissistic sociopaths to whom the idea of the public good is close to meaningless. But they are not all like that. In fact, politicians and parties vary in their truthfulness and honesty – at least a third of them are reasonably honest and worth supporting. It is your job as a voter to do some research and support the best of them. If you do not vote, you enable the bad guys. Nowadays it is hard to argue that there are no differences in the two major US political parties.  

To be fair, there are real barriers to voting including onerous registration procedures, long lines at the polls, billionaire dark money in campaigns, and lazy “horse race” journalism that avoids issues. Negative ads and hate media increase public cynicism and increase polarization, of which we have too much already. The consultants who produce untruthful and fear-inducing media know exactly what they are doing.  

It is your job to meet these challenges and support those who are working hard to address them.

If your vote did not matter, they would not work to keep you away from the polls. With freedom comes responsibilities. Voting is one of them. 

Arnold Oliver is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio, and is a member of Veterans For Peace. He is grateful to his former students and colleagues who taught him about the importance of voting.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

A recent study by the Urban Institute, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, showed that more than a quarter of American adults reported medical debt for them or someone in their family in 2025, and more than half of those who reported medical debt owed at least $1,000.

Of those who reported debt, 26% were adults with current health insurance.

“Health insurance does not shield people from rising healthcare costs and the crushing burden of medical debt,” Katherine Hempstead, senior policy officer for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said in a press release announcing the study.

“Historic cost increases and coverage losses are forcing impossible tradeoffs between healthcare and other basic needs.”

The study found that for those with medical debt, 1 in 7 Americans have past-due medical bills or bills they couldn’t pay at all. Adults ages 45 to 54 represented the largest population with medical debt, but 17.6% of those in the study who were on Medicare also reported owing medical debt.

Researchers at the Health Policy Institute of Ohio have also been studying medical debt and the impact it can have on families, as well as overall health outcomes in the state.

“As expected, being uninsured is a major risk for experiencing medical debt,” HPIO researcher Brian O’Rourke told the Capital Journal. “However, recent data in Ohio suggests that this is not just a problem for our uninsured population.”

Citing the Ohio Medicaid Assessment Survey, O’Rourke said more than 1 in 5 Ohio adults were struggling to pay off medical bills in the last year.

While the data shows the highest population of people having trouble paying off medical debt are those who don’t have insurance, a quarter of Ohioans with private insurance were also struggling to pay.

In the Urban Institute study, researchers found that hospital services resulted in the largest debt reported, with 52% of adults with medical debt citing hospital costs.

Debts also came from specialists, dental care, and general doctor services, according to the research.

O’Rourke said out-of-pocket medical spending is “a significant burden in Ohio,” with the average family’s out-of-pocket medical spending in the state exceeding the national average.

The Ohio institute has released several pieces of research showing the potential impact cuts to Medicaid through the federal budget spending bill (also called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act), and reduced subsidies for the Affordable Care Act could have on Ohio’s uninsured population.

Ohio’s population in the ACA Marketplace has already seen a drop of 100,000, and the HPIO projects as many as 300,000 Medicaid participants will be dropped because of newly imposed work requirements, which O’Rourke said will likely leave “many uninsured and with limited resources to pay off medical bills.”

The Urban Institute study also noted anticipated changes, including worsening medical debt, from rising health insurance costs, along with Medicaid and ACA changes.

“This analysis shows medical debt is pervasive, affecting adults across age groups and income levels, and people with and without health insurance,” said the Urban Institute’s Michael Karpman, in a statement.

“It will be important to monitor how the burden of medical debt shifts as policies restricting access to Medicaid and (the ACA) Marketplace coverage take effect.”

More uninsured Ohioans on the books and a higher amount of medical debt certainly causes strain on households, but O’Rourke said state providers, particularly those in rural or underserved areas, will also see impacts.

“More uncompensated care can lead to closures and possibly even raise healthcare prices even further in the state,” O’Rourke told the Capital Journal.

The Ohio legislature is on break until after the Nov. 3 election, but one bipartisan bill that could see action as the lawmakers return is a bipartisan measure addressing medical debt.

Ohio House Bill 257 was introduced in May 2025 by sponsors Rep. Michele Grim, D-Toledo, and Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland.

The bill would cap the interest rate for medical debt at 3% annually, and bar methods like wage collection to pay the bills.

The bill would also keep healthcare providers or collections agencies from reporting nonpayment of medical debt to consumer reporting agencies.

The bill has seen several hearings in the Ohio House Health Committee, garnering support from groups like the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, and the American Diabetes Association. Gary Dougherty, director of state government affairs for the ADA, said limiting interest on medical debt in particular would help patients like those with diabetes.

“People with medical debt have reported it as a driving factor for delaying care or not filling their prescriptions,” Dougherty wrote in June testimony to the House Health Committee.

“For people with diabetes, it is critical that we eliminate financial barriers that may result in them forgoing the care they need to manage the disease.”

Groups speaking out against the bill include the Consumer Data Industry Association, and  the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals, that argued the bill would “take an overly broad approach to limiting medical billing and collection practices that … would lead to unintended negative consequences for Ohio consumers and providers of medical services in the state.”

The bill has until December to make it through the General Assembly, or it will need to be introduced again in the new year, with the beginning of the new two-year General Assembly term.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The award was made by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Sept. 30. 

The program is explicitly intended to create a “statistically significant sales lift” in Kroger stores as the company buys out its competitors. 

Progress toward those goals will be monitored by Kroger’s data-gathering subsidiary, 84.51°. That operation is already generating more than a third of corporate profits by surveilling customers and selling their information to other businesses.

The award to Kroger is part of the Make America Healthy Healthy Again program spearheaded by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a lawyer and vaccine skeptic — not a health professional. 

Kennedy’s MAHA program says it will “build a healthier, stronger America.”

Kroger and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services didn’t respond to questions for this story. 

The taxpayer grant to Kroger is part of MAHA’s Eat Real Food campaign.

By encouraging consumption of whole foods such as fruits and vegetables, it purports to address what is a real health crisis in the United States. 

The Stanford University School of Medicine reports that 60% of calories consumed by U.S. adults and 70% of those eaten by children are ultraprocessed, or non-whole foods.

Nutritionists and doctors report that high intake of ultraprocessed foods is associated with a 32% higher risk of obesity, a 37% higher risk of type 2 diabetes, a 32% higher risk of hypertension, and a 23% higher risk of pulmonary heart disease.

Kennedy’s MAHA movement has its critics. The independent, nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest said MAHA’s initial assessment of public health “selectively picks from the scientific literature to support Kennedy’s predetermined biases in favor of specific diets and products such as animal fats, and against vaccines and exposure to electromagnetic radiation — anti-scientific beliefs that Kennedy has raged about for years.”

When it spotted the Kroger grant, the nonpartisan Center for Responsible Food Business saw what it thought was another problem — that the taxpayer grant seemed aimed at as much increasing the grocery giant’s sales as at promoting healthy eating. It also appeared to feed Kroger’s lucrative data-gathering operation.

“Kroger will not only have more of its sales boosted, it will be getting more of that customer data funneled through 84.51°,” Taylor Warren of the Center for Responsible Food Business said in an interview. “I don’t think taxpayers want to be funding Kroger’s customer-surveillance program.”

That the taxpayer grant seeks to boost the Kroger sales is undeniable.

It lays out program activities such as vouchers for whole foods and in-store cooking classes. It also describes local and social media outreach. But among the goals it lists is a “statistically significant sales lift in featured whole foods categories at participating stores.”

Success in meeting that and other goals will be determined through “post-event measuring and reporting via Kroger’s 84.51° data platform,” it said.

Warren sees conflicts in the arrangement.

“So Kroger gets the $3 million and it’s grading its own homework,” he said. “When (the department of Health and Human Services) goes to determine the success of the program, it’s determined by Kroger.”

He added, “Why are we subsidizing any part of what Kroger is doing when they have profits in the billions?” 

Kroger turned a $1.25 billion profit in the fourth quarter of 2025 alone. While rising input costs are responsible for much of customers’ sticker shock, in at least some instances, company profits rose even faster.

In a 2024 trial to block a proposed merger with Albertson’s, the Federal Trade Commission presented testimony from a Kroger executive who said the company hiked the price of milk and eggs above the rate of inflation.

The compensation of the company’s top executive also raises questions from critics in an era of sky-high grocery prices: Kroger CEO Greg Foran’s pay is more than $17 million a year.

“For a company as large as Kroger and the profits they’re already making, when they learn they’re taking taxpayer money, people don’t like it,” Warren said. “It just feels so unfair.” 

Warren and his group find another use to which the federal grant money might be put to be particularly nefarious. 

It has to do with “dynamic pricing” — the ability to use electronic price tags to quickly change prices, similar to the electronic signs used by gas stations.

“We believe there’s a machine built around dynamic pricing that they are putting together and this has implications for that because this grant going to Kroger will be measured by none other than their own data subsidiary 84.51°,” Warren said.

“They’re using this data on us to determine the highest prices we would be willing to pay through things like dynamic pricing, which is very enabled by things like digital price tags that can change at a moment’s notice.”

Kroger has said the labels would allow it to save employee labor and rapidly update prices to reflect changes in supply and demand. But skeptics, including U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and then-Sen. Bob Casey, D-Penna., in 2024 expressed suspicions.

“Widespread adoption of digital price tags appears poised to enable large grocery stores to squeeze consumers to increase profits,” they wrote in a letter to the company.

Warren, of the Center for Responsible Food Business, said Kroger’s data subsidiary already hoovers up information from 63 million loyalty members every time they scan their Kroger card. 

From that, the platform builds customer profiles estimating income, family size and things like whether they have pets. It can also monitor customer behavior and make educated guesses about what the maximum amount one is willing to spend on an item and dynamically price it accordingly, Taylor Warren said.

As it is, Kroger’s 84.51° subsidiary sells the data it gathers from customers to other businesses. In 2025, those sales accounted for 35% of Kroger profits, according to Consumer Reports.

The $3 million taxpayer grant Kroger received envisions engagement with between 1.2 million and 1.8 million customers. Warren said their data likely will be sucked into Kroger’s data operation and commodified along with all the rest.

“This is very unsavory,” he said. “It’s very concerning.”

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The rebuke came Friday, one day after DeWine publicly condemned a Ramaswamy campaign advertisement attacking Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton through her estranged mother, despite the family’s documented history of childhood sexual abuse.

DeWine has demanded that Ramaswamy withdraw the advertisement, defended Acton’s honesty against its accusations and now ruled out campaigning alongside his own party’s nominee for governor. Yet he refuses to withdraw his endorsement, citing his earlier commitment to support the Republican ticket.

“We have some really good people on that ticket,” DeWine told WEWS reporter Morgan Trau, according to the station’s October 23 report.

Asked whether Ramaswamy was one of them, the governor paused before explaining whom he meant.

“Well, I was really talking about people I’ve worked with … for years and years. I’ve served with them in public office in Ohio.”

Ramaswamy, a businessman and former presidential candidate, has never held elected office.

DeWine’s answer left little ambiguity about whom he was praising. Given an opportunity to include his endorsed successor among the Republicans he considers “really good people,” the governor instead described longtime public officials with whom he had served — a group that does not include Ramaswamy.

With the November 3 election approaching, Ohio’s sitting Republican governor is keeping his endorsement of Ramaswamy while refusing to stand beside him on the campaign trail.

DeWine defends Acton’s honesty, contradicting Ramaswamy’s attack

The governor’s refusal to campaign with Ramaswamy follows an even more direct disagreement over the Republican nominee’s treatment of Acton, who served as DeWine’s health director during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ramaswamy’s advertisement features Donna Arthur, Acton’s estranged biological mother, accusing her daughter of lying about her childhood. The attack centers on a family history involving abuse, neglect and criminal charges against Acton’s stepfather.

Court records obtained by WEWS show that Acton’s stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was arrested and charged with sexually abusing her when she was a child. He fled before trial and later died. Acton’s mother lost custody of Acton and her brother, and Acton has said she has had no contact with her mother since she was 12.

Ramaswamy nevertheless put Arthur in a campaign advertisement attacking Acton’s credibility. He subsequently acknowledged that the advertisement came from his campaign and announced plans to spend $4 million promoting it on television and digital platforms.

DeWine called reporters to the Ohio Statehouse on Thursday to condemn the advertisement and demand its removal.

“It’s deeply, deeply, deeply troubling,” DeWine said. “It needs to come down; it’s just wrong to continue to run it.”

DeWine did more than object to the campaign’s decision to involve Acton’s estranged mother. He directly defended Acton’s truthfulness, rejecting the accusation at the center of Ramaswamy’s advertisement based on his own experience working with her.

“In regard to telling the truth, my experience with her and working closely with her every single day was that she certainly told the truth; that’s my experience,” DeWine said.

DeWine’s assessment directly contradicts the advertisement’s portrayal of Acton as a liar. The governor worked closely with her during one of the most consequential periods of his administration, while Ramaswamy’s campaign has relied on accusations from a mother who lost custody of Acton decades ago.

Ramaswamy has defended the advertisement rather than withdrawing it. His campaign has maintained that Arthur’s accusations concern Acton’s credibility, not the sexual abuse she experienced as a child.

DeWine has rejected that separation, arguing that the family’s documented history makes the advertisement especially wrong.

DeWine keeps his endorsement but refuses to campaign

Despite condemning the advertisement and refusing to campaign with Ramaswamy, DeWine has insisted that his endorsement will remain in place.

“I’m not changing the endorsement. I endorse the whole ticket,” DeWine told reporters Thursday.

He explained that he had committed to supporting Ohio’s Republican candidates, many of whom are longtime colleagues. But his comments Friday drew a distinction between those Republicans and the gubernatorial nominee whose advertisement he had just condemned.

The governor’s position leaves Ramaswamy with an endorsement from Ohio’s highest-ranking Republican state official but without his willingness to campaign alongside him.

DeWine has also previously praised Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, Ramaswamy’s running mate and a Republican from Napoleon in northwest Ohio. McColley has worked with the governor as a legislative leader, unlike Ramaswamy, who entered the gubernatorial race without prior elected-office experience.

The distinction matters for the Republican ticket. DeWine’s refusal to campaign with Ramaswamy does not extend, at least publicly, to McColley or other statewide Republican candidates. The governor has not announced whether he intends to make separate appearances with them before Election Day.

Nor has DeWine publicly identified any previously scheduled appearances with Ramaswamy that were canceled. What he has established is that he will not campaign with the Republican seeking to replace him.

Trump and Vance defend the ad as Ohio Republicans split

The dispute has divided prominent Republicans in the final weeks of the governor’s race, with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance defending Ramaswamy while DeWine and other Republican figures have criticized the advertisement.

Trump defended the attack and encouraged Ramaswamy to continue airing it. Vance, appearing in Ohio on Wednesday, criticized Republicans objecting to the advertisement and praised Ramaswamy for confronting Acton.

Other Republicans have publicly rejected the campaign’s tactics. U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, DeWine’s former lieutenant governor, said he would not have run the advertisement. Secretary of State Frank LaRose made a similar statement, while former U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci urged Ramaswamy to move away from the controversy.

Those criticisms have not amounted to a coordinated withdrawal of Republican support for Ramaswamy. DeWine’s position, however, goes further than disapproving of an advertisement: He has now ruled out campaigning with the nominee himself.

That refusal comes as the Republican ticket seeks to hold the governor’s office following DeWine’s two terms. Ramaswamy and McColley face Acton and her running mate, David Pepper, in the November 3 election.

DeWine has made clear that he will not withdraw his endorsement. He has also made clear that he will not campaign with Ramaswamy, and when asked whether the nominee belonged among the “really good people” he praised on the Republican ticket, he declined to include him.

With Election Day approaching, Ramaswamy retains the governor’s endorsement — but not his willingness to share a campaign stage.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Axios White House correspondent Marc Caputo reported Friday that Ramaswamy personally wanted the advertisement despite opposition within his campaign. Staff members tried to use voter testing to demonstrate that the attack would be unpopular, Caputo said, but the video leaked from that testing process and provoked widespread condemnation.

“From what we understand at Axios, Ramaswamy was the one who wanted the ad and his campaign didn’t,” Caputo said during an October 23 appearance on MS NOW.

Caputo’s account followed similar reporting two days earlier from conservative political commentator Ryan Girdusky, who said he contacted Ohio political consultants after the advertisement surfaced and learned that Ramaswamy had pursued it despite warnings from others.

“Vivek was the one who wanted the ad. Apparently, a lot of people said, don’t do this,” Girdusky said during an October 21 appearance on WABC’s The Greg Kelly Show.

The reports place responsibility for the controversial advertisement on Ramaswamy himself, rather than campaign professionals acting without his direction. His campaign subsequently announced a $4 million statewide advertising effort, embracing an attack that prominent Republicans, including Gov. Mike DeWine, urged him to withdraw.

Campaign tested attack using questions about Acton’s childhood sexual abuse

The reported internal objections are accompanied by documented details of the advertisement’s pre-release testing that directly contradict Ramaswamy’s effort to portray the commercial as unrelated to Acton’s childhood sexual abuse.

On October 21, National Journal reported obtaining a survey distributed through market-research company Dynata that tested the advertisement before it became public.

Before showing respondents the commercial, the survey asked whether they believed Acton had been sexually abused as a child and whether she had lived in a tent. Participants then watched the minute-long advertisement twice before answering questions about whether it was persuasive, influenced their vote or was excessively sensational.

The testing explicitly examined Acton’s childhood sexual abuse before presenting voters with a commercial that omitted the criminal case against her stepfather, the circumstances that separated Acton from her mother and the decades of estrangement that followed.

Yet two days later, Ramaswamy insisted the advertisement had nothing to do with that abuse.

“Our ad had nothing, nothing to do with childhood abuse, sexual abuse,” Ramaswamy told News 5 Cleveland during a Friday campaign appearance in Strongsville.

The survey had expressly asked voters about the very abuse Ramaswamy was publicly insisting had nothing to do with his advertisement.

That history was hardly obscure. Acton’s stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was arrested in July 1978 and indicted that September on a charge of raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter. He pleaded not guilty but failed to appear for court proceedings and remained a fugitive for years. Acton and her younger brother were removed from their mother’s custody, while Donna Arthur remained married to Cledith Arthur until his death in 2004.

As TiffinOhio.net previously reported, Donna Arthur acknowledged in a 2020 interview that she supported her husband during the proceedings and left Ohio with him. Acton has said she has not seen her mother since 1978.

The advertisement nevertheless presented Arthur as an authority on her daughter’s childhood, without disclosing why she had lost custody of her children or why Acton had been estranged from her for nearly five decades.

Despite reported objections, Ramaswamy committed millions to the attack

Ramaswamy’s campaign publicly claimed the advertisement performed well during testing among voters considered persuadable, an explanation it provided to both Axios and Ohio’s Statehouse News Bureau after confirming Tuesday that it had produced the commercial.

The campaign has not released the underlying polling results to substantiate that claim.

Caputo’s reporting describes campaign staff attempting to demonstrate that the attack would be unpopular. The hostile public reaction to the leaked advertisement does not establish the numerical results of the campaign’s voter testing.

Despite the reported objections, Ramaswamy embraced the advertisement, and his campaign announced a $4 million statewide effort to promote it.

Campaign manager Jonathan Ewing defended the decision, telling Axios that the advertisement could end Acton’s candidacy. Ramaswamy himself continued defending the commercial even as Republicans publicly condemned it, including DeWine, who called for its immediate withdrawal.

President Donald Trump took the opposite position. During a Thursday rally in Iowa, Trump said he had spoken with Ramaswamy about the controversy and advised him to continue running the advertisement. Vice President JD Vance also defended the attack and criticized Republicans objecting to it.

Campaign removes disputed claims after new court records emerge

On Saturday, October 24, Ramaswamy’s campaign began running a revised, 30-second version of the advertisement that removed two of its most disputed allegations.

The shorter commercial eliminates Donna Arthur’s assertion that Acton lied about living in a tent as a child. It also removes Arthur’s suggestion that her daughter needed personal help, according to The Washington Post.

The revisions followed the public release of additional court records corroborating details of Acton’s childhood account.

On Thursday, the Mahoning County Clerk of Courts released redacted records from the 1978 criminal proceedings against Cledith Arthur. The records, examined by The Washington Post, listed his address as Terrace Lake Park on Ohio Route 7. A subsequent sheriff’s note documented that he had camped there.

That is the same area where Acton recalled living in a tent as a child, an experience she described publicly in a 2019 Youngstown Vindicator interview, years before entering the governor’s race.

After spending days defending the original advertisement, Ramaswamy’s campaign cut both the disputed tent allegation and Arthur’s suggestion that Acton needed help. The campaign has not publicly explained its reasons for making those changes.

The edits came as Ramaswamy continued insisting that the advertisement concerned Acton’s honesty rather than her childhood sexual abuse, even though the pre-release testing survey explicitly addressed that history.

Ramaswamy’s own advisers reportedly warned against the attack. Its pre-release testing examined Acton’s childhood sexual abuse. The candidate nevertheless backed the advertisement, committed millions to promoting it and defended its claims before his campaign removed two of the most disputed allegations.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

“Too bad Gary doesn’t work for the people,” Cary Theis wrote in a Facebook comment beneath a September post by Coalition of Patriots II, a northwest Ohio conservative group that accused Click of trying to sabotage its event with Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy.

Theis holds the elected Republican central committee seat for Eden North. In the May 5 primary, he defeated James D. Cline, a member of the Seneca County Board of Elections, by 135 votes to 95 — 58.7% to 41.3% — according to the county’s certified election results. The Board of Elections lists Theis as serving a four-year committee term beginning May 20. Republican Party meeting minutes also record his successful July motion to establish a committee to review party bylaws.

A conservative feud that survived the primary

The comment appeared amid an unusually public dispute between Click and activists to his political right. As TiffinOhio.net reported Sept. 19, Coalition of Patriots II accused Click of acting out of vindictiveness after the organization left him off the invitation list for a private Oct. 1 question-and-answer session with Ramaswamy.

The group said it had arranged its gathering first. Click then promoted a separate Ramaswamy town hall in Tiffin, scheduled to begin one hour before the Coalition’s event in Risingsun. The Coalition alleged that Click organized the competing appearance to undermine its meeting and retaliate against conservatives who had supported his Republican primary challenger, Eric Watson. Those claims about Click’s motives were the Coalition’s accusations; the timing and separate announcements of the events were documented.

Both appearances ultimately took place. Click’s town hall, initially advertised for Tiffin University’s Marion Center, which accommodates up to 500 people in theater seating, was moved to the roughly 50-seat Reino’s Party Room downtown. Ramaswamy later attended the Coalition’s gathering in Risingsun.

The controversy followed Click’s narrow victory over Watson in the May Republican primary. Watson won Seneca County and came within roughly 600 votes of defeating the three-term incumbent districtwide. The Coalition said conservative activists had supported Watson because they opposed portions of Click’s voting record, and the group’s criticism continued after Click secured the nomination.

Click faces Democrat Aaron Jones in the Nov. 3 general election. The Seneca County Republican Central Committee sponsored Click’s Ramaswamy town hall; Theis, an elected member of that same committee, was publicly saying the lawmaker did not work for the people he represents.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

In an October 24 candidate questionnaire published by the Advertiser-Tribune, Frankart was asked to identify his biggest achievement since taking office. He pointed to his efforts involving the WIN Waste landfill, including his testimony before state lawmakers, meetings with legislators and the deposition conducted by attorneys representing the landfill operator.

Frankart said he “sat through a seven-hour deposition” and repeated his earlier declaration that he would “take that hit for our constituents every day.”

What Frankart omitted was what he acknowledged during those seven hours of questioning.

What Frankart admitted under oath

In May, the Advertiser-Tribune published an investigation based on the deposition transcript, obtained through a public records request to the Ottawa-Sandusky-Seneca Joint Solid Waste Management District.

The newspaper reported that Frankart acknowledged making false public statements about the landfill and the regional waste district, including claims contained in signed testimony submitted to the Ohio Senate. He also admitted that he had taken no action to correct those statements.

Among the inaccuracies was Frankart’s assertion that Seneca County had been consistently outvoted by the other two counties on matters involving the solid waste district. Under questioning, he acknowledged that the claim was not accurate during his tenure on the district’s board.

Frankart also could not identify specific examples supporting his previous assertions about a recent pattern of regulatory violations at the landfill. When questioned about evidence of health impacts or operations exceeding regulatory thresholds, he indicated that he had no such evidence, according to the newspaper’s reporting.

The deposition took place May 28, 2024, in connection with litigation filed by WIN Waste involving the regional solid waste district. The findings were also reported by TiffinOhio.net ahead of the May 2026 Republican primary.

Now, Frankart is presenting that same deposition as evidence of his commitment to Seneca County residents, without acknowledging the false statements exposed during his testimony.

County portrayed deposition as a heroic battle

Frankart’s latest account repeats a narrative his own county government published immediately after the deposition.

On May 29, 2024, then-Seneca County Media Relations Coordinator Sheri Trusty published an article on the county’s official website titled “Resilient in Battle: Commissioner Bill Frankart endures seven-hour WIN Waste deposition.”

The county-funded communications contractor described Frankart as having been pushed onto a battlefield by the company’s legal team and praised his handling of the questioning as displaying his “typical wisdom and strength.”

It featured Frankart’s declaration: “I took a hit for the constituents, and I’ll do it every day.”

The county’s account celebrated Frankart’s endurance without describing the substance of his sworn testimony. The Advertiser-Tribune’s subsequent examination of the transcript exposed the admissions that had been absent from that portrayal.

More than two years after the deposition, and less than two weeks before voters decide whether to give him another term, Frankart is again citing the experience as one of his greatest accomplishments.

Legislation changed landfill oversight, not landfill operations

Frankart also cited the passage of Senate Bill 147, sponsored by state Sen. Bill Reineke, as evidence of his work on the landfill issue.

Signed into law in July 2025, the legislation allows counties to withdraw from joint solid waste management districts without requiring approval from the other participating counties. It also authorizes additional fees on construction and demolition debris, giving Seneca County a path toward greater local control over waste-management revenue.

The legislation did not close the WIN Waste landfill, stop waste shipments from other states or establish that Frankart’s earlier claims about the landfill were accurate.

In the questionnaire, Frankart credited Reineke, state Rep. Gary Click, county health officials and his fellow commissioners for helping secure the legislation. He said Seneca County was developing its own solid waste management district and plan.

But the legislative victory is separate from the false public statements Frankart acknowledged making and leaving uncorrected.

In another answer in the same October 24 questionnaire, Frankart described the lessons he had learned during his first term as commissioner.

“And I’ve learned that accountability matters,” he wrote.

The deposition he now celebrates was the same proceeding in which he acknowledged failing to correct his own false statements.

Frankart faces independent challenger David Ziegler, a three-term Eden Township trustee, in the November general election.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

On March 29, 2006, Latta was among 57 Ohio House members who voted against restoring a one-year window that would have allowed survivors to file lawsuits over childhood sexual abuse dating back as far as 35 years. The amendment to Senate Bill 17 was defeated 57–38.

The vote was documented in a March 30, 2006, report by The Toledo Blade, which explicitly identified Latta among northwest Ohio Republicans who opposed restoring the provision.

The proposal would have given adults whose childhood sexual abuse claims were already barred by Ohio’s statute of limitations a new opportunity to seek damages. It also could have allowed survivors to use the civil discovery process to obtain records from institutions accused of concealing abuse.

The Ohio Senate had previously approved the measure with the lawsuit window intact. But after extensive lobbying by Catholic Church officials, the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee removed the provision. An effort to restore it on the House floor failed, with Latta voting against it.

The final legislation expanded reporting requirements for clergy and extended filing deadlines for certain childhood sexual abuse cases. But it denied survivors with previously expired claims the opportunity to pursue damages under the proposed one-year window.

In place of that provision, lawmakers approved a civil registry intended to publicly identify abusers through a separate court process. Barbara Blaine, then-president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, condemned the alternative as “a shallow, empty promise.” The registry was subsequently found unconstitutional and has never become an effective substitute for the rejected lawsuit window, according to a 2026 WCPO investigation.

Twenty years later, Ohio lawmakers are trying again

Latta’s vote has renewed significance as Ohio lawmakers revisit the same issue two decades later.

In September 2026, Republican state Sen. Bill Blessing announced plans to pursue legislation eliminating time limits for childhood sexual abuse claims and creating a new window for survivors to revive lawsuits that have been barred for decades.

Blessing publicly committed to reforming Ohio’s statute of limitations, while acknowledging that the proposal would face resistance from institutions concerned about the financial consequences of lawsuits involving historical abuse.

The renewed effort brings Ohio back to a legislative battle that lawmakers, including Latta, settled against survivors in 2006. For those whose claims expired before they could seek damages, the opportunity rejected two decades ago remains at the center of the fight.

Latta has spent 35 years in elected office. His political career began in 1991 as a Wood County commissioner, followed by service in the Ohio Senate from 1997 to 2000 and the Ohio House from 2001 to 2007. He entered Congress in December 2007 and has held Ohio’s 5th Congressional District seat for nearly 19 years.

Now seeking another term, Latta faces Democratic challenger Brian Shaver of Fostoria, the president of Fostoria City Council, in the November 3 election.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Its PAC contributed $10,000 directly to Husted, while $827,918.93 was routed to his campaign through AIPAC’s fundraising operation. Former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who is challenging Husted in Ohio’s November 3 special election, received no direct contributions from AIPAC PAC and no donations earmarked through the organization.

Husted’s October 15 Federal Election Commission filing identifies $284,118.93 in contributions handled by AIPAC as an intermediary during the third quarter, plus a separate $5,000 check from AIPAC PAC on September 30. The PAC previously gave Husted $5,000 for the special primary election in April.

AIPAC kept the money flowing

The latest filing lists 14 AIPAC intermediary entries from July 5 through September 30. The largest included $48,000 on August 13, $42,875 on August 27, and $37,200 each on September 3 and September 10. Those were transfers of contributions collected from donors for Husted, not additional contributions from the PAC’s own treasury.

Under federal reporting rules, campaigns identify both the original donors and the intermediary that handled their earmarked contributions. AIPAC’s fundraising role is therefore documented in Husted’s campaign reports, alongside the donations it delivered.

The full $837,918.93 total comes from five reporting periods: $538,800 in individual contributions earmarked through AIPAC before July, a separate $5,000 SUN PAC contribution routed through AIPAC in February, another $284,118.93 routed through the group during July–September, and $10,000 contributed directly by AIPAC PAC. The review includes a pre-primary report covering April 1–15, as well as Husted’s second-quarter and latest quarterly disclosures.

The $837,918.93 figure represents gross receipts, not contributions retained after refunds. It does not double-count individual donor entries and the corresponding AIPAC intermediary entries, or include spending by outside political groups.

Brown’s record: No AIPAC PAC money

Federal records for Brown’s 2026 campaign and his 2024 reelection campaign contain no direct AIPAC PAC contributions or donations earmarked through AIPAC. The contrast was already substantial in September, when TiffinOhio.net documented more than $543,000 in AIPAC-connected contributions for Husted through June. The latest federal filing adds another $289,118.93, while the expanded accounting identifies the earlier $5,000 SUN PAC contribution.

AIPAC announces an end to the fundraising method it used for Husted

On October 21, less than two weeks before Ohio’s election, AIPAC announced it would stop directly endorsing candidates, making PAC contributions and earmarking donations after the 2026 midterms. According to a letter to members reported by NPR, AIPAC plans to expand organized contributions made directly by individuals, while its affiliated super PAC, United Democracy Project, will continue operating.

AIPAC’s decision changes how it plans to support candidates in future elections. In Husted’s 2026 campaign, the group was still acting as a fundraising conduit on September 30, when it transferred another $23,267.27 to his campaign and its PAC supplied a separate $5,000 check.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

But DeWine stopped short of withdrawing his endorsement of Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee seeking to succeed him as governor.

Speaking to reporters at the Ohio Statehouse on October 22, DeWine condemned the campaign’s decision to feature Donna Arthur, Acton’s biological mother, who supported her husband after he was charged with raping Acton when she was 12 years old.

“It’s wrong to run this ad,” DeWine said, according to the Ohio Public Media Statehouse News Bureau. “I would just urge the Ramaswamy campaign to to take this down. It’s just wrong.”

DeWine said the advertisement became even more disturbing when considered alongside the documented history of Acton’s childhood sexual abuse and her mother’s decision to leave town with the accused man.

He also directly challenged the attack’s central message that Acton is dishonest.

“In regard to telling the truth, my experience with her and working closely with her every single day was that she certainly told the truth; that’s my experience,” DeWine told News 5 Cleveland reporter Morgan Trau.

Acton served as DeWine’s health director from February 2019 until June 2020, becoming one of the most recognizable figures in Ohio’s early response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

DeWine condemns ad but stands by Ramaswamy

DeWine’s intervention creates a direct disagreement between Ohio’s sitting Republican governor and the candidate he endorsed to replace him. Ramaswamy acknowledged Tuesday that his campaign produced the advertisement and is spending $4 million to distribute it statewide.

The governor described the attack as especially troubling given his own experience working with sexual assault survivors during his years as a prosecutor and Ohio attorney general.

DeWine recalled meeting women who had endured rape and subsequently testified in court, describing the lasting trauma they carried.

He also pointed to the criminal proceedings involving Acton’s stepfather and the mother’s decision to leave with him rather than remain with her children.

“When you know the rest of the story,” DeWine said, the circumstances make the advertisement “just more wrong.”

Yet when reporters pressed him on whether his condemnation would change his political support, DeWine refused.

“I’m not changing the endorsement. I endorse the whole ticket,” he said.

When asked how he reconciled that endorsement with his condemnation of Ramaswamy’s actions, DeWine emphasized his loyalty to the Republican ticket, saying it included experienced public servants with whom he had worked for years.

He also declined to say whether he had spoken privately with Ramaswamy or Acton about the advertisement.

DeWine previously contradicted another Ramaswamy attack on Acton

Thursday’s condemnation is not the first time DeWine has publicly challenged an attack against Acton from the Republican candidate he endorsed.

As TiffinOhio.net reported in April, DeWine disputed a Ramaswamy-McColley campaign advertisement accusing Acton of unilaterally shutting down Ohio’s March 2020 primary election.

The advertisement accused Acton of defying a judge and abusing her authority by closing polling places during the pandemic. DeWine said that characterization was inaccurate because he personally directed Acton to issue the health order.

“I told her to issue the health order. The decision was mine,” DeWine told NBC4 at the time.

DeWine has also repeatedly defended Acton’s actions during the pandemic, maintaining that the major decisions made by his administration were his responsibility as governor.

Now, six months later, he is once again publicly contradicting an attack from Ramaswamy’s political operation. This time, he is demanding that the campaign stop running it altogether.

Ramaswamy campaign refuses to back down

The advertisement features Arthur accusing her daughter of lying about her childhood, including claims that she experienced homelessness and lived in a tent.

What the commercial does not disclose is the history behind their nearly five-decade estrangement.

Police and court records obtained by the Associated Press confirm that Acton’s stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was arrested in 1978 and indicted on a charge of raping Acton when she was 12. He pleaded not guilty but subsequently failed to appear in court and remained a fugitive for years. The available records do not establish a conviction.

Donna Arthur supported her husband during the proceedings and remained married to him until his death in 2004. Acton and her younger brother were removed from their mother’s custody, and Acton has said she has not seen her mother since childhood.

TiffinOhio.net previously reported on the family’s history and her brother Philip Stearns’ condemnation of the attack.

Despite the criticism from DeWine, Ramaswamy’s campaign continued defending the commercial Thursday.

In a statement to CBS News, campaign spokeswoman Connie Luck argued that Arthur’s accusations concerned Acton’s honesty rather than the abuse she experienced.

“Acton’s mother is speaking out about her clear pattern of lying — not abuse,” Luck said.

The campaign has not announced plans to withdraw the advertisement.

Vance tells Republican critics to ‘stop whining’

DeWine’s position stands in sharp contrast to Vice President JD Vance, who defended Ramaswamy against Republican critics during a campaign appearance in Cincinnati on Wednesday.

Vance told reporters he was disgusted by Republicans complaining about the commercial and urged them to focus on winning the election.

“Stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race in 13 days,” Vance said.

Other prominent Ohio Republicans have also distanced themselves from the attack. U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, whom DeWine appointed to the Senate in 2025, told the Associated Press he would not have run it. Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose expressed the same position.

Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley condemned Ramaswamy personally, while former Republican congressman Jim Renacci warned that Republicans who refused to distance themselves from the advertisement could suffer politically.

The public disagreement has divided Republican leaders in the final days of an increasingly competitive governor’s race. Ramaswamy’s campaign is committing millions to the advertisement despite opposition from DeWine, Husted and other members of the party’s establishment.

DeWine’s position leaves that division unresolved. He says the advertisement is wrong, confirms that Acton was truthful in his experience working with her and wants Ramaswamy to stop running it. But with early voting already underway ahead of the November 3 election, the governor is continuing to support the candidate responsible for producing it.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Stephen A. Schwarzman, Blackstone’s chairman and CEO, gave Merrin $3,500 on Sept. 30. His wife, Christine Schwarzman, contributed another $3,500 the same day. Blackstone owns QTS Data Centers, which announced plans in May for a data center campus in Van Wert, Ohio, expected to involve approximately $10 billion in investment.

The same FEC filing attributes another $3,500 to Antonio Gracias, founder and CEO of Valor Equity Partners, on July 10. That money was allocated to Merrin through the Grow the Majority joint fundraising committee, rather than contributed directly to his campaign. Valor has financed data center construction and computing infrastructure for major artificial intelligence companies.

The contributions were reported as Merrin, the Republican challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, fought criticism of his record on data center subsidies. In an Oct. 7 interview with 13 Action News, Merrin accused Kaptur of telling “whoppers of a lies” about data centers and him. He voted in 2017 for legislation that expanded an existing Ohio tax exemption for data center operators.

The $7,000 from Blackstone’s chief executive and his wife

The Schwarzmans’ contributions arrived four months after QTS and the city of Van Wert announced their proposed campus. The company identified itself as a Blackstone portfolio company in the announcement, projected approximately $10 billion in investment and said the project would create about 200 permanent QTS positions, in addition to construction work.

Blackstone has a second major stake in Ohio’s data center expansion: the electricity infrastructure built to serve it. In July, energy company Williams announced a $5.34 billion investment agreement led by Blackstone, alongside Apollo and KKR, for five power generation projects serving rising demand, including from data centers. Four of the five projects are in Ohio. The three investment firms agreed to provide the capital in exchange for a 49% noncontrolling interest in the projects.

Schwarzman leads the firm that owns the developer of one of northwest Ohio’s largest proposed data center projects and is helping finance the power generation needed for the broader buildout. He and his wife each gave Merrin the $3,500 maximum permitted from an individual donor for one federal election.

Another $3,500 linked to AI infrastructure investments

Gracias’ contribution ties Merrin to another firm pursuing the rapidly expanding market for AI computing capacity. Valor identifies Gracias as its founder, chief executive and chief investment officer.

In January, Valor-managed funds arranged a $5.4 billion acquisition and lease of data center computing equipment, including Nvidia processors, to a subsidiary of Elon Musk’s xAI. Valor is also an investor in Crusoe, which builds large AI data centers. Crusoe said in September that Valor co-led a $3.9 billion financing round for the company.

The FEC lists Gracias’ $3,500 as an itemized allocation connected to a transfer from the Grow the Majority joint fundraising committee. It is one of three $3,500 entries that account for the $10,500 tied to the investors and the Blackstone executive’s family in Merrin’s newly filed report.

Merrin’s data center vote is on the record

Merrin’s legislative record on data center incentives predates these donations. On June 28, 2017, while serving in the Ohio House, he voted for House Bill 49, the state budget legislation that extended the time for operators of qualifying 2013 data center projects to meet capital investment requirements under Ohio’s existing sales and use tax exemption. The House passed the bill 59-40, and the state’s own legislative accounting describes the extension from five years to six.

The 2017 vote did not create Ohio’s data center tax break; it broadened the terms of an exemption already on the books. Merrin voted for that change. He now has campaign receipts from executives financing the industry benefiting from Ohio’s broader data center expansion.

Ohio has since confronted the staggering cost of its tax incentives for data centers. In May, Gov. Mike DeWine paused consideration of new exemptions after state figures showed nearly $1.6 billion in foregone sales tax revenue during 2025, far beyond earlier projections. The industry has become a central issue in northwest Ohio communities debating electricity demand, land use and the public cost of new infrastructure.

On Oct. 7, Merrin accused Kaptur of misrepresenting his data center record. Eight days later, his campaign filed the report listing $10,500 associated with the Blackstone chief executive’s family and the head of Valor Equity Partners. Voters will decide the race Nov. 3.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Ramaswamy founded the biotechnology company Roivant Sciences in 2014 and served as its CEO until 2021. The company develops medicines through specialized subsidiaries.

One of those subsidiaries is the Shanghai-based Sinovant, launched in 2017. The company was partially financed by CITIC Private Equity (CITICPE), an investment firm that is part of a web of state-owned enterprises in China that are under the sway of the Chinese Communist Party.

A state-owned entity in China can be wholly or partially owned by the government. The Chinese Communist Party wields influence over these entities by setting national economic priorities, making leadership appointments, and setting strategic directions.

When Sinovant launched, CITICPE was the investment arm of CITIC Securities, which was an offshoot of the state-owned CITIC Group.

CITICPE spun off from CITIC Securities in 2018 and became CPE, but the firms remained tied through jointly managed investment funds, according to the Prague Security Studies Institute. CITICPE also retained its longtime CEO, Lieu Lefei, who is a prominent “princeling,” a term ascribed to the children of high-ranking communist officials.

Lefei’s father, Liu Yunshan, was reportedly involved in censoring online information about the Uyghur ethnic cleansing campaign.

Ramaswamy partnered with CITICPE again in 2018 to launch Cytovant Biotechnology, a Sinovant subsidiary that is also domiciled in China.

A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) report from 2021 identified national security concerns involving Pacific Networks and ComNet, two subsidiaries of CITIC Group. This followed previous reporting in 2017 that CITIC Group had provided Iran with a $10 billion line of credit. The U.S. government designates Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Roivant divested from Cytovant in July 2022. As of 2023, Ramaswamy was still the sixth-largest shareholder in Roivant.

Earlier this month, Ramaswamy said his 2026 race is “probably the most important election for governor” Ohio has ever seen and that his victory would signal “success over communism, success over socialism.”

Ramaswamy’s Democratic opponent is former Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton. Recent polls show a neck-and-neck race.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The fraud was documented by Rhode Island election officials and acknowledged by Ramaswamy’s own campaign. After officials discovered the names of deceased voters on his presidential petitions, the campaign said an investigation by its signature-gathering contractor found that an employee had intentionally written those names on the forms. The worker was fired.

Now, as the Republican nominee for Ohio governor, Ramaswamy is urging voters to approve State Issue 3, a constitutional amendment he championed as a safeguard against election fraud. The amendment would not have prevented the kind of petition forgery found in his presidential campaign.

Dead voters on presidential petitions

On Jan. 10, 2024, Rhode Island Deputy Elections Director Miguel Nunez warned election officials across the state that Coventry canvassers had rejected an unusually high number of signatures on Ramaswamy’s presidential petitions. His alert identified two collectors, Heidy Moore and Michael Michols, and instructed election boards to watch for possible patterns of forgery.

In the same warning, Nunez reported that Warwick officials had found deceased voters’ names on Ramaswamy’s petitions. Election officials subsequently identified five dead Warwick residents on forms collected by Moore. The residents had died between 2017 and 2023. Providence officials separately reported at least six deceased people’s names on petitions submitted for Ramaswamy, according to Rhode Island Current.

Warwick canvassers certified only 144 of the 334 signatures submitted for Ramaswamy, rejecting 190 — nearly 57% of the total. The petitions were part of Ramaswamy’s effort to qualify for the state’s Republican presidential primary.

An Ohio signature collector convicted on 17 forgery counts

The collector named in the state’s warning was Heidi D. Moore of Orrville, Ohio. A Boston Globe examination of Ohio court records found that Moore had been convicted of 17 forgery counts in Medina and Wayne counties in 2007 and served prison time. The cases involved forged checks.

On the Rhode Island petitions, Moore signed an affidavit under oath declaring that the people listed had signed in her presence. Five of the purported signers identified on her Warwick forms were already dead. Moore told the Globe she had gathered signatures outside a Walmart in Warwick and denied knowing how the deceased voters’ names appeared on the petitions. She confirmed she had been fired by the signature-gathering firm.

Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign hired Missouri-based GroundGame Political Solutions to collect signatures. Then-campaign spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin confirmed to Rhode Island Current that the contractor’s inquiry uncovered intentional forgery by a worker and said the firm had notified Warwick police. The campaign denied participating in or knowing about the falsification.

Rhode Island law makes knowingly falsifying or filing false nomination papers a felony. These were signatures on ballot-access petitions, not ballots cast in an election — a distinction central to the election-integrity plan Ramaswamy is now promoting in Ohio.

The election fraud his Ohio amendment would not stop

In a May 18, 2026, opinion column, Ramaswamy called on Ohio lawmakers to place the state’s photo-ID requirement in the Constitution, arguing that the existing law could otherwise be changed or overturned. He also promoted federal voter-identification legislation as a way to prevent fraud and strengthen public confidence in elections.

“Voter ID laws can restore this trust,” Ramaswamy wrote.

Ohio already requires approved, unexpired photo identification for in-person voting. The amendment on the Nov. 3 ballot would make that requirement constitutional and establish identity-verification rules for other voting methods. It would impose no new requirement that political campaigns vet paid petition circulators or authenticate the signatures they collect to qualify candidates for the ballot.

Rhode Island officials exposed the forgery on Ramaswamy’s presidential petitions by reviewing signatures submitted for ballot access. Ohio’s proposed constitutional amendment addresses the identification of people casting votes. It does nothing to stop campaign contractors from submitting forged nominating signatures under the names of dead voters — the very fraud acknowledged by Ramaswamy’s own presidential campaign.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The cost of individual health insurance plans rose to $9,804 on average, while family coverage reached $28,303. Both represented a 5% increase over the last year.

Employees paid about $1,672 for individual coverage, while employers contributed $8,132. People with health insurance for a family of four paid $7,471, with employers providing $20,833.

The amount of money an employee pays toward an individual health insurance plan rose by $232, or 16%, from 2025 to 2026. The price an employee pays for a family health insurance policy increased by $621, or 9%, according to the survey. 

“We have been hearing a lot about Affordable Care Act and Medicaid cuts,” KFF President and CEO Drew Altman said in a statement. “Now add a 9% increase in what workers with employer coverage paid toward family premiums in 2026 to the reasons voters are so concerned about their health care costs.”

The national survey looked at the health insurance costs of more than 1,900 employers throughout the country who have at least 10 workers.

The cost of employer-sponsored health insurance plans has steadily gone up for the last 15 years, according to KFF’s data. In 2011, the cost of an individual plan totaled just under $5,500 and family plans cost $15,220 annually. 

The average deductible reached $1,995 for single coverage this year, meaning even with health insurance, most employees had to pay a couple thousand dollars out of pocket before their policies kicked in. That’s more than doubled since 2011 when the average annual deductible was $955.

The KFF survey found that 88% of workers with individual coverage had a deductible in 2026. 

What types of healthcare coverage people get with the various employer-sponsored health insurance plans varied considerably, sometimes based on the size of their company. 

Twenty-seven percent of employers with more than 200 employees, called large firms in the KFF survey, covered the costs of in vitro fertilization, or IVF. 

But that fluctuated, with 24% of companies between 200 and 999 workers covering IVF, 38% of companies between 1,000 and 4,999 employees providing coverage and 47% of companies with more than 5,000 workers offering a health insurance plan that covers IVF. 

Access to GLP-1 drugs, which can help people manage Type 2 diabetes and lower their weight, also varied based on the size of someone’s employer. Eighteen percent of large firms covered those drugs during 2026, though that was slightly lower than the 19% that covered it during 2025. 

The KFF survey showed that 40% of companies require people on GLP-1 drugs for weight loss to “meet with a dietitian, case manager, or therapist, or participate in a lifestyle program in order for the drug to be covered.”

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Trump began his October campaign road trip in GOP-friendly states, but has begun venturing into territory that’s deemed to have become perilous for Republicans.

The GOP is itching to maintain its narrow majority in the U.S. House and Senate, though elections forecasters are offering a far less optimistic outlook for Republicans, as Democrats remain favored to take back the House and more Senate races shift in the party’s favor. 

Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics on Tuesday moved nearly 30 House races toward Democrats.

The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter shifted Senate races in Mississippi and South Carolina toward Democrats on Tuesday. But the elections forecaster also moved a Senate race in Minnesota toward Republicans. 

In the Palmetto State, where South Carolina GOP Sen. Darline Graham faces Democrat Annie Andrews, the Cook Political Report changed its race rating from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican.” 

Trump was scheduled to rally in Clemson, South Carolina, on Wednesday for Graham, who was appointed in July to serve out the remainder of her late brother Lindsey Graham’s term. 

Rush to early voting

More than 16 million Americans have already voted early in the midterm elections as of Wednesday afternoon, according to a tracker from the University of Florida Election Lab. 

Meanwhile, Trump continues to see dismal approval ratings amid the costly war in Iran and its impact at the gas pump. According to AAA, the national average price for a gallon of regular gas stood at $4.26, as of Oct. 21. One year ago, that price stood at about $3.05. 

New polling from The New York Times and CNN offers a snapshot of just how bleak Trump’s approval ratings are with less than two weeks to go until the midterms — hitting record lows in the pair of polls.

In a Times/Siena University national poll, only 36% of likely voters approved of Trump’s performance. Similarly, a CNN/SSRS poll found a 32% approval rating for the president.  

Trump road show

Here’s a closer look at Trump’s travel in the coming days, after recent stops in Georgia, Kentucky, Kansas and North Carolina: 

• The president will head to Sioux City, Iowa, for a rally on Thursday. The Hawkeye State features an open Senate race between Iowa Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson and Democrat Josh Turek that the Cook Political Report has listed as a toss-up.

• Trump will then rally in Fort Myers, Florida, on Friday, where the Sunshine State’s Senate race is described as “solid Republican” by the Cook Political Report. Florida GOP Sen. Ashley Moody faces Democrat Angie Nixon. 

• Trump travels to Perry, Georgia, on Saturday for a rally. The Senate race in Georgia is listed as “likely Democrat” by the Cook Political Report. Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is vying for another term against Georgia GOP Rep. Mike Collins. 

• The president will then head north to rally Sunday in Port Huron, Michigan. Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed are battling it out in an open Senate race the Cook Political Report has dubbed a toss-up. 

• On Monday, Trump will rally in Corinth, Mississippi. In the ruby red state, Mississippi GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith is competing for another term against Democrat Scott Colom in a race that the Cook Political Report moved from “solid Republican” to “likely Republican.”

• On Tuesday, Oct. 27, Trump is set to hold rallies in both Waco and Lubbock, Texas. The Lone Star State features a pivotal Senate race between Texas GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico that the Cook Political Report declares a toss-up. 

• Trump will then travel to Chillicothe, Ohio, on Wednesday, Oct. 28, for a rally. The Buckeye State is also home to another toss-up Senate race listed by the Cook Political Report between Ohio GOP Sen. Jon Husted and Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown.  

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Scott Hartman faces a number of different charges related to allegations of sexual conduct with a minor, and one of the charges, misdemeanor grooming, didn’t exist before April 2025. Hartman has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Hartman, 49, was arrested by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Oct. 1, for “online sexual abuse of a minor,” according to a release from the office earlier this month.

According to the sheriff’s office, an investigation began in April of this year after a “teenage victim reported to school counselors that she had engaged in an online relationship with Hartman that included text messages and video calls involving video sex acts and the exchange of nude images and videos.”

The activities went on for six months before they were discovered, the sheriff’s office said, alleging Hartman attempted to meet the teenager for sex and “convinced the victim to delete any evidence and attempted to hide the fact that she was a minor.”

“Due to the nature of their conversations, one or more of his alleged social media accounts were shut down and reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Hartman was listed as a senior vice president and chief development officer for The Catholic Foundation.

The foundation’s president and CEO, Loren Brown, said Hartman had been fired and the foundation was cooperating with law enforcement.

“What Scott Hartman did is a violation of trust and stands in direct opposition to our mission and our Catholic faith,” Brown said in a statement.

Hartman was indicted on Oct. 13, charged with pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and other related felony offenses, along with tampering with evidence, and a misdemeanor grooming charge.

The grooming charge was part of a bill enacted in April 2025 to update sex offense statutes in the state of Ohio. Other provisions were updates to civil actions related to misconduct alleged to have happened years, even decades ago.

Former Ohio state Sen. Bill Seitz, a Republican from Cincinnati, co-sponsored Ohio House Bill 322, which came about partly because of Ohioans who wanted more consequences for those who fail to report alleged sexual abuse, and those who have groomed victims before committing any sexual acts. But it was a balancing act to make sure those attempting to help children didn’t see unintended consequences.

“The trick, obviously, is to differentiate between the casual, sympathetic arm around the shoulder for somebody who’s facing an adverse childhood experience — which is perfectly legal — and something that shows elements of a pattern going well beyond that,” Seitz told the Capital Journal.

It was that pattern and proving intent in the pattern that gave the bill appeal, he said.

The grooming statute under which Hartman is charged states that no person older than 18 years old can “engage in a pattern of conduct” with anyone younger than 16 years old and four years younger than the adult when “the pattern of conduct would cause a reasonable adult person to believe that the person is communicating with a minor” for the purposes of sexual activity or preparing a minor to engage in sexual activity, according to the law.

The charge is a misdemeanor, a low-level offense which typically does not carry a significant prison sentence, unless charged alongside felonies.

While Seitz didn’t comment on Hartman’s case specifically, he said having the law in place will help not only be able to charge offenders in current cases, but allow more civil action and deter more serious crimes.

“I do not think there will be a huge influx of cases, just because it will be somewhat difficult to prove, but (supporters of the bill) wanted something on the books that would enable this kind of conduct to be nipped in the bud before it became far more serious,” Seitz said.

Also included in the legislation was a longer statute of limitations for charging those required to report any information about potential sex abuse crimes who fail to do so.

H.B. 322 moved the statute of limitations from two year to four, something mothers who talked with Seitz about bringing up the bill wanted to see. The group was advocating for more punishment particularly for priests accused of abuse.

“That was a concern that these mothers had, too, that by the time they found out that some of the priests were acting badly, the time for any possible prosecution of others who might have known of the priests’ malevolent activity were off the hook because the statute of limitations had expired,” Seitz said.

A third component of the law that was important to Seitz was updating a law from the mid-2000s, giving individuals the right to use civil action in cases where statutes of limitation had expired.

In the law, if a court finds in a civil proceeding that there is enough evidence to prove an individual is a child sex offender, Seitz said the individual would be placed on a sex offender list.

While he doesn’t think the law passed last year will lead to an overabundance of legal cases, he believes times have changed enough to make the laws enough to target abuses that he hopes are becoming “a thing of the past.”

“I think people were very, very relaxed in their attitudes back in the 50s and 60s, and even into the 70s,” Seitz said. “But now, all of these organizations have adopted pretty stringent requirements for training and for making sure that they’re not letting the wrong kind of people around the kids.”

In Hartman’s case, a bond was set at $750,000, and he remains incarcerated as the court case continues.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The number of jobs in some sectors appears to be falling in the face of rising prices and interest rates. Meanwhile, people are leaving the labor force as the state ages, working-age immigrants are deported and wages fall relative to inflation.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services last week reported that the state’s employers shed 5,000 jobs last month, according to Policy Matters Ohio. Unemployment rose from 3.3% in August to 3.4%, and inflation rose from 3.4% to 3.7%.

Meanwhile, participation in the labor force continued a decline that started in June of 2025. By September, Ohio’s participation rate stood at 61.2% compared to 61.8% nationally, according to the Buckeye Institute.

The reasons for falling workforce participation can be complex.

The measure doesn’t consider people who have aged out of the workforce, only those who are of working age and able-bodied, but not looking for a job. Those people are not counted in the unemployment rate.

Policy Matters reported that Ohio’s working-age population grew by 4,000 in September, yet labor force participation fell.

Before employers began pulling back in recent weeks, more jobs seemed to be available. President Donald Trump’s mass deportations appeared to remove many of the 2 million foreign-born men who left the country over the past two years, and 80% of whom were employed.

However, many of their jobs were in sectors such as construction and agriculture that native-born workers can be reluctant to fill.

In any case, the nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research in April found that large deportations hurt the labor force. Perhaps ironically, the study showed that they lead to drops in employment among native-born male workers.

Income inequality may also play a role.

Americans were already trapped in a post-pandemic affordability crisis when Trump began his second administration. Then he slapped high tariffs on most of the world and started a war with Iran, making it worse.

In a written statement Buckeye Institute Vice President of Policy Rea S. Hederman Jr. said inflation is making man Ohio workers poorer.

“While private-sector hiring was revised up from the August jobs report, September’s job losses kept private-sector employment flat over the past two months,” he said. “Ohio’s workers are struggling as inflation-adjusted wages have fallen over the last year.”

Ironically, people can become so financially stressed that they can’t afford to work. Things such as child care, transportation and even clothing can make it not financially worthwhile to take a poorly paid job.

Molly Bryden, a researcher at Policy Matters Ohio, said lawmakers need to take such workers into account as they try to address an economy that has so many struggling.

“Combined with inflation and lackluster growth, this should be an early-warning signal to lawmakers,” Bryden said in a written statement. “Federal and state lawmakers must re-prioritize and focus on worker supports to draw people back to the labor force, expand pathways to quality jobs with family-sustaining wages, and restore affordability through shared prosperity — rather than pushing ‘pro-business’ policies that leave working families behind.”

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Local property taxes are already the largest source of funding for most public schools across Ohio. Residential property owners are tapped out and plenty tired of schools coming to them hat in hand. But when district levies fail cash-strapped schools do without. Without staff. Without services. Without programs to enrich learning.

Multiple public school districts have been forced to lay off teachers, cut courses and extracurriculars. Classroom size has swelled to capacity. Teachers are overburdened.

Students get less than the optimum instruction they deserve. Educating the next generation of Ohioans should be the top priority of state leaders.

Yet Ohio has repeatedly scaled back its investment in the public school system that educates nearly 90% of the state’s K-12 students.

For almost 30 years the Republican-run legislature has shirked its constitutional duty to fund a “thorough and efficient system” of public schools and shifted the load of paying for local districts on to homeowners.

The state share of public school funding has fallen from a high of 47% in 1999 down to an estimated 35% in 2026 and 32.2% for 2027.

Ohio ranks near the bottom nationally (around 45th) in state K-12 revenue. Statehouse Republicans appear determined to put public schools out of business.

In the current state budget, legislators scrapped the final phase of a six-year, bipartisan school financing formula that was designed to more accurately reflect the genuine cost of educating students and the financial capacity of each community to support its schools.

The Fair School Funding Plan (FSFP) marked a significant step toward correcting the decades-old disparity in school funding that was heavily dependent on local taxes.

But for the 2021 funding plan to be successful in fixing the long-broken, unconstitutional funding model for Ohio’s public schools it had to be sustained by future budget-writing lawmakers. It was not.

The biennial budget for 2026-2027, passed by Republican majorities in the General Assembly and signed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, effectively abandoned and underfunded the FSFP by about $2.75 billion (compared to what the plan mandated) and provided just 5.7% of the state-level funding increase schools required based on the actual cost-based formula. 

Republican Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, who has done more to privatize public education in Ohio than anyone, called the proposal to fully fund the last two years of the Fair School Funding Plan a “fantasy” and claimed the state couldn’t afford it.

Too expensive, scoffed Huffman while simultaneously funneling massive amounts of public money — over $1 billion annually — into private, primarily Christian schools.

The state-paid tuition checks (with no strings attached) are called vouchers.

Unlike state funding for public schools, that comes with oversight and accountability of tax dollars spent, there is zero accounting for Huffman’s private school boondoggle that finances religious institutions at the cost of local schools most Ohio kids attend.

In the 2026 fiscal year alone, the total amount of public funds spent on Ohio’s five private school voucher programs was $1.173 billion.

Almost half of that money, $532.8 million, went to the Education Choice Expansion vouchers that Huffman made universally available to every affluent family in the state (regardless of income) whose children attend private schools.

Last week an Ohio appellate court concluded the EdChoice voucher program violated the clear language of the state constitution by effectively setting up a “competing system of uncommon schools that is not subject to the same obligations imposed on Ohio’s system of common schools.”

The Ohio 10th District Court of Appeals ruling, which affirmed a lower court’s decision in 2025, noted that participating non-public schools on the public dole receive taxpayer funding in a manner that operates at the “detriment of Ohio’s public schools, and, consequently, the children who depend on those public schools for instruction, support, and opportunities that shape their future.”

State Republicans shrugged off the expected ruling confident it will be overturned by the Republican-majority on the Ohio Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Huffman & Co happily handed Ohio property owners an even heavier public school funding burden this election cycle — with a slew of school levy issues on the ballot to counteract the legislature’s latest round of reduced state-level contributions to K-12 education — while adding more than a billion in taxpayer subsidies to the tab to bankroll diocesan schools.

Ohio’s 600-plus public school districts in the state can twist in a perpetual panic over funding shortfalls, negative cash balances, or severe deficits.

Private school lobbyists got their voucher hooks in the general revenue fund and, with powerful GOP backing, they’re not letting go. But Ohio voters may want a say in the matter especially as they’re filling out ballots over the next two weeks that promise bigger tax bills to keep their public schools afloat.

They may draw the line at subsidizing a “competing system” of parish schools when they’re already paying the lion’s share of one district’s operating budget.

Why not find out definitively what Ohioans think about funding Huffman’s exploding universal private school vouchers program — twice ruled unconstitutional — with an up or down statewide vote? Seems fair.

Colorado, Kentucky and Nebraska did in 2024, and voters rejected the creation or expansion of private school vouchers in all three states.

Ohioans are paying billions to prop up private schools while their public schools go wanting. The issue belongs on a ballot for Ohio voters to decide themselves.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

If approved, PowerConneX 3 will become the seventh gas plant to power a data center in the New Albany business park. Together these seven gas plants total 1936 MW – roughly equivalent to the electricity demand of over 1.3 million homes.

These seven gas plants have the potential to emit 11.9 million tons of greenhouse gas pollution, 766 tons of fine particulate matter, and hundreds of tons each of other harmful pollutants such as nitrous oxides, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds, and hazardous air pollutants each year – all next to populated areas of New Albany and Licking County. 

Serious health effects

Particularly harmful to human health is the fine particulate matter – less than 2.5 micrometers or 1/30th the width of a human hair.

This pollutant is breathed deep into the lungs, enters the bloodstream, and causes inflammation throughout the body.

Extensive scientific evidence shows that long-term exposure to fine particulate matter is associated with heart disease, stroke, respiratory illness, asthma, and premature death. 

A 2026 study of a 135 MW gas plant powering a data center in Virginia found that it could result in $53 million to $99 million in annual health-related damages due to missed work, missed school, hospitalizations, and 3.4 to 6.5 additional deaths per year in the impacted region.

The study was conducted by a Harvard-affiliated health scientist. 

The seven gas plants approved and proposed in New Albany have a combined power output 14 times larger than the gas plant studied in Virginia.

Most vulnerable are children whose lungs are still developing. Almost 13,300 children live within a five-mile radius of the business park where these seven gas plants will be operated.

Inefficient technology

One reason these gas plants powering data centers are so polluting is they are not using the best available technology. Most utility grade gas plants use combined cycle turbines, which generate electricity from the combusted gas in two different turbines. 

The gas plants in New Albany are using less efficient technology. This includes simple cycle turbines, which generate electricity in only a single stage, with the polluting exhaust and waste heat expelled out of a short stack at 800 degrees.

Even worse, the PowerConneX 3 gas plant will use 30 reciprocating internal combustion engines – like a gas car engine, only longer than a full-sized school bus and about as tall as a two-story house. Because this equipment is less efficient, it uses more gas to generate the same amount of electricity, resulting in more pollution.

Data centers are installing this more polluting equipment because it’s faster to procure and construct. But more pollution means accelerated climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions and worsened air quality due to pollutants like particulate matter.

That is not acceptable. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, July 2026 was the warmest month on record for the contiguous United States. This past July, the Columbus area set a record for the worst-ever air quality index since the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission began keeping records in 1999.

Accelerated process

Another issue is the Ohio Power Siting Board’s process for approving the gas plants powering data centers. Five plants in the New Albany business park have already been approved – three through the accelerated application process that included no public notice, no public hearing, and automatic approval – not even a formal vote by board members. 

For the two gas plants approved through the standard application process, the siting board held public hearings as required. But these two hearings, held in August and October of last year, each had only two to three individuals offer testimony. All such individuals were either oil and gas industry representatives or representatives from unions whose members would financially benefit from these projects.

While the first few gas plants in New Albany were approved quietly, word is now getting out, and area residents have had enough. More than 50 people packed a New Albany meeting room on October 6 for the most recent public hearing on the 500 MW NEO Power Generation Facility, the fourth gas plant planned to power Meta’s Prometheus data center, and the sixth gas plant proposed for the New Albany business park.

Five representatives from the oil and gas industry and unions spoke in favor of NEO, while 20 people passionately voiced their opposition to the project. The opposition included a few environmental advocates from other parts of the state, but the vast majority were residents of New Albany and surrounding communities. 

While data centers say they are creating jobs and contributing to our communities, no amount of economic benefits can outweigh the cost to the environment and the public’s health that will result from a massive build-out of inefficient, subpar natural gas technology. 

One need not be against data centers, AI, or natural gas power to oppose these gas plants. Rather, this is simply too much, too fast, and too polluting.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

In a swing of his own home town Cincinnati Wednesday, Vance touted dozens of indictments for food assistance fraud and pumped up Ohio’s GOP supporters at a campaign rally. But the comments on the ad garnered the most attention. The ad has drawn sharp criticism across the political spectrum.

“I have to admit that I’m a little bit disgusted when I see Republicans across the country who are whining more about that advertisement than they are about what the congressional Democrats and other Democrats want to do to the United States of America,” Vance told the campaign rally crowd.

“Politics is a tough business,” he added, “and my message to my fellow elected Republicans is: if you actually believe in the things you say you believe in, stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race in 13 days.”

The attack ad controversy

In the ad, Acton’s mother Donna Arthur repeatedly calls Acton a liar. Acton was removed from Arthur’s custody in the late 1970s, after her husband Cledith Arthur was charged with raping Acton, who was 12 years old at the time. After being released on bond, the Arthurs fled the state.

Republican candidate for governor Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign initially issued a statement insisting “Vivek wants the election to focus on how to solve (rising costs),” and called Acton a “serial fabulist” but didn’t take credit for the ad’s production. Later that day, Ramaswamy again said he would “love for this race and this election to be about the substantive issues” but acknowledged his campaign produced the ad.

Ramaswamy’s campaign told Axios it plans to spend $4 million running it statewide.

Vivek Ramaswamy is not fit to lead. Watch our new ad. pic.twitter.com/EhWNMdFjjH

— Dr. Amy Acton (@amyactonoh) October 20, 2026

Acton’s campaign quickly released an ad featuring her younger brother Phil Stearns criticizing Ramaswamy for trying to score political points off the abuse they both suffered as children.

“Shame on Vivek,” he says, “It’s the contempt he has for Amy it’s the contempt he has for Ohio. He’s not fit to lead.”

In the Ramaswamy campaign’s initial statement and later speaking to reporters, he’s justified the ad by blaming Acton for refusing to debate him. Vance went a step further.

“People have called Vivek Ramaswamy a murderer in some of the advertisements ran against him,” Vance claimed at the food assistance fraud event.

It’s not clear to which advertisement Vance was referring, and an email to his press contact seeking clarification got no answer.

Ramaswamy’s campaign didn’t respond to similar requests either. But on social media, Ramaswamy shared two clips of Vance making the claim describing it as “hard facts” and “a strong message to Republicans & a strong reminder to everyone.”

Advertisements produced by Acton’s campaign, and by the Democratic Governors Association Super PAC backing her, criticize Ramaswamy’s tenure as a pharmaceutical executive for publicly lauding an Alzheimer’s drug that eventually proved ineffective. But Ohio Capital Journal was unable to identify any ads which suggest Ramaswamy is a murderer.

SNAP fraud

Wednesday morning, Vance joined several Department of Justice officials in Cincinnati to announce indictments against 40 people who have allegedly defrauded SNAP, the program formerly known as food stamps. Those defendants allegedly stole $42 million from the program.

The biggest share of that total came from charges against Jorag Yaseen and Rami Kanaan who allegedly stole $29.7 million from the program. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, they used stolen account information from Ohio and other states to run false transactions at their Illinois stores.

Vance, however focused on a case out of Atlanta against Merecedes Reshard New, who goes by Shawty Dred on social media. They brought out a tv to show a clip of Reshard with a private jet.

“You broke, mother——,” New says in the clip, “Get you a jet. Get you a jet.”

“The simple fact is,” Vance said, “this is a man that we have connected to $4.4 million dollars in fraud against the SNAP program. A guy who is quite literally taking food from the mouths of children, so that he can enrich himself.”

According to a DOJ press release, New was able to operate for six years and allegedly controlled more than 350 fraudulent SNAP accounts. He was arrested last week.

“SNAP exists to help hungry children eat,” Vance said. “It does not exist to provide private jets to a guy like Shawty Dred.”

But while the administration is tackling fraud in the program it has also made significant changes that will lead to reduced payments, primarily in Ohio’s urban counties.

As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, states have to shoulder a greater share of the burden based on error rates.

In a July 2025 statement, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins praised the changes for “tackl(ing) the fraud and waste that has run rampant” in the program.

Ohio lawmakers agreed to cover some of the shortfall, but the way they chose to divvy up the dollars leaves multi-million dollar shortfalls in Cuyahoga, Franklin, and Hamilton counties.

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Absentee and early in-person voting started last week in the Nov. 3 election last week. As they have, a consortium of pro-democracy groups has positioned monitors at polling places, set up an election hotline and has lawyers and others waiting to be dispatched if problems arise.

At the same time, the NAACP announced plans to open a legal war room of its own on Oct. 24.

Many of the measures are routine, but fears are elevated this year.

President Donald Trump already tried to overturn an election he lost in 2020.

Behind in the polls, he’s again making false claims about election security. In May he would not rule out the possibility of sending federal agents to polling places — which many legal experts say is illegal.

In the face of that, volunteers are working to ensure normalcy in this year’s election.

“There’s a very robust election-protection effort,” said Mia Lewis of Common Cause Ohio.

She said her group, the Ohio Voter Rights Coalition, the League of Women Voters, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups are training and have deployed poll monitors. 

The political parties have observers inside polling places where they observe what’s happening, but aren’t allowed to talk to voters. Nonpartisan monitors are outside polling places, where they answer nonpolitical questions and watch for problems.

“We answer people’s questions and make sure everything is going smoothly,” Lewis said. “Poll monitors are the eyes and ears on the ground of the Ohio election-protection system.”

The groups also have lawyers available if legal issues arise, and “peacekeepers” such as ministers and social workers to dispatch if things get tense, Lewis said.

And there’s a national election protection hotline — 866-OUR-VOTE (687-8683) operated by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law. Anyone with questions or who sees potential problems can call.

“We have access to that on the back end, so if problems are reported we can try to solve them in real time,” Lewis said. “We try to spread the word about the hotline as much as we can before the election because the more people know about it, the more voters we can help, the more problems we can solve.”

The group operating the protection hotline can accommodate languages other than English.

So far, most of the problems the Ohio groups are hearing have to do with confusion about deadlines and absentee voting, Lewis said. She added that recent changes in the state haven’t helped.

The rights groups want all Ohio citizens to know that hundreds of volunteers have fanned out across the state and they should feel safe voting. Lewis said that’s especially true for citizens who were born outside the country or have foreign-sounding names.

“We definitely hope they aren’t discouraged from voting because they feel things are strange this year,” she said. “We really, really hope that doesn’t happen. We want folks to go out and vote and exercise their rights.”

Meanwhile, Ohio is among the 16 states the NAACP is including in its midterm war room, which will provide “a dedicated phone line, email addresses, and digital forms for voters to submit any cases of alleged voter intimidation, suppression, or issues while voting,” the group said in a written statement.

“The NAACP will respond to credible cases as they emerge to help ensure eligible voters can cast their ballots and have those ballots counted.”

The state-level hubs will launch by Oct. 24. They come after conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court have dramatically weakened the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was intended to ensure all citizens have equal access to the ballot — and to representation in government.

“We cannot buy into the fear,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a written statement.

“Donald Trump wants us to be afraid, because he is a deeply unpopular president. He’s afraid of losing his grip on Congress, so he wants us to stay home and make it harder to vote. Real power belongs to the people, and the NAACP is ready to protect all voters when they go and cast their ballots.”

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Husted’s support extended from defending a $43.5 million tax break for Google in 2019 to promoting major data center projects as lieutenant governor under Gov. Mike DeWine. As recently as July 2025, he was still defending the tax incentives, arguing against eliminating them for new developments.

By the following year, Ohio’s Department of Taxation had revealed that its data center sales-tax exemption cost the state approximately $1.57 billion in 2025, more than 11 times the $135.8 million officials had projected. Husted subsequently reversed his position on awarding new exemptions, as the industry’s enormous electricity demands and government subsidies became major issues in his U.S. Senate race against Democrat Sherrod Brown.

Husted celebrated data centers as a ‘pipeline of jobs’

In an Aug. 23, 2021, interview on Columbus Morning News, Husted enthusiastically promoted Google’s expanding data center investments in central Ohio.

“It’s great to see that some of these data center investments are going to go south of Columbus,” Husted said, referring to developments extending toward Lancaster. “It just shows it’s a pipeline of jobs and economic growth that’s going to continue to happen in central Ohio.”

In another recording from the same interview, Husted argued that Ohio’s geographic position helped attract the industry.

“Let’s face it. What’s part of the reason that they’re here? Well, Ohio’s in the middle of the country. We’re between, you know, Chicago and New York, and we’re a great place for logistics.”

Husted had already demonstrated his willingness to defend the industry’s tax breaks. At Google’s November 2019 groundbreaking in New Albany, he defended a 15-year state sales-tax exemption estimated at $43.5 million for the company’s $600 million facility, which was expected to create approximately 50 jobs.

Husted argued that the economic benefits would outweigh the tax breaks and said requiring Google to pay sales taxes would have driven the company elsewhere.

“This will fuel the economy for many years in Ohio,” Husted said, predicting that Columbus would become the technology hub of the Midwest.

His advocacy continued as the DeWine-Husted administration promoted increasingly large technology investments, including Amazon Web Services’ $7.8 billion expansion announced in 2023.

In Erie County, a $10.2 million tax break for 18 promised jobs

The DeWine-Husted administration brought the same incentive strategy to Northwest Ohio.

On Sept. 25, 2023, DeWine and Husted announced state assistance for an Aligned Data Centers project in Perkins Township, Erie County. The Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved a 75% sales- and use-tax exemption lasting 15 years.

The estimated value of the tax exemption was $10.2 million. In exchange, the company committed to creating just 18 permanent jobs with approximately $1.6 million in annual payroll.

The agreement covered a proposed $202 million investment near Sandusky. The 18 positions were the company’s initial employment commitment, while the tax exemption was authorized to continue through 2038.

The Erie County deal provides a concrete example of the incentives promoted during Husted’s tenure: a tax exemption initially valued at more than $10 million for a development promising fewer than two dozen permanent jobs.

Tax breaks ballooned. Husted kept defending them.

An industry-backed economic study estimated that Ohio data centers received $2.5 billion in state and local tax incentives between 2017 and 2024. The report also estimated that the industry generated $5.21 billion in state and local tax revenue over that period, including modeled indirect economic effects.

But the cost of Ohio’s state sales-tax exemption continued climbing. According to figures released by the Ohio Department of Taxation, the exemption cost $554.9 million in 2024 and $1.57 billion in 2025. The 2025 figure exceeded the state’s forecast by more than $1.4 billion.

Husted continued backing the incentives even as lawmakers moved to restrict them. In July 2025, after DeWine vetoed a legislative attempt to curtail the exemptions, Husted defended preserving the tax break, arguing that ending it for future projects while existing developments continued benefiting would not create a “fair playing field.”

“If Ohio wants to be a leader, a leading edge tech state in the Midwest, having those kinds of investments in the state is important,” Husted said.

In May 2026, DeWine paused consideration of new data center tax-exemption applications. By late July, Husted had reversed his position on new statewide exemptions, after years of defending the incentives and promoting the projects they helped attract.

Husted has also begun promoting federal legislation intended to prevent electricity customers from shouldering data center infrastructure costs. But as TiffinOhio.net previously reported, his Ratepayer Protection Act would only require state regulators to consider protections similar to those technology giants fought in Ohio. It would not require states to impose them.

And Husted’s reversal does nothing to undo the tax agreements secured during the years he championed the industry. Ohio has stopped accepting new exemption applications for now, but previously approved agreements remain in place.

According to state development contracts obtained by the Statehouse News Bureau, Amazon, Meta and Google hold statewide data center tax agreements extending through at least 2055, 2056 and 2058, respectively.

Those companies can continue receiving tax benefits under the agreements for decades after the 2026 election, long after Husted’s years of defending the subsidies helped make Ohio a major destination for their investments.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The campaign acknowledged producing the video after it circulated online without identifying its sponsor. According to Axios, sources close to Ramaswamy said the commercial performed well in internal testing among persuadable voters, prompting a statewide advertising campaign that began Tuesday night. Ohio’s Statehouse News Bureau separately confirmed the $4 million digital buy.

Ramaswamy campaign manager Jonathan Ewing defended the decision, telling Axios: “This is a campaign-ending moment for Amy Acton. The people who know her best keep warning Ohioans about her.”

The campaign also confirmed that Acton’s mother was not paid to appear in the advertisement.

Attack features mother who defended Acton’s accused abuser

The minute-long commercial features Donna Arthur, Acton’s estranged biological mother, accusing her daughter of fabricating details about her childhood, including having lived in a tent. Arthur repeatedly calls Acton a liar, suggests she needs help and urges Ohioans not to elect her governor.

Absent from the video is the history behind their nearly five-decade estrangement. Acton has publicly described being sexually abused as a child by Arthur’s husband, Cledith Arthur, while her mother failed to protect her. Arthur supported her husband during the resulting criminal proceedings and remained married to him until his death in 2004.

Records obtained by the Associated Press confirm that Cledith Arthur was arrested in July 1978 and charged with raping Acton, then 12. A grand jury indicted him that September. He pleaded not guilty but subsequently failed to appear in court and remained a fugitive until at least 1981. The available records do not establish a conviction or the case’s final disposition.

Conservative publication National Review separately obtained documents corroborating the criminal proceedings, including a sworn statement from Acton’s biological father.

Acton’s account also predates her political career. In a detailed 2019 interview with The Youngstown Vindicator, she described childhood poverty, repeated moves, sexual abuse and spending a winter living in a tent outside Youngstown. Her younger brother has separately corroborated the family’s homelessness. The criminal records independently establish the proceedings involving her stepfather, rather than the family’s precise living arrangements.

Republicans denounce ad as Ramaswamy doubles down

The campaign’s decision to spend millions promoting the attack has drawn criticism from within Republican and conservative circles.

Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik, a former Republican mayor of Findlay serving in Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration, publicly condemned the advertisement Tuesday. “There are lines we shouldn’t cross, and this is one of them,” she wrote, adding that political disagreements should not come at the expense of basic decency.

Meghan McCain called the commercial a “dastardly ad” that never should have been produced. Conservative commentator Mary Katharine Ham questioned how the campaign could expect the attack to succeed rather than backfire, while Republican strategist David Urban warned on CNN that voters could instead sympathize with Acton as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse.

At National Review, Kathryn Jean Lopez condemned the video as despicable and amoral, arguing that it should become a political disaster.

Other conservatives defended the attack. Donald Trump Jr. promoted the video on social media and encouraged Ohioans to watch it, while former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell also supported the commercial.

Ramaswamy’s campaign has sided with those defending the attack. Spokeswoman Connie Luck described Acton as a “serial fabulist” and continued questioning her honesty, while Ewing characterized the video as potentially decisive against the Democratic nominee.

Acton responds with ad featuring her brother

Acton responded Tuesday by accusing Ramaswamy of exploiting her estranged mother for political gain. She said she and her younger brother were removed from their mother’s custody after enduring neglect and abuse, including sexual abuse by Arthur’s husband.

Her brother, Philip Stearns, condemned the attack in a statement released by Acton’s campaign, saying their mother remained married to the man who sexually abused his sister even after the children were removed from the household.

Acton’s campaign also released a response advertisement titled “Abuse,” featuring Stearns describing how his older sister tried to protect him during their childhood.

“I received a lot of abuse, but Amy always got the worst of it,” Stearns says. He directly condemns Ramaswamy for turning his sister’s childhood into campaign material.

The controversy comes two weeks before Ohio’s November 3 election. A Marist Poll released Tuesday found Acton leading Ramaswamy 50% to 43% among likely voters, with a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points. The survey was conducted October 15-18, before the advertisement became public, and does not measure its effect.

Ramaswamy’s campaign says the video tested favorably with persuadable voters, but has not released the underlying results. Its $4 million investment will now put the attack before Ohio voters as the candidates enter the final days of the governor’s race, despite the documented abuse proceedings and the objections of prominent figures within his own party.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Every time I look at a screen, politicians and political operatives are showing a sickness of heart and mind that’s truly horrifying.

So-called “news influencers” fester like open wounds of viral rot on America’s body politic, poisoning the lifeblood of our Republic with sepsis, hallucinations, derangement of the senses.

Obscene amounts of money are being dumped into our elections by a Second Gilded Age Who’s Who of the most monstrously malfunctioning human egoists imaginable.

Races, deadlines, and the tools you need to cast your vote.

The most expensive elections in American history are bombarding Ohio families with the stupidest, most despicable campaign ads I’ve ever seen.

In Ohio, nobody can escape this stinking detritus vomited forth from the dark, depraved insides of political operatives and the “consultant” class.

They’ll spend three-quarters of a billion dollars torturing Ohioans with these ads this year, AdImpact projects.

It’s worse than that, though. The dark money special interests are getting a hell of a deal, you see.

To them, it’s only three-quarters of a billion, but on the back end, through regulatory capture, sweetheart lawmaking, government contracts, and a whole galaxy of other mechanisms, they’ll receive hundreds of billions in public goods and resources. It’s pennies on the dollar.

The public is reportedly very concerned about public corruption. They should be. I have not known an Ohio in my adult life without a staggering amount of public corruption.

Now that kind of public corruption is being normalized on the national level, with the most venomous, adolescent politics possible to go alongside it.

I’m aware that the world is full of pathological people. I just will never get used to the fact so many clearly broken, pathological people are put on political and public pedestals and worshipped, fawned over, and platformed, above the great mass of normal, good-hearted people.

I don’t really understand this morally and ethically barren hellscape era of American politics we are in, but I do know normal Ohioans pretty well.

Normal Ohioans are horrified and sick of the madness.

No decent, well-balanced person I know thinks things are going well — absolutely not in our political discourse, but also not in the general American or Ohio experience.

It seems glaringly obvious to normal Ohioans that the political class has abandoned representation of their constituents for the representation of themselves, their friends, and their preferred private and special interests.

Everywhere we turn, families get squeezed, at the grocery store, at the gas pump, for school supplies, for toiletries, for everything from a haircut to our healthcare.

I don’t think the 50-year relentless upward redistribution of wealth in America is doing the trick for Ohio families.

I think Ohio families feel that they’re getting ripped off. I think Ohio families are incredibly frustrated by it.

They turn one way, they get ripped off; they turn the other, they get ripped off again.

Here’s what frustrates me as a crusty old journalist of 20 years: This whole game is so old and so boring, and if only the people of this state and this country could realize the true power they have, they can still fix it. We can demand the best of our public servants and we do not have to settle for anything less.

We do it by standing up for ourselves. We do it by turning away from the screens and toward each other as human beings.

The screwheads and the depraved hucksters of political provocateurs, operatives, and influencers want us to dehumanize each other.

They want us to play in their game, but it’s a bloodsport — it costs human lives and robs humans of their humanity.

It robs the screwheads of their humanity too. Resentful over their lost heart, they try to drag the rest of us into losing ours.

They try to make Americans believe that other Americans are our enemies. They try to convince us that our neighbors want to destroy us, destroy our families, destroy our way of life, destroy the country.

This is all nonsense and demagoguery. Most people just want to live their lives decently and be left well enough alone.

They try to example us to be our worst selves, to narrow our minds, to live in paranoia and resentment, to shut out and reject and dominate and victimize other human beings.

This is a bunch of crap. Anybody who follows that mindset will find themselves and their lives, in time, as soulless and friendless and barren as the ancient texts and fables warned.

The solutions are simple and small but could cascade into something much larger, if humanity in 21st Century America is ever able to regain its grasp.

We stop providing a market for hate and start giving our attention to each other as full human beings, in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in our communities, in our states, and in our country.

We be honest with ourselves, with each other, and about each other.

We demand honesty of those who seek to represent us in our self-government.

We demand honesty from those who demand our attention.

We demand a fair system to represent our interests and give us equal opportunity to earn our own way.

We recognize that every human being and every human life is different, and we give each other decency and grace.

We cooperate with each other in good faith to build extraordinary and beautiful things that benefit not only ourselves and our communities now but future generations, so they too may continue to cooperate and build extraordinary and beautiful things together.

We’ve gotten into this pit collectively. We can get out of it that way too.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

When confronted with records documenting the 1978 rape charge against Acton’s stepfather, Click acknowledged that the alleged abuse was bad but questioned its relevance, accusing the journalist who presented the evidence of a “bait and switch.”

The remarks came just two weeks after TiffinOhio.net published police records detailing a separate investigation into allegations that Click himself had physically and sexually abused a child connected to his former church. Those allegations were denied by both Click and the person identified as the alleged victim. Fremont police closed the case, and state investigators declined to pursue it further.

Click, a three-term Republican representing Seneca and Sandusky counties, made his comments as prominent conservatives, including a senior official in Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration, condemned a political attack video featuring Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur.

Responding to journalist Darrel Rowland, who had shared the video and described its contents as “sad,” Click wrote Tuesday morning:

“Agreed. Why would Amy lie about her upbringing. I sure hope she gets the help she needs. Her mother seems to care deeply about her wellbeing.”

Arthur’s appearance in the video has drawn intense scrutiny because she has been estranged from Acton for nearly five decades. Police and court records confirm that Arthur’s husband, Cledith Arthur, was arrested and indicted in 1978 on a charge of raping Acton when she was 12. Donna Arthur supported her husband during the proceedings and remained married to him until his death in 2004.

That history was not disclosed in the video, which portrays Arthur as a concerned mother accusing her daughter of dishonesty and urging Ohioans not to elect her governor.

Click nevertheless accepted the mother’s central allegation that Acton had lied about her childhood and suggested that Acton needed help. His response also echoed Arthur’s own claim that her daughter needed help, a claim made without substantiating evidence in the attack video.

Click accused journalist of ‘bait and switch’ when confronted with rape case

Click’s defense of Arthur prompted a direct challenge from Rowland, who pointed the Republican lawmaker toward reporting documenting the criminal case against Acton’s stepfather.

“Records confirm her mom’s husband was charged with raping Acton when she was 12…and skipped town,” Rowland wrote.

Click responded by questioning what the rape case had to do with Acton’s account of living in a tent during childhood.

“What does that have to do with a tent .? Of course that is bad. That wasn’t part of the discussion. Nice bait and switch Darell. You should be her press secretary.”

In the follow-up post, Click acknowledged the seriousness of the abuse allegations but continued defending his position that Acton’s account of living in a tent was a separate issue.

Yet the rape proceedings were directly relevant to the credibility of the person Click had just praised. Donna Arthur’s relationship with her daughter ended following the allegations against her husband, whom she supported during the proceedings. The attack video relies on her status as Acton’s mother while omitting the circumstances of their estrangement.

Acton’s childhood homelessness and sexual abuse were also described together in a detailed 2019 interview with The Youngstown Vindicator, published years before she entered electoral politics. Acton described spending a winter living in a tent outside Youngstown amid poverty, neglect and abuse that ultimately led to her removal from her mother’s custody.

Her younger brother, Philip Stearns, has separately corroborated the family’s experience of living in a tent and described the neglect, hunger and abuse they endured.

The criminal records do not independently establish where Acton lived during every portion of her childhood. They do establish that one of the most serious events she described — criminal proceedings against her stepfather over allegations of sexual abuse — occurred.

Click offered no evidence that Acton fabricated the account of living in a tent. Instead, after being presented with the rape charge against the man his preferred messenger had defended, he accused Rowland of changing the subject.

Click himself was investigated over separate child sex abuse allegations

Click’s decision to defend Arthur carries additional significance in Sandusky County, where his own history involving allegations of child sexual abuse has recently returned to public attention.

As TiffinOhio.net reported October 6, the Fremont Police Department investigated Click in fall 2025 after receiving an abuse referral from the Oregon Department of Human Services.

The September 29, 2025, referral originated with an unidentified third-party report alleging that Click and the father of an 18-year-old had physically and sexually abused the person when they were a child. The report identified Click as the person’s former pastor at Fremont Baptist Temple, where he had served for 19 years.

According to police records obtained by TiffinOhio.net, the referral alleged that the person had been beaten, starved and sexually assaulted by their father and Click.

Fremont Det. Sgt. Matthew Ranazzi located and interviewed the person identified as the alleged victim. The person denied the allegations, said they had never reported abuse by either man to anyone in Oregon and told police they did not remember Click doing anything to them.

Detectives contacted Click on October 1. Click denied ever physically or sexually abusing anyone and told police he did not remember the person named in the referral, although they “might have been a member of his church.”

The Fremont investigation was closed after the person’s denial. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which reviewed the referral because Click was a sitting state lawmaker, declined further investigation on October 8.

The allegations against Click were not substantiated by investigators, and no criminal charges resulted from the inquiry.

When journalist D.J. Byrnes of The Rooster later confronted Click about the investigation, Click repeatedly rejected the allegations, describing himself as having a clean conscience, “squeaky clean” and “ivory clean.”

Click also disputed the characterization of the person’s connection to Fremont Baptist Temple.

“Attended is not a member,” Click told Byrnes. “There’s a lot of people that come and go. I do not know them.”

Click’s previous investigation and the criminal proceedings involving Acton’s stepfather are separate matters, with sharply different evidentiary records. The allegations involving Click were denied by the person identified as the alleged victim and were not substantiated. In Acton’s case, police and court records document an arrest, grand jury indictment and subsequent flight from prosecution.

The significance of Click’s own history is not that it proves wrongdoing. It is that he has personally experienced public scrutiny over allegations of child sexual abuse, forcefully rejected accusations against himself and objected to how journalists have characterized his relationship with the person named in the police report.

On Tuesday, however, he publicly accepted an estranged mother’s attack on another person’s childhood history without presenting evidence supporting her accusations.

Click quietly left Fremont Baptist Temple months before abuse referral

Click’s relationship with Fremont Baptist Temple has itself been the subject of extensive TiffinOhio.net reporting.

Click says he stepped down as lead pastor at the end of March 2025 after 19 years, assuming the honorary title of pastor emeritus. But the leadership change was not publicly announced through any channel TiffinOhio.net identified at the time, and the church’s website continued listing him as pastor for nearly another year.

It was not until February 2026 that TiffinOhio.net first reported Click’s departure from the pulpit.

Click disputed the characterization of his departure as quiet, declaring on social media, “Actually, it was very public. You just missed it.” He did not identify a contemporaneous announcement when challenged to do so.

An October 6 TiffinOhio.net investigation subsequently established the sequence: Click says he stopped leading the church in March 2025; Oregon child welfare officials forwarded allegations involving him to Fremont police six months later; the investigation became public in November; and the church continued presenting him as pastor until after TiffinOhio.net reported the departure in February 2026.

No evidence reviewed by TiffinOhio.net establishes that Click left Fremont Baptist Temple because of the allegations that surfaced six months later. Click has said the transition allowed him to expand his traveling ministry and political activities.

Click’s years as a pastor remain central to his public identity. He has frequently framed his legislative work in terms of Christian principles, parental rights, family values and protecting children.

His record involving other lawmakers accused of misconduct has also drawn scrutiny. TiffinOhio.net previously reported that Click continued cosponsoring legislation with Republican Rep. Rodney Creech, who had been investigated following allegations of sexual misconduct involving a minor family member. Creech denied sexual wrongdoing and was not charged. A special prosecutor nevertheless described aspects of his admitted conduct as concerning and suspicious.

Click and Creech continued their legislative collaboration, including on a measure promoted as protecting children. The prior reporting found no public statement from Click calling for Creech’s resignation or directly addressing the special prosecutor’s findings.

Those separate episodes provide relevant context for Click’s latest remarks: a former pastor and state lawmaker who has publicly emphasized child protection, confronted abuse allegations involving himself and maintained working relationships with an accused colleague is now defending an estranged mother’s accusations against a woman whose childhood rape allegations resulted in documented criminal proceedings.

Records confirm Acton’s stepfather was arrested, indicted and fled prosecution

The documentary record of Acton’s childhood abuse allegations became clearer Tuesday when National Review and the Associated Press reported obtaining historical police and court documents.

National Review reported that Cledith Arthur, Donna Arthur’s husband, was charged with sexually abusing Acton when she was 12. The evidence included a sworn statement from Acton’s biological father, and Acton herself was called as a witness.

The Associated Press independently obtained police and court records showing that Arthur was arrested in July 1978, pleaded not guilty and was indicted by a grand jury that September.

According to the Ohio Public Media Statehouse News Bureau, authorities issued a warrant for Cledith Arthur’s arrest on October 26, 1978, after he failed to appear in court. Attempts to locate him continued in subsequent years.

The available records do not establish a conviction or the final disposition of the case, but they confirm that Acton’s childhood allegations led to criminal charges, an indictment and an outstanding warrant.

The Statehouse News Bureau also reported that Donna Arthur married Cledith Arthur in 1975, after he had been indicted for incest in an earlier case, and remained married to him until his death in Pennsylvania in 2004.

Donna Arthur acknowledged supporting her husband during the proceedings in a 2020 interview with the anti-abortion organization Operation Rescue. She denied that her husband abused Acton and disputed her daughter’s childhood account, but acknowledged leaving town with him while the children remained in their father’s care.

The history makes Click’s portrayal of Arthur as a concerned mother particularly consequential. Her relationship with Acton did not end over an ordinary family disagreement. It ended amid criminal proceedings accusing Arthur’s husband of raping her daughter, proceedings during which Arthur supported her husband rather than Acton.

Other Republicans condemn the video Click defended

Click’s response also placed him at odds with prominent members of his own party and conservative commentators who condemned the attack.

Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik, a former Findlay mayor serving in Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration, said the video crossed a line regardless of political affiliation.

“I don’t care what political party you belong to or which candidate you support. There are lines we shouldn’t cross, and this is one of them. We can disagree on plenty of things without losing our sense of decency.”

Mihalik shared criticism from Meghan McCain, the conservative commentator and daughter of the late Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain, who called the video a “dastardly ad” that should never have been produced.

Conservative columnist Tim Carney warned that the attack could damage Ramaswamy’s campaign, writing, “This ad could sink Vivek.” Republican strategist Liz Mair and commentator Mary Katharine Ham likewise questioned the political judgment behind using Acton’s estranged mother to discredit her.

National Review’s Kathryn Jean Lopez condemned the attack as despicable and amoral, arguing that it should become a political disaster.

Click, by contrast, praised the mother featured in the video, suggested Acton lied about her childhood and maintained his position after being confronted with the criminal case.

The video has circulated widely through conservative accounts supporting Ramaswamy, although its producer and funding source remain unidentified. Ramaswamy’s campaign has not established that it commissioned the recording. Its spokeswoman, Connie Luck, continued questioning Acton’s honesty Tuesday rather than disavowing the attack.

Acton’s brother defends her as Click faces reelection

Acton’s younger brother, Philip Stearns, responded Tuesday with a statement condemning the use of their estranged mother in the governor’s race.

“It’s not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at twelve years old from our birth mother’s husband into a political talking point,” Stearns said.

“After he was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died.”

Stearns described Ramaswamy as a “pathetic excuse for a man,” accusing him of exploiting his sister’s childhood trauma for political purposes.

The controversy now has a direct connection to northwest Ohio’s legislative election. Click, a three-term Republican from Vickery, faces Democratic challenger Aaron Jones in Ohio House District 88, which encompasses Seneca and Sandusky counties, on November 3.

Click’s Tuesday remarks were not an anonymous political attack or an allegation attributed to someone else. They were statements he published under his own name, followed by a second response after a journalist confronted him with the documented rape charge against Acton’s stepfather.

The records establish that Donna Arthur supported the husband charged with raping her daughter, that she remained married to him until his death, and that Acton’s account of the resulting family separation was publicly documented years before she entered politics.

They also establish that Click’s own abuse investigation was closed after the person identified as the alleged victim denied the accusations, and that Click himself denied wrongdoing.

Against that record, Click chose to describe Arthur as a mother who appeared to care deeply about Acton’s well-being. When presented with the rape case that preceded the family’s estrangement, he did not withdraw that characterization. He accused the journalist who raised it of a “bait and switch.”

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Now Acton’s younger brother is fighting back, accusing Ramaswamy of exploiting his sister’s childhood sexual abuse in a desperate attempt to damage her campaign just two weeks before Election Day.

Philip Stearns, Acton’s brother, issued a blistering statement Tuesday, October 20, after video circulated of their estranged mother, Donna Arthur, attacking Acton’s character and disputing her accounts of childhood abuse, poverty and homelessness.

“It’s not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at twelve years old from our birth mother’s husband into a political talking point,” Stearns said.

“After he was arrested and Amy and I were removed from their custody, our birth mother stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died.”

Stearns went further in his condemnation of the Republican gubernatorial nominee.

“This desperate, disgusting attack reveals exactly who Vivek Ramaswamy is at his core – a pathetic excuse for a man who is willing to hurt anyone as long as it gets him what he wants.”

The family’s history predates the current election by decades and was publicly described in a 2019 Youngstown Vindicator interview with Acton. Her mother subsequently acknowledged in a separate 2020 interview that she supported her husband during the proceedings involving her daughter’s rape accusation, borrowed money to hire an attorney and left town with him.

Arthur has denied that her husband sexually abused Acton. But her own account confirms that she sided with him during the allegations that ultimately separated her from both children. According to Stearns, she remained married to him until his death.

A mother who stood by her husband, not her children

The history behind Acton’s estrangement from her mother was extensively detailed on August 31, 2019, when then-Youngstown Vindicator editor Todd Franko published an interview with Acton, who was serving as Ohio’s health director under Republican Gov. Mike DeWine.

Acton described growing up amid poverty, neglect and instability in the Youngstown area, moving approximately 18 times during her first 12 years. She recalled living in a basement with bare walls, a sump pump, boxes and a bed. Her childhood was repeatedly disrupted by her mother’s relationships with different men, including an episode in which she and her younger brother, then approximately 8 and 5 years old, were placed alone on a bus from Nebraska to Ohio to live with relatives.

Her circumstances deteriorated further when her mother married a man Acton said had previously faced accusations of molestation. Acton told The Vindicator that the man sexually abused her between the ages of 9 and 12, eventually leading authorities to intervene.

During that period, Acton said, the family spent a winter living in a tent at a campground outside Youngstown. The Vindicator’s account was published more than seven years before the 2026 governor’s election.

“I was lucky that it got bad enough, because it got me out of there,” Acton told Franko.

Acton and her younger brother eventually went to live with their father and relatives, escaping the conditions she described in her mother’s household. Acton recalled that although money remained tight, they finally had stability, safety and enough food.

But one of the most consequential details in her account concerned her mother’s conduct after the allegations of sexual abuse emerged.

Acton described seeing her mother at the courthouse during the proceedings involving Arthur’s husband and attempting to give her a kiss.

“In the courthouse after they were charged, I went to give her a kiss, and she just turned her cheek away. That was the last time I ever saw her.”

The Vindicator reported that Arthur and her husband subsequently left town while out on bond. Acton said she had neither seen nor heard from her mother since that courthouse encounter.

The precise criminal case history remains unresolved in the available published accounts. The Vindicator reported that charges had been filed, while a separate 2020 report by Operation Rescue said its search of Mahoning County court records found no criminal charges against Arthur or her husband. The underlying case records and final disposition have not been independently verified.

Whatever the ultimate outcome of those proceedings, Arthur’s own statements confirm that she supported her husband during her daughter’s accusations and left town with him.

In a June 3, 2020, interview with Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion advocacy organization that was attacking Acton’s leadership of Ohio’s health department, Arthur disputed her daughter’s account of being sexually abused and suggested that Acton’s biological father had influenced the allegations.

But the same interview acknowledged that Arthur went to court to support her husband, identified as Bud, when Acton accused him of rape. According to Operation Rescue’s account of the interview, Arthur borrowed $10,000 from her father, hired an attorney and moved away with her husband on the attorney’s advice while Acton and her brother remained in their father’s custody.

Arthur also disputed Acton’s description of their last courthouse encounter, maintaining that she had called to her daughter and that Acton turned away instead. Both accounts agree that the courthouse encounter was the last time mother and daughter saw one another.

Stearns’ statement Tuesday adds that Arthur remained married to Bud until he died.

That history is conspicuously absent from the political video now being circulated against Acton. The woman presented to Ohio voters as a mother exposing dishonesty in her daughter’s life is the same woman who, by her own admission, supported the husband her daughter accused of rape and left town with him after the accusations emerged.

Estranged mother reappears to attack daughter in governor’s race

The roughly one-minute video, which surfaced Monday night and circulated widely Tuesday, features Arthur speaking directly to the camera and accusing her daughter of dishonesty. The recording was published by Ohio political journalist D.J. Byrnes of The Rooster before spreading through conservative social media accounts.

Arthur introduces herself by describing her previous work with programs addressing sexual abuse, before launching into an attack on Acton’s credibility.

“My name is Donna Arthur, and I’m Amy Acton’s mother. I worked at Children and Family Service Association, building one of the first two sexual abuse programs in America.”

She then disputes her daughter’s description of growing up in poverty, specifically targeting Acton’s account of living in a tent during childhood.

“I love my daughter, but when I saw her lying about her opponent, it’s not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem. She is a liar. She lies about her past. She says she grew up living in a tent. None of that is true. She’s lied her entire life.”

Arthur goes on to suggest that Acton needs help and is unfit to lead the state.

“My daughter needs help, and she can’t help you if she needs help herself,” she says. “People can change, but first they have to tell the truth. And my daughter still isn’t doing that.”

She concludes by urging voters to reject her daughter.

“Don’t vote for people who lie. Don’t let her become your governor. If you think she’ll make your life better, you’re fooling yourself. It will only get worse.”

The video combines Arthur’s remarks with black-and-white photographs of Acton, an image of a tent in the woods and footage of the Democratic nominee speaking publicly. Messages displayed throughout include “LIES ARE BEING TOLD,” “DON’T VOTE FOR AMY ACTON” and “IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.”

The recording does not explain why Arthur and Acton have been estranged for decades, acknowledge the sexual abuse allegations against Arthur’s husband or mention her decision to support him during the proceedings.

Nor does the video provide independent evidence disproving Acton’s account of having lived in a tent. That account was already part of her publicly reported biography in 2019, years before she launched her campaign for governor.

Acton’s campaign and Stearns have accused Ramaswamy of involvement in the attack. The video has been promoted by conservative accounts supporting his candidacy, but the original producer and funding source have not been independently established, and there is no verified evidence identifying a direct role by Ramaswamy’s campaign in producing or paying for this particular recording.

The same mother attacked Acton’s childhood account in 2020

Arthur’s accusations against her daughter are not new. She made substantially similar claims in June 2020, during a period when Acton faced intense criticism from conservative activists over Ohio’s COVID-19 public health restrictions.

Operation Rescue’s 2020 article challenged Acton’s childhood biography and personal history, relying heavily on statements from Arthur, who denied that the family had experienced homelessness or food insecurity and disputed Acton’s account of moving approximately 18 times.

Arthur maintained that the family had lived in far fewer homes and that her children had always been fed and housed. She also denied that Bud sexually abused her daughter.

The organization used Arthur’s allegations as part of a broader attack on Acton’s fitness to serve as health director, criticizing her handling of abortion clinic licensing and pandemic restrictions.

In other words, the estranged mother’s accusations were already being used by conservative activists against Acton six years before the current governor’s race. The new video brings those allegations directly into the 2026 election, with Arthur herself urging voters to defeat her daughter.

What has not changed is the underlying family history. Arthur acknowledges standing by her husband in the face of her daughter’s rape accusation. Acton says the abuse and intervention by authorities led to her removal from the household. And her younger brother, who experienced the family’s separation alongside her, is now publicly defending her account.

Latest attack follows earlier efforts targeting Acton’s abuse history

The video also follows previous attacks by Ramaswamy and his political allies involving Acton’s childhood trauma and mental health history.

In April, Acton’s campaign condemned remarks by Ramaswamy concerning her experiences as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, accusing him of shaming survivors and demanding an apology.

In July, TiffinOhio.net reported that V-PAC, the billionaire-funded super PAC supporting Ramaswamy, had returned to Ohio television with an advertisement attacking Acton’s fitness to serve as governor using information from her 1994 medical licensure application.

The application disclosed that Acton had sought treatment related to emotional or mental health issues, addiction or alcohol problems, using a broadly worded question that did not separately identify which category applied. Acton’s campaign said the disclosure concerned therapy she received after surviving childhood sexual abuse.

The super PAC’s advertisement used that disclosure to suggest Acton was unfit to practice medicine or serve as governor. TiffinOhio.net’s examination found that the ad also misleadingly characterized her medical licensing evaluations.

“Vivek Ramaswamy is once again spreading lies about Dr. Acton and shaming her for being a survivor of childhood sexual assault,” Acton campaign manager Philip Stein said at the time.

Now, rather than focusing on medical records, pandemic policy or Acton’s qualifications, the latest attack uses her estranged mother to challenge the truthfulness of her childhood experiences themselves.

The controversy arrives amid a fiercely contested governor’s race in which Ramaswamy and allied Republican groups have deployed an enormous financial advantage. An Axios report Tuesday said Ramaswamy and allied groups had spent or reserved more than $97 million in television and radio advertising as of the previous week.

Despite that spending, a Bowling Green State University/YouGov poll released Friday showed Acton leading Ramaswamy 50% to 44%, a margin within the poll’s margin of error.

Stearns’ statement makes clear that Acton’s family views the latest attack as an exploitation of her childhood sexual abuse, not merely another dispute over campaign messaging. His defense directly challenges the credibility of the mother now being presented to voters as an authority on Acton’s past.

Acton, who became widely known for leading Ohio’s early pandemic response, has spoken openly about how childhood poverty, abuse and neglect influenced her decision to pursue medicine and public service. She was telling that story publicly long before entering electoral politics.

Her mother’s competing account has now become a political weapon in the final two weeks of the governor’s race. But the video urging Ohioans not to trust Acton leaves out the years of estrangement, the allegations against Arthur’s husband and Arthur’s own admission that she stood by him during the proceedings.

The identity of whoever arranged, produced and originally financed the video’s distribution remains unresolved. What is documented is that Arthur is once again publicly attacking the daughter she has not seen since childhood, while the son who lived through the same family separation has come forward to defend his sister and condemn the use of their family’s history in the election.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The candidates are spending heavily on TV spots to promote themselves, attack their opponents, or refute the attacks their opponents made about them.

The factor turning a glut of campaign ads into an onslaught is spending from outside groups.

In Ohio’s governor’s race, Democrat Dr. Amy Acton has repeatedly out-raised her Republican opponent Vivek Ramaswamy, but that advantage vanishes when you factor in the Super PACs supporting Ramaswamy’s bid.

In its most recent quarterly report, the Ramaswamy aligned Super PAC, V-PAC, raised more than $18 million. A single donor, Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass wrote Ramaswamy a check for $10 million — doubling his previous contributions.

In her most recent filing, Acton reported raising $6 million in a month.

Ohio’s U.S. Senate race has drawn even more outside attention. A recent report from the advertising tracking firm AdImpact has Ohio as the most expensive Senate race in the country, with outside groups spending more than $325 million.

In both races, Republicans hold a significant financial advantage. However, polling continues to suggest a relatively close race with the Democrats holding a roughly 4-point advantage in polling averages.

The race for governor

Outside of the campaigns themselves, there are three major players buying ads in the Ohio governor’s race: committees tied to the Republican Governors Association and the Democratic Governors Association, and Ramaswamy’s Super PAC.

The most recent Ohio campaign finance reports only cover expenditures through June of this year. Ramaswamy’s campaign has certainly spent more on ads since that cut off, but its reported direct spending on advertising tallies a little more than $12 million.

Over the same timeframe, V-PAC spent $14.2 million on advertising. But after the latest report? That total ballooned to $44.6 million.

The Republican Governors Association cut an ad criticizing Acton for refusing to debate. The Ohio Capital Journal reached out about how much the group spent on Acton attack ads.

In an email, an RGA spokesman said that “roughly $20 million has been spent on advertising to-date,” but did not clarify what portion of that total relates to Ohio’s race.

Acton’s campaign has spent just $3.3 million on ads through the end of June — about a quarter of Ramaswamy’s direct spending over the same span. Like Ramaswamy, she’s gotten help from her party’s governors association.

The Democratic Governors Association has run a handful of ads attacking Ramaswamy or boosting Acton. The DGA funds advertising through a new state committee called Ohioans For Lower Costs.

That group’s filings only cover transactions through the end of June, and its only reported transaction is a $1 million contribution from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The committee’s next reporting deadline is later this week.

Ohio Capital Journal emailed the DGA for information about its spending, but got no response.

#OHPol: Pro-Vivek Ramaswamy group, V-Pac: Victors, Not Victims placed $5.8M in new #OHSen ad reservations today.

Aired spending:
$87.1M $25.4M
Future reservations:
$27.5M $14.5M

— AdImpact Politics (@AdImpact_Pol) October 8, 2026

Regardless of the exact dollar figure, the DGA’s help doesn’t change the overall picture.

AdImpact reported earlier this month that Republican aligned groups have spent or reserved more than $100 million in ads in the governor’s race, compared with about $40 million from Democratic groups.

The U.S. Senate race

Ohio’s U.S. Senate race is following what has become a familiar pattern. Through the end of June, Democrat Sherrod Brown has raised $52 million compared to the $19 million Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted has collected.

In 2022 and 2024, Democratic candidates dramatically outraised their Republican opponents, as well. Outside spending torpedoed that advantage.

The Republican-aligned Senate Leadership Fund has been a major — and growing — fixture in that spending.

In 2022, the group plowed $32.5 million into attacks against Democrat Tim Ryan.

In 2024, that spending nearly doubled to $63.6 million attacking Democrat Sherrod Brown.

In the current cycle, the Senate Leadership Fund has spent $54.5 against Brown so far.

They’re no longer the only big player. Trump-backed MAGA Inc. and the No Going Back PAC have poured more than $20 million into the race, and Elon Musk’s America PAC has put in another $5.7 million.

Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity has spent $10.6 million, and the cryptocurrency groups Defend American Jobs and Digital Freedom Fund have spent another $5.7 million and $3.5 million respectively.

All told, outside groups have reported spending $113.5 million attacking Brown.

They’ve also spent heavily supporting Husted. To this point, outside groups have dropped  another $58.4 million on messaging praising the Republican’s record.

The biggest share of that spending was nearly $30 million from the crypto group Defend American Jobs.

Brown’s campaign has benefited significantly from outside spending either supporting his bid or attacking Husted, but not to the same degree.

Outside groups have spent $69.5 million attacking Husted so far. Democrats’ primary Senate Super PAC WinSenate and an associated group called Duty and Country PAC accounted for $44.2 million of that total.

Meanwhile, outside groups spent a little more than $7 million supporting Brown, led by $2.2 million from the group American Bridge 21st Century.

AdImpact puts the total cost of Ohio’s Senate race at $422.6 million when you factor in spending by the candidates and the outside groups backing them.

At its highest point, GOP-aligned spending cleared $30 million in a week.

Most of that nearly half a billion dollars in advertising has already aired, but don’t expect the ads to wane before Election Day.

As of Oct. 12, AdImpact reported, there’s more than $80 million-worth in reservations in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race alone.

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

In a report published Monday, MeidasTouch revealed that Ramaswamy listed West Chester, Ohio, as his home address in a July 2026 New York attorney registration. Ohio voter records, meanwhile, place his registration in the Columbus area, where he and his family relocated in 2021.

The discrepancy raises two separate legal questions: whether Ramaswamy failed to maintain accurate residential information with New York’s attorney registration authorities, and whether his Ohio voter registration accurately reflects his legal residence.

New York requires attorneys to report their home addresses and update them within 30 days of a change. Ohio separately makes it a fifth-degree felony to knowingly register to vote in a precinct where a person is not qualified.

Ramaswamy’s own gubernatorial campaign identifies greater Columbus as his family’s home, while an October 2 Forbes investigation independently documented his move from West Chester to central Ohio in mid-2021. That relocation occurred approximately five years before the attorney registration now under scrutiny.

The allegations come just two weeks before Ohio’s November 3 gubernatorial election, in which Ramaswamy faces Democrat Amy Acton, and involve a candidate who has made stricter election identification requirements a prominent part of his political agenda.

New York requires attorneys to report address changes within 30 days

Under Section 118.1 of New York’s attorney registration rules, attorneys admitted to practice in the state must provide their home addresses as part of their registration statements.

Subsection (e)(8) specifically requires disclosure of a home address, while subsection (f) requires an amended registration statement within 30 days whenever that address changes. Subsection (h) directs that attorneys who fail to comply with the registration requirements be referred for disciplinary action.

New York’s Judiciary Law Section 468-a goes further, classifying noncompliance with attorney registration requirements as conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and requiring referral to the appropriate appellate division for disciplinary proceedings.

Those obligations apply regardless of whether an attorney resides in New York. Ramaswamy was admitted to the state’s bar in 2014 and remains listed as currently registered.

According to MeidasTouch, Ramaswamy signed an affirmation certifying the accuracy of the information in his 2026 attorney registration, including the West Chester home address. The reported affirmation stated that the information was true to the best of his knowledge and belief.

If West Chester was no longer his home address when he submitted the July 2026 registration, the filing would raise a direct compliance issue under New York’s requirement that attorneys keep that information current.

The original July registration statement was not reproduced in the MeidasTouch article and has not been independently obtained by TiffinOhio.net. The publicly available New York attorney database confirms registration status but does not independently resolve the reported home-address discrepancy.

Records show Ramaswamy moved from West Chester to Columbus five years ago

The reported July filing conflicts with a residential timeline documented through property records, voter registration reporting and Ramaswamy’s own campaign biography.

In a detailed October 2 investigation, Forbes reported that Ramaswamy relocated from New York City to West Chester Township outside Cincinnati in December 2019, purchasing a newly built home for approximately $420,000.

About 18 months later, in mid-2021, Ramaswamy and his family moved to a larger home outside Columbus valued at approximately $2 million, according to Forbes.

His voter registration followed the same timeline. In August 2023, NBC News reported that Ramaswamy had registered to vote in Franklin County in November 2021.

His 2026 gubernatorial campaign continues to identify central Ohio as his home. The campaign’s official biography states that Ramaswamy and his wife, Dr. Apoorva Ramaswamy, are raising their family in greater Columbus.

That account is consistent with Forbes’ documentation of the 2021 move and his subsequent Franklin County voter registration. It also makes the reported July 2026 New York filing significant: after five years in the Columbus area, Ramaswamy allegedly continued identifying his former West Chester residence as his home for professional registration purposes.

The question is whether that address accurately represented his home in July or whether he failed to update information New York law requires attorneys to keep current.

Ohio law makes knowingly registering in the wrong precinct a fifth-degree felony

The conflicting addresses also raise a separate question about Ohio’s voter-residency requirements.

Under Ohio Revised Code Section 3503.02, a person’s voting residence is generally the location where the person’s habitation is fixed and where that person intends to return when absent. The statute also identifies the residence of a married person’s family as the person’s place of residence, subject to specified exceptions.

Ohio does not permit voters to select an arbitrary precinct simply because they own property or maintain an address there. Registration must reflect the voter’s qualifying residence.

Under Ohio Revised Code Section 3599.11, knowingly registering or attempting to register in a precinct where a person is not a qualified voter constitutes a fifth-degree felony. The statute also prohibits knowingly making false statements on voter registration documents.

If Ramaswamy’s actual voting residence remained in West Chester rather than the Columbus area, his Franklin County registration would warrant examination under those requirements. Conversely, if his established residence was in Columbus, as his campaign biography and documented relocation indicate, the West Chester address reported to New York attorney authorities requires an explanation.

The two states’ legal requirements are distinct: an address discrepancy does not automatically establish either a false attorney registration or an unlawful voter registration. The Ohio felony provision specifically requires knowing misconduct. The available records do not establish that Ramaswamy knowingly registered in a precinct where he was ineligible.

Nevertheless, the conflicting records leave the accuracy of his reported residential information unresolved.

Ramaswamy has made election integrity a campaign priority

The allegations carry political significance because Ramaswamy has publicly demanded stricter identification requirements for Ohio voters while campaigning for governor.

In a May 18 column published on his campaign website, Ramaswamy called for Ohio to enshrine photo identification requirements in the state constitution, arguing that statutory protections could be weakened by future lawmakers or court decisions.

He praised President Donald Trump’s support for federal voter identification legislation and argued that constitutional protections were necessary to restore public confidence in elections.

His attorney registration is now receiving scrutiny over the accuracy of the residential information he provided to another state’s judicial authorities, while the conflicting address records have also prompted questions about the validity of his Ohio voter registration.

Acton’s gubernatorial campaign highlighted the allegations Monday, circulating the MeidasTouch report and its findings about the competing addresses and potential legal violations.

The discrepancy remains unexplained

The issue is not whether Ramaswamy once lived in West Chester. Independent reporting establishes that he did. Nor is there a dispute that he subsequently relocated to the Columbus area and registered to vote there in 2021.

The unresolved issue is why his July 2026 attorney registration reportedly identified West Chester as his home after that move, and whether the address complied with New York’s reporting requirements.

There is no established finding of attorney misconduct or unlawful voter registration arising from the discrepancy. Determining whether either law was violated would require establishing which address accurately reflected Ramaswamy’s residence at the relevant time, along with the additional legal elements applicable to each offense.

With Ohio voters preparing to choose their next governor on November 3, the newly reported filing leaves a consequential question about the accuracy of the residential information Ramaswamy submitted to New York authorities—and the consistency of that information with the Ohio voter registration records and family residence he has publicly acknowledged.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The latest federal expenditure notice lists two new $376,500 expenditures associated with October 16: one supporting independent candidate Greg Levy and the other opposing Brown. Together, the $753,000 in new spending nearly doubles the amount Enough Promises Ohio had previously reported and brings its total independent expenditures to more than $1.58 million less than three weeks before Election Day.

The filing describes the new spending as “media placement / media production.” It does not specify that the entire $753,000 is for digital advertising. What the disclosures do establish is the committee’s electoral target: it is spending heavily to elevate Levy, whose socialist campaign is running to Brown’s left, while separately paying for advertising against Brown, the Democratic challenger to Republican Sen. Jon Husted.

Levy has repudiated the mail campaign, saying it was created without his involvement and falsely represents his candidacy. The spending resembles a third-party vote-splitting tactic, in which an outside group amplifies an alternative candidate who could attract voters otherwise inclined toward a major-party opponent. In this case, the super PAC’s own filings explicitly identify Brown as a candidate it opposes.

A $1.58 million operation built in less than three weeks

Enough Promises Ohio registered with the Federal Election Commission on September 29, only five weeks before Ohio’s November 3 election. Its first reported spending went to a company called Seven Farms for political mail. An October 7 notice reported $198,519.88 to support Levy and $17,139.67 to oppose Brown; another notice, filed October 10, reported $181,380.21 more supporting Levy. Those three expenditures alone totaled $397,039.76.

Subsequent reports continued to add spending before the latest $753,000 media purchase. According to FEC-derived expenditure totals, Enough Promises Ohio has now reported about $1.1 million supporting Levy and approximately $519,000 opposing Brown. The total reflects reported independent expenditures, not contributions to Levy’s campaign, and does not establish how many voters have actually seen the advertisements.

The sum dwarfs Levy’s own campaign resources. His committee reported raising about $125,000 through September 30. The outside super PAC has reported spending approximately nine times that amount to support him, without his campaign’s authorization or participation.

The initial mail pieces pictured Levy beneath slogans such as “Join the Revolution” and “Send a Worker to the Senate.” They highlighted positions including a $30 minimum wage, universal health care and support for Palestine. Levy’s actual campaign platform is explicitly socialist, but the advertisements were paid for by Enough Promises Ohio, not his campaign. The candidate says their design and portrayal mislead voters about who is communicating with them.

The money trail leads to Trump and Moreno’s political consultants

Federal spending records identify Seven Farms, the company paid for the original mail campaign, at 100 Coastal Drive, Suite 305, Charleston, South Carolina. Another political mail vendor, Whistlestop Strategies LLC, used that same address in federal expenditure filings associated with No Going Back PAC, an outside group financed by Trump-aligned MAGA Inc.

The connection extends beyond a shared mailing address. Florida corporate filings list Big Dog Strategies LLC as an officer or director of Whistlestop Strategies. Big Dog is a Republican campaign consulting firm founded by Chris Grant, who identifies himself as a senior adviser and general consultant to MAGA Inc. and a general consultant and chief strategist for Bernie Moreno’s successful 2024 Senate campaign against Brown.

Big Dog’s senior vice president, Bryan Gray, also served as Moreno’s 2024 campaign manager. The public record therefore connects the vendor handling pro-Levy political mail to a consulting network that helped defeat Brown two years ago and worked for Trump’s principal super PAC.

The records establish that vendor connection. They do not establish that Seven Farms and Big Dog Strategies are the same legal company, that MAGA Inc. supplied the money for Enough Promises Ohio, or that Husted’s campaign directed the expenditures. Husted’s campaign has denied involvement in the mailers.

Levy says the group is impersonating him

The campaign being promoted wants nothing to do with it. In a statement reported by the Columbus Free Press, campaign spokesperson Matthew Charlebois said, “Our campaign has no ties to the PAC behind these mailers,” and accused the group of falsely impersonating Levy and using a racist caricature of the Black candidate to deceive voters. The campaign has called the portrayal a form of “digital blackface” and said it was considering legal action.

Levy is not a fictional or Republican-created candidate. He is running as an independent affiliated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation and has his own campaign, proposals and supporters. His decision to stay in the race has not changed. Levy’s campaign told Axios it would remain on the ballot while rejecting the unrelated advertising effort.

The difference matters: Enough Promises Ohio is not donating $1.58 million to Levy. It is independently buying political communications in a race that includes Levy, Brown, Husted and Libertarian William Redpath. Ohio voters can choose among those candidates; the dispute is over the identity and purpose of a heavily funded outside advertiser claiming to support one of them.

Who is paying for it remains undisclosed

Despite the seven-figure expenditure reports, the identity of Enough Promises Ohio’s donors has not yet emerged from its published itemized contribution records. The super PAC’s FEC financial summary shows no receipts in its initial reporting period, which covered only September 29 and 30. That is not evidence that the group has operated without funding; its subsequent expenditure notices disclose substantial activity after that initial period closed.

The next required report is due October 22. Under the FEC’s reporting schedule, the pre-general filing will disclose reportable receipts and expenditures through October 14. Activity after that cutoff, including the latest October 16 media spending, belongs to a subsequent reporting period.

For now, the public filings identify what the money is doing but not who is providing it: a newly formed super PAC has spent more than $1.58 million elevating a socialist Senate candidate who rejects its support and opposing Sherrod Brown, with the initial advertising flowing through a vendor linked to veteran Republican operatives. The identity of the donors financing Enough Promises Ohio remains the principal unanswered question.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The Republican senator’s remarks came Thursday, October 15, three days after the woman was assaulted inside Youngstown’s Covelli Centre during a presidential campaign rally held in part to support Husted’s reelection bid. Video captured men attacking the woman before sheriff’s deputies escorted her out of the arena, leaving the men who struck her behind.

When 21 WFMJ reporter Ally Ross questioned Husted about the incident at a campaign event in Mahoning County, the senator responded:

“I don’t know any of the details about it. I wouldn’t expect one of my supporters to go interrupt a rally that the Democrats are having, there are consequences for doing that, but they need to be handled by law enforcement and handled appropriately.”

Ross reported that Husted also acknowledged he had not watched video of the assault, despite the footage having circulated nationally for days.

The response effectively shifted the focus from the violence committed against the woman to her decision to protest, presenting “consequences” as part of the discussion of a physical attack in which she was the victim. Although Husted added that such consequences should be handled by law enforcement, his published remarks contained no explicit condemnation of the men who beat her.

The contrast with Husted’s own words just five weeks earlier was stark. On September 6, following an attempted attack against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton, Husted declared that political violence had no place in Ohio and “must never be tolerated.”

Now, confronted with a violent attack at a rally for his own political party and his own campaign, Husted’s answer was that disrupting political events carries consequences.

Woman punched, restrained and dragged by the hair at Trump rally

The October 12 assault occurred while Trump was speaking at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown, where he appeared alongside Husted and other Republican candidates ahead of the November 3 election.

The woman, wearing a homemade black T-shirt reading “Release the Epstein Files,” stood up and began heckling the president. Rather than being met solely with verbal objections or removal by security, she was confronted by several men in the audience.

Video examined by NBC News showed a man in a baseball cap pushing the woman before another man moved in and appeared to punch her repeatedly in the face, grab her hair and hold her in a headlock. Other footage showed the confrontation unfolding as the crowd chanted “USA.”

Law enforcement officers eventually intervened, but it was the woman who was removed from the arena. The men who struck her were allowed to remain. No arrests were made at the scene, according to the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office.

The woman, identified by the first name Blake, described the attack in an October 16 interview with PunchUp, subsequently published by The Daily Beast. The 29-year-old Ohio artist said she had exposed the message on her shirt and shouted “Fascist!” toward Trump before she was struck.

Blake described falling into the arena seats after the first punch. When she attempted to defend herself, she said, someone grabbed her hair and restrained her arm while she was punched again on both sides of her head.

She reported suffering a split lip, bruising, back injuries and patches of missing hair. The attack also resulted in a hospital visit, according to the interview. She declined to disclose her surname or hometown because she feared further attacks.

The woman’s account describes the physical harm behind Husted’s warning about “consequences.” This was not merely an exchange of political insults or a protester being escorted from an event. It was a documented physical assault in which men repeatedly struck a woman as she protested the president.

Her disruption of Trump’s speech did not authorize anyone in the audience to punch, restrain or otherwise physically attack her.

Trump mocked the woman as she was removed

The president’s response to the assault was itself captured on video. As law enforcement removed the woman, Trump mocked her appearance and asserted without evidence that she was a paid protester.

“He’s a paid protester. They’re all paid,” Trump told the crowd, misgendering the woman. He also called her “scum” and mocked her weight, saying she needed to go on a diet.

Rather than denouncing the men who had assaulted her, Trump used the interruption to ridicule the person being removed. Footage of the confrontation and Trump’s comments drew national coverage, including from Fox News, NBC News and People.

The rally was part of Trump’s effort to support Republican candidates in Ohio, including Husted, who faces former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in the November election. Trump was criticizing Brown when the confrontation erupted in the audience.

Husted’s subsequent comments reinforced the emphasis on the protester’s behavior rather than the conduct of the men who attacked her. Asked about violence that occurred in full view of the audience at a presidential rally intended to help elect him, he raised the prospect of consequences for interrupting political events.

Five weeks earlier, Husted condemned an attack on a Democrat

Husted’s response to the Youngstown assault differed sharply from his reaction to an attempted attack on Amy Acton, the Democratic nominee for Ohio governor, at the Canfield Fair on September 6.

During that incident, an armed man forced his way toward Acton while she was appearing at a Democratic campaign event, injuring several people before Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers intervened. Acton was not injured. The suspect was subsequently arrested and charged with assault and disorderly conduct.

Husted promptly issued a public statement condemning the incident.

“Tina and I are disturbed by the attempted attack on Amy Acton today at the Canfield Fair. We are grateful for law enforcement’s quick response. There is no place for this kind of behavior, and it must never be tolerated.”

The language was unequivocal. Husted condemned the attempted attack, praised the law enforcement response and declared that such behavior could not be tolerated.

His October 15 remarks about Youngstown contained no equivalent declaration. Instead, Husted invoked hypothetical behavior by his supporters at a Democratic rally and warned that there are consequences for interrupting political events.

The incidents occurred in the same county, little more than a month apart. In both cases, political gatherings were disrupted by violence or attempted violence. But Husted’s public responses placed the emphasis in different places: on the attacker after the incident involving Acton, and on the protester after Trump supporters assaulted a woman at his party’s rally.

The difference was not the availability of evidence that violence had occurred. In Youngstown, the attack was captured on video, including footage of a man repeatedly striking the woman and pulling her hair. Husted nevertheless said he had not watched it before commenting.

Youngstown officials condemned the attack as political violence

Other officials addressing the same incident were considerably more direct about the assault.

Youngstown Mayor Derrick McDowell condemned the violence on October 13, emphasizing that attendees at public events should not have to fear being physically attacked because of their political views.

McDowell called the attack senseless political violence and said such conduct had no place in the community or the democratic process. He said security at the rally had been provided by the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Secret Service, rather than Youngstown police.

Youngstown Police Lt. Frank Rutherford was similarly direct when questioned by HuffPost about the incident.

“No one should be assaulted at an event. If you punch somebody in the face, you should get in trouble for that. That’s wrong.”

Rutherford said the department would take a complaint and investigate if the woman came forward.

Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene subsequently told NBC News that deputies had not witnessed the beating and that the woman had chosen not to file a report at the time. The sheriff’s account preceded Blake’s public interview describing the injuries she suffered. No arrests were made during the rally, and the current status of any criminal investigation or potential charges has not been independently established.

Those unanswered questions concern not only the men captured on video striking the woman, but also the response of the officers who removed her while allowing her attackers to remain inside the arena.

For Husted, the incident has produced a separate public record: two statements, five weeks apart, about political violence in Mahoning County. In September, after an attack involving a Democratic candidate, he said the behavior must never be tolerated. In October, after a woman was beaten at a Trump rally supporting his own campaign, he warned about the consequences of disrupting political events while admitting he had not watched the footage.

The men captured striking the woman were not arrested at the rally. She was the one escorted out, injured and subsequently hospitalized, according to her account. Whether her attackers will face criminal charges remains unresolved.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

An examination of Ohio campaign-finance filings by TiffinOhio.net found that Shannon Woodfin, an executive at H-1B-dependent Infinite Computer Solutions, contributed $10,000 to Ramaswamy’s gubernatorial campaign in August and provided another $1,953.56 in catering in September. The company submitted 541 H-1B labor condition applications in fiscal 2026, according to records compiled from U.S. Department of Labor disclosures, and obtained 291 H-1B petition approvals during the fiscal year.

The donations add to Ramaswamy’s extensive history with the employment-based immigration system, one he publicly defended during a 2024 controversy over American technology companies hiring foreign-born engineers. Rather than fault employers for choosing foreign talent over American-born workers, Ramaswamy blamed American culture, declaring that the country had “venerated mediocrity over excellence” and criticizing its failure to produce enough technically skilled workers.

At the same time, two billionaire businessmen whose companies sponsor H-1B workers have contributed a combined $35 million to V-PAC, the independent super PAC established to support Ramaswamy’s campaign for governor. Jeff Yass, co-founder of Susquehanna International Group, has contributed $30 million, while Elon Musk, whose companies include Tesla and SpaceX, contributed another $5 million.

The records establish a financial and political relationship spanning Ramaswamy’s own companies, the executives supporting his campaign and major employers that continue to use the H-1B system. They also place his record on foreign-worker hiring squarely within Ohio’s gubernatorial race, where the next administration will help determine which technology businesses receive public incentives and what commitments the state demands in return.

Ramaswamy’s business empire secured 88 H-1B approvals

Ramaswamy founded Roivant Sciences in 2014, building a pharmaceutical holding company that developed, acquired and financed an extensive network of drug-development businesses. He served as chief executive until January 2021 and remained chairman until February 2023, when he departed to pursue the Republican presidential nomination.

During his presidential campaign, Politico reported that Roivant had obtained 29 H-1B petition approvals between 2018 and 2023, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services records.

That figure represented only part of the corporate network’s immigration history.

An October 12 investigation by The Daily Beast examined federal immigration records for nine additional companies founded by Roivant, operated as its subsidiaries or otherwise associated with its business network. Together, those companies accounted for another 59 approvals, bringing the total to 88 between 2017 and 2024.

Datavant Sciences, a healthcare technology company founded by Roivant in 2017, accounted for 24 approvals between 2019 and 2024. Nine involved new employment, nine involved changes of employer, two involved continuing employment and four were amended petitions reflecting changes in employment conditions.

Lokavant, which originated within Roivant before separating in 2023, accounted for another nine approvals. VantAI, launched as a Roivant subsidiary in 2019, accounted for eight between 2020 and 2023.

Myovant Sciences, another former Roivant subsidiary, accounted for six approvals before its sale. Oncopia Therapeutics accounted for four, while Axovant Sciences, which Ramaswamy founded in 2014, accounted for three. Covant Therapeutics, Immunovant Sciences, Kinevant Sciences and Urovant Sciences accounted for the remaining approvals.

The figures come from the USCIS H-1B Employer Data Hub, which records employer petitions for foreign workers in specialty occupations. The 88 approvals include new employment, extensions, changes of employer and amendments rather than 88 separate new workers. Some approvals occurred after Ramaswamy had left Roivant’s management or after individual companies had separated from the organization.

That corporate history is significant because Roivant was not simply a company in which Ramaswamy held a passive investment. He established the business, directed its development for years and helped create the corporate structure under which numerous subsidiaries operated.

He also retained a substantial financial stake after leaving the company’s leadership.

In a May 2026 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ramaswamy disclosed beneficial ownership of 25,534,970 Roivant shares, representing 3.6% of the company’s outstanding stock. His ownership stake kept him financially tied to the business he founded as he campaigned for Ohio governor.

Nearly $12,000 from an executive at a visa-dependent technology contractor

Ramaswamy’s latest Ohio campaign-finance disclosures reveal another connection to the H-1B industry.

Shannon Woodfin of Columbus contributed $10,000 to Vivek Ramaswamy and Rob McColley for Ohio on August 22, according to the campaign’s August monthly report filed with the Ohio Secretary of State. The contribution identifies Woodfin’s employment as “Sales Infinite Computer Solutions.”

The campaign’s September report records a second contribution from Woodfin on September 23: $1,953.56 in in-kind support described as catering.

Combined, those transactions represent $11,953.56 in campaign support from an executive associated with a company that federal immigration records identify as dependent on H-1B workers.

Infinite Computer Solutions, headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, is an information technology services and consulting company operating in industries including healthcare, telecommunications, finance and technology. The company publicly identified Woodfin among its healthcare business leaders in September, and professional information lists Woodfin as vice president of healthcare client services.

The company’s immigration filing history documents extensive use of the H-1B program. It submitted 564 labor condition applications in fiscal 2025 and 541 in fiscal 2026. The same database reports 291 approved H-1B petitions in fiscal 2026, out of 296 petitions decided.

Infinite Computer Solutions is classified as an H-1B-dependent employer. Under federal Department of Labor rules, businesses with at least 51 U.S. employees generally fall into that category when H-1B workers constitute 15% or more of their workforce.

The designation is more consequential than simply appearing in a federal database of companies that have occasionally sponsored foreign workers. It establishes that foreign employees holding H-1B status account for a substantial proportion of the employer’s U.S. workforce.

Infinite Computer Solutions’ filings identify positions in software development, engineering and technical services. Its records also describe work performed at third-party client locations, a staffing and contracting arrangement in which the sponsoring employer places technical workers at another company’s worksite.

Federal law imposes additional recruitment and non-displacement obligations on H-1B-dependent employers, subject to certain exemptions. Those rules address both the sponsoring company’s employees and workers at outside businesses where H-1B personnel are assigned.

The campaign contributions were recorded under Woodfin’s name, not Infinite Computer Solutions. But the employer disclosed in Ramaswamy’s own campaign filing connects the donor to a business with an extensive, documented H-1B sponsorship history.

Ohio staffing firms show how the foreign-worker system operates

The use of H-1B workers at third-party client sites is not limited to large national contractors. Federal immigration filings also document the practice among smaller Ohio-based technology staffing businesses.

At Dizer Corp., an IT staffing company based in Painesville, an H-1B labor condition application filed in June 2025 identified company president Jagdish Medarametla as the employer contact. The application sought authorization for a .NET developer working at ONEOK, an energy company, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The federal labor record identified ONEOK as a secondary employer, meaning the worker would perform services at another company’s worksite rather than exclusively at Dizer’s own offices. The application also identified Dizer as H-1B-dependent.

The filing listed an offered annual salary of $86,000 and a prevailing wage of $72,592 for the position. The figures document the compensation disclosed to federal labor officials, rather than a comparison with what a specific American employee was paid.

StaidLogic, another Ohio-based technology services company, has a similar immigration record. Federal labor disclosures identify its chief executive, Kiran Basireddy, as the company contact on H-1B filings and document proposed employment at outside client sites, including ServiceNow.

According to federal-data-derived records, StaidLogic submitted 23 H-1B labor condition applications in fiscal 2025 and another 27 in fiscal 2026. It is also classified as H-1B-dependent.

Gathi Analytics, headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, has sponsored technology workers under the same program. Its immigration records identify Vamsi Kora as a chief executive and employer contact, and show more than 100 labor condition applications during fiscal years 2022 through 2024. The company is also classified as H-1B-dependent.

These filings describe an established industry practice: technology service providers sponsoring foreign technical workers for employment that may take place at the offices or facilities of other businesses. They also show why the distinction between an ordinary employer that occasionally uses H-1B visas and an H-1B-dependent staffing company matters when evaluating corporate hiring practices.

$35 million from billionaires whose companies sponsor H-1B workers

Some of the largest financial supporters of Ramaswamy’s gubernatorial bid are business leaders whose companies also use the foreign-worker visa program.

Jeff Yass, the billionaire co-founder of Susquehanna International Group, has contributed $30 million to V-PAC: Victors, Not Victims, the independent super PAC established to help elect Ramaswamy governor. His contributions include $10 million in March 2025, two $5 million contributions in early 2026 and another $10 million contribution dated August 10, 2026, according to federal campaign-finance data.

Susquehanna International Group sponsors H-1B workers for positions including software development and quantitative research. Its immigration records identify 93 labor condition applications in fiscal 2025 and 92 in fiscal 2026.

Elon Musk contributed another $5 million to V-PAC in May 2026, according to federal campaign-finance records.

Tesla, the automaker led by Musk, is among the country’s major H-1B sponsors. Its federal filing history shows 2,909 labor condition applications in fiscal 2025 and 2,931 in fiscal 2026. The company’s applications include engineering, software development and other technical positions. SpaceX, another Musk-led company, also sponsors H-1B workers.

Yass and Musk have contributed a combined $35 million to the organization backing Ramaswamy’s gubernatorial candidacy. Those contributions are separate from the money received directly by the Ramaswamy-McColley campaign.

V-PAC describes its mission as electing Ramaswamy Ohio governor. The organization operates as an independent-expenditure-only committee, allowing it to accept unlimited donations while remaining legally separate from the candidate’s official campaign operation. Its receipts and spending are disclosed through the Federal Election Commission.

Unlike Infinite Computer Solutions, neither Susquehanna International Group nor Tesla is classified as H-1B-dependent in the immigration records reviewed. Their inclusion illustrates a different financial connection: two of the biggest donors financing Ramaswamy’s election effort lead or founded companies with established histories of sponsoring foreign employees.

Ramaswamy blamed American culture for companies hiring foreign-born engineers

Ramaswamy’s business history and campaign donors are accompanied by his own outspoken defense of technology companies hiring foreign-born talent.

On December 26, 2024, amid an intense debate over immigration and hiring practices in the technology industry, Ramaswamy published a lengthy statement on X explaining why major technology employers frequently favored foreign-born and first-generation engineers over native-born Americans.

His explanation focused on the shortcomings he perceived in American culture.

“Our American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence for way too long,” Ramaswamy wrote.

He criticized American society for celebrating popularity and athletic success over academic achievement, contrasting prom queens with mathematics competition winners and popular athletes with valedictorians. He argued that the country’s cultural priorities had undermined its ability to produce the technical talent that employers wanted.

Ramaswamy specifically rejected the argument that Americans lacked innate intellectual ability. Instead, he contended that the way Americans raised children and rewarded achievement helped explain the hiring decisions of major technology firms.

His position placed responsibility for the perceived shortage of American-born engineers on the country’s culture and education priorities, while defending employers’ decisions to recruit from a global talent pool.

The comments triggered a backlash from conservative figures who argued that American workers were being overlooked as companies expanded their reliance on foreign labor. The controversy exposed a division between supporters of tighter employment-based immigration restrictions and technology industry leaders who maintained that access to foreign specialists was necessary for business growth.

For Ramaswamy, the debate was not merely theoretical. He had spent years leading a corporate network with documented H-1B use, and his former companies had secured dozens of federal petition approvals. As an Ohio gubernatorial candidate, he is now receiving financial support from individuals connected to businesses that sponsor the same category of workers.

Ohio workers and the next governor’s economic development policies

The financial relationships have direct relevance to Ohio’s economic development strategy as Ramaswamy seeks the governor’s office.

Ohio has aggressively pursued technology investment, including data centers, advanced manufacturing facilities and large corporate expansions. Those projects can involve state and local tax incentives, infrastructure commitments and public resources intended to encourage businesses to invest and create jobs.

Ramaswamy has advocated expanding Ohio’s technology industry and attracting additional investment, including new data center and advanced computing projects. Such developments are frequently promoted for their potential economic benefits, although their long-term employment requirements and demands on public infrastructure vary significantly.

Federal authorities control H-1B petition approvals and the rules governing employment-based immigration. Ohio’s governor, however, appoints officials and influences the agencies responsible for economic development, public incentives and corporate recruitment.

That distinction matters because state officials can decide what employment commitments businesses must make when receiving taxpayer-supported economic development assistance. The next administration will have substantial influence over whether those agreements prioritize specific job-creation targets, wage levels, workforce development or other conditions.

The Department of Labor’s H-1B rules also recognize the consequences that foreign-worker placement can have for domestic employees. Certain H-1B-dependent employers face restrictions on displacing comparable U.S. workers within specified periods, including requirements concerning placements at other employers’ worksites. Those protections depend on the employer, the worker and the circumstances of the application.

The public records establish the central relationships: companies within Ramaswamy’s business empire obtained 88 H-1B petition approvals; he publicly defended technology companies’ preference for foreign-born engineers while criticizing American culture; a senior employee at an H-1B-dependent technology contractor provided nearly $12,000 in support to his campaign; and two billionaire business leaders whose companies sponsor H-1B workers have put $35 million behind the independent organization supporting his election.

As the November 3 election approaches, those records put Ramaswamy’s own business practices and financial supporters at the center of a consequential question for Ohio: how the next governor will use the state’s economic development authority to shape employment opportunities for the workers those public investments are supposed to benefit.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio reported owning 32,100 shares of Axovant Sciences worth $744,000 at the end of June 2017. Three months later, after the company announced the failure of a major Alzheimer’s drug trial and its stock price collapsed, STRS Ohio reported 33,100 shares worth just $227,000. The reported investment had plunged $517,000 in value, nearly 70%, even as Ohio’s share count increased.

It happened again with another Roivant-linked drug developer. On Dec. 31, 2020, STRS Ohio held 9,100 shares of Immunovant worth $420,000. On Feb. 2, 2021, Immunovant paused dosing in clinical trials of its lead experimental treatment after detecting elevated cholesterol levels in patients. The company’s stock plummeted, and by the end of March a position of the same size would have been worth approximately $146,000 — about $274,000 less than its December value.

Ohio’s March 2021 securities filing no longer listed Immunovant. That fact alone does not establish whether STRS Ohio sold its shares or retained a small position that it was no longer required to disclose. The public records establish the fund’s exposure before the crash, but do not establish its ultimate trading loss.

The pension exposure extended far beyond Ohio. Comparable holdings reported by public retirement systems in California, New York, Virginia, Florida and Wisconsin lost an estimated $7.49 million in value from stock-price declines between the quarter-end reporting dates examined. That sum is a calculation of market-price erosion on comparable share quantities, not a tally of confirmed realized losses or money transferred to Ramaswamy. It excludes a specific Immunovant loss for Ohio because its subsequent transactions remain unknown.

Ohio’s teachers’ fund lost more than half a million dollars in reported Axovant value

Ramaswamy founded Roivant Sciences, which held a controlling interest in Axovant. In its 2017 proxy statement, Axovant disclosed that Roivant owned 75 million shares, approximately 69.8% of the company. Ramaswamy served on Axovant’s board and held options to acquire 357,000 shares. His interests in the business therefore went beyond a distant association with its parent company.

Axovant’s centerpiece was intepirdine, an experimental Alzheimer’s disease treatment. The company had acquired rights to the drug from GlaxoSmithKline under a deal involving a $5 million payment at closing in December 2014 and another $5 million payment in June 2016, plus contingent payments tied to regulatory approvals and sales milestones. Axovant subsequently pursued a large Phase 3 trial intended to establish whether the treatment helped patients.

On Sept. 26, 2017, Axovant announced that its MINDSET trial had failed both principal efficacy measures. The study, involving 1,315 patients, found no statistically significant improvement over a placebo on the designated measures of cognition or daily functioning. Shares lost roughly 70% of their value in the immediate market reaction.

STRS Ohio’s quarterly disclosures put the fallout in concrete terms. The reported value of the pension’s Axovant shares declined from $744,000 to $227,000 between June 30 and Sept. 30. Because the fund held 1,000 more shares at the end of the period, the $517,000 reduction in the total value of its reported position actually understates the change in share price on a constant holding. Applied to its original 32,100 shares, the reported quarter-end prices imply approximately $524,000 in lost market value.

Other public pension investments were hit as well. The California State Teachers’ Retirement System reported 52,949 Axovant shares worth $1.228 million at the end of June 2017 and a slightly smaller position worth approximately $357,000 at the end of September. The share-price decline on the smaller reported holding was approximately $847,000. The State Board of Administration of Florida’s 11,195 shares dropped from approximately $260,000 to $77,000, while the State of Wisconsin Investment Board’s 20,000 shares declined from about $464,000 to $138,000. Those three pensions together faced an estimated $1.36 million in price-related declines over the quarter, in addition to Ohio’s approximately $524,000.

Immunovant’s 2021 clinical-trial pause sent pension holdings plunging again

Immunovant, another company in Roivant’s pharmaceutical portfolio, was developing a treatment known at the time as IMVT-1401 for autoimmune diseases. Roivant was Immunovant’s controlling shareholder. Ramaswamy had moved from chief executive to chairman of Roivant shortly before Immunovant’s 2021 setback.

On Feb. 2, 2021, Immunovant announced a voluntary pause in clinical dosing after preliminary data showed increases in total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol among some patients receiving the drug. In the highest-dose group studied, mean LDL cholesterol had increased approximately 65% at the 12-week measurement, according to the company. Immunovant said no serious cardiovascular events had been reported in its trials at that point and that it intended to pursue the drug’s development after further evaluation. The announcement nevertheless triggered a stock-price collapse of more than 40% that day.

By March 31, Immunovant shares were worth roughly $16 apiece, compared with approximately $46 at the end of December. Public retirement funds holding the stock saw millions in market value disappear across that quarter.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System reported 77,054 shares worth $3.559 million in December 2020 and 68,937 shares worth $1.106 million three months later. Although the fund reduced its reported share count, the change in stock price on the smaller position accounted for an estimated $2.08 million decline in value.

The New York State Common Retirement Fund held 33,800 Immunovant shares at both reporting dates. Their value fell from $1.561 million to $542,000, a decline of $1.019 million without any change in the reported number of shares. The Virginia Retirement Systems’ position decreased from 31,900 shares worth $1.473 million to 26,900 worth $431,000, representing about $811,000 of price-related decline on the smaller holding.

California’s teachers’ pension also held Immunovant. Its 56,915 shares worth $2.629 million in December 2020 became 56,540 shares worth $907,000 at the end of March 2021. The price decline on a comparable 56,540-share position was approximately $1.70 million.

Across those four Immunovant investments alone, the estimated value lost to falling share prices was approximately $5.61 million in a single quarter. Adding four Axovant holdings from 2017, including Ohio’s, brings the comparable share-price decline across the eight examined pension positions to approximately $7.49 million.

The Ohio Immunovant position remains an unanswered accounting question

STRS Ohio’s Immunovant investment presents a particularly important gap between what public securities filings disclose and what can be established about a pension fund’s actual trading results. The system held 9,100 shares worth $420,000 at the end of 2020, before the clinical pause. Its March 2021 filing contained no Immunovant entry.

That missing entry is not proof the pension sold the stock. Under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Form 13F reporting rules, investment managers may omit a position when they own fewer than 10,000 shares and the holding is worth less than $200,000. Ohio’s original 9,100 shares would have been worth about $146,000 at the end-of-March share price, satisfying both thresholds. STRS Ohio could therefore have continued to hold the shares without listing them.

If it held all 9,100 shares through March 31, their reported market value would have declined by approximately $274,000 from December. If it sold earlier, the fund’s actual proceeds and investment outcome would depend on the transaction dates and prices. The public holdings reports do not answer that question, and they cannot support a definitive claim that Ohio realized a combined $750,000 loss across Axovant and Immunovant.

What the pension records prove — and what they do not

The combined figure is based on changes in publicly reported values, with adjustments for changes in share counts. For each pair of quarterly holdings, the analysis calculated the change in value per share and applied it to the smaller of the two reported share counts. That approach isolates the price change on a comparable quantity of stock instead of counting every reduction in the size of a fund’s holding as an investment loss. It cannot determine when shares were purchased or sold during the quarter, the original acquisition cost, or the amount ultimately realized when a position was closed. It also captures the full quarter’s price movement, not solely the trading-day response to a clinical announcement.

The filings likewise do not establish that Ramaswamy or the companies deliberately targeted pension systems as investors. The retirement funds held publicly traded shares, and their investment decisions cannot be inferred from the companies’ share registers. Ramaswamy’s corporate ties are established by company disclosures, but the pension figures do not establish his own realized financial gains or losses during either collapse.

Those distinctions do not diminish the central finding. Retirement money administered for Ohio teachers was invested in two separate companies within the business empire Ramaswamy built when major drug-development setbacks sent their stocks sharply lower. STRS Ohio’s Axovant holding alone lost more than half a million dollars in reported market value during the 2017 crash quarter. Four other pension positions in Immunovant lost more than $5.6 million in comparable share value during the first quarter of 2021.

The remaining question is not whether the public pensions were exposed to the collapses. Their own federal filings establish that they were. It is how much of that market damage became a permanent trading loss, particularly for Ohio’s teachers’ retirement system, whose Immunovant transactions are not visible in the quarterly disclosures.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The number of occupations able to afford a typically priced home with a 10% down payment fell nearly 41% across Ohio’s metropolitan areas from 2020 to 2025, according to the second annual Priced Out: When a Good Job Isn’t Enough report.

“This report shows that home ownership is becoming a luxury in Ohio, and that jobs that used to be considered solidly middle class — like being a firefighter or mail carrier — are getting shut out of the American dream,” said Marcus Roth, spokesperson for the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. 

Mansfield, Cleveland, Springfield, Toledo and Akron ranked among the 25 largest affordability declines in the country, according to the report. 

“Ohio’s numbers show just how quickly the path to homeownership can disappear for working families,” National Housing Conference President and CEO David M. Dworkin said in a statement. 

In Ohio, 67% of occupations could purchase a home with 10% down in 2020, but that dropped down to 26% in 2025, according to the report. 

When it came to renting a two-bedroom apartment, 77% of occupations in Ohio could afford to do so in 2020. That number dropped to 69% in 2025, according to the report. 

Mansfield experienced the biggest loss in homeownership affordability in Ohio. A typically priced home was $115,041 and the annual income needed to qualify for that home was $28,483 in 2020.

In 2025, a typically priced home in Mansfield rose to $188,863, which requires an income of $62,931 — a 121% increase, according to the report. 

Elementary and special education teachers, emergency medical technicians and paramedics, firefighters, and postal service mail carriers could afford a typical Mansfield home in 2020. But by 2025, firefighters, postal service mail carriers, executive secretaries, and loan officers could no longer afford a typically priced Mansfield home. 

“In Mansfield, more than four out of five occupations could afford a typical home just five years ago,” Dworkin said. 

“Today, fewer than one in three can. When teachers, firefighters, EMTs, postal workers and other essential workers are increasingly priced out of the communities they serve, it is not just a housing problem—it is a workforce and economic problem.”

The average annual salary among occupations that lost the ability to purchase a home with a 10% downpayment between 2020 and 2025 was $70,283. 

“Ohio needs more homes at prices its workforce can afford,” Dworkin said. 

“That means building and preserving housing near jobs, reducing unnecessary costs and delays, and aligning federal, state and local policies around increasing supply. A good job should still provide a realistic path to a stable, affordable home.”

People remain renters longer when they are unable to afford to buy a home, so that means more demand for rental housing, Roth said. 

“There’s a huge (rental housing) shortage, so with so many more people that used to be in that category of homeowners or future homeowners now are solidly renters,” Roth said. 

“That increased demand has driven up the cost of rents, so we’re seeing the impact in the rental market too.” 

A full-time Ohio worker needs to be making at least $23.82 an hour to be able to afford a “modest” two-bedroom apartment, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition and COHHIO’s annual Out of Reach report.

Ohio also has a shortage of 266,000 affordable and available rental units, according to to the 2026 Gap Report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition and COHHIO. 

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on X or on Bluesky.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The remarks came after Click narrowly survived a surprisingly competitive May 5 primary against Watson, a first-time candidate who came within just 600 votes of defeating the three-term incumbent. Watson won Seneca County outright and captured nearly 48% of the districtwide Republican vote despite raising substantially less money than Click, who benefited from years of established fundraising relationships and support from the Ohio House Republican caucus.

During the recorded conversation, Click was challenged over his earlier false accusation that local Democrats had donated to Watson’s primary campaign. Click acknowledged that the accusation was a mistake but maintained that Democrats would have benefited politically if Watson had defeated him.

“I actually told somebody at one time,” Click said, before describing a hypothetical general election between Watson and Jones. “If it was between Eric and Aaron, I might have voted for Aaron,” he said, laughing, “because Eric’s a nut.”

Click then added: “Don’t you repeat that.”

Click’s characterization of Watson was unusually blunt for an incumbent discussing a fellow Republican who had come close to denying him his party’s nomination.

Click, a Republican from Vickery who was first elected in 2020, ultimately secured the nomination and now faces Jones, a Tiffin city councilman, U.S. Army veteran and longtime manufacturing supervisor, in the November 3 general election.

A first-time challenger nearly unseated a three-term incumbent

Watson’s primary campaign presented one of the most serious electoral challenges Click has faced since entering the Ohio House. The Tiffin businessman campaigned to the incumbent’s right, criticizing Click’s relationships with Republican leadership, his legislative record and his positions on data centers, digital identification and property taxes.

According to the certified results from the Seneca County and Sandusky County boards of elections, Click defeated Watson by 6,884 votes to 6,284, a margin of just 600 votes, or 52.28% to 47.72%.

The incumbent actually lost Seneca County, where Watson defeated him 3,228 to 2,724. Click survived because of his stronger showing in Sandusky County, where he defeated Watson 4,160 to 3,056.

Watson’s performance was particularly notable given the financial disparity between the campaigns. Campaign-finance records previously examined by TiffinOhio.net showed Click reported $69,461.37 in contributions during 2026 through primary day, compared with $17,488.05 Watson reported across his campaign filings. Watson also relied on substantial personal funding, contributing $21,000 of his own money to finance the challenge.

The spending gap was narrower. Click’s committee reported $53,662.58 in expenditures through primary day, compared with $42,128.99 for Watson. Click’s reported expenditures included $45,000 in transfers to the Ohio House Republican Organizational Committee, which subsequently reported providing $38,611.62 in support to Click’s campaign.

The primary also exposed a lasting divide between the two Republicans. In July, Watson told TiffinOhio.net he would never endorse Click, saying a post-primary conversation had failed to resolve his concerns about the incumbent’s positions on data centers and government overreach. Watson also announced plans to move out of the district.

Click had previously dismissed Watson’s candidacy and questioned his political judgment. During the primary, he told the Fremont News-Messenger that moving further to the right than him meant going “in the ditch.” In April, he mocked Watson as “the Arizona Kid”, referencing his former residence in Arizona despite Watson having grown up in Seneca County.

Watson, meanwhile, told TiffinOhio.net in February that personal insults were unnecessary and that candidates should focus on substantive disagreements.

“I’m not into the name-calling or any of that stuff,” Watson said at the time. “I really, as a candidate, want to focus on the issues that voters are concerned about.”

Click acknowledges false accusation against Democrats

The recorded conversation also revisited an August controversy in which Click falsely accused Jones and two other local Democrats of financially supporting Watson’s Republican primary campaign.

A TiffinOhio.net fact-check published August 7 found that none of the three Democrats had contributed to Watson, according to campaign-finance filings submitted to the Ohio Secretary of State. Click subsequently deleted his original accusation and published a correction acknowledging that the claim had been made in error.

During the recorded conversation, Click explained that he had downloaded campaign-finance information for the 88th District and mistakenly interpreted contributions while reviewing the records.

“I made a simple mistake,” Click said. He later added: “It was a mistake, and it was a dumb mistake. I’m not even gonna say it wasn’t.”

Despite acknowledging the error, Click continued to suggest that Democrats had wanted Watson to win the Republican nomination because he believed Watson would have been easier to defeat in November.

“He would’ve been much easier to beat,” Click said.

It was during that discussion that Click volunteered his hypothetical preference for Jones over Watson, describing the former Republican challenger as “a nut.”

Click’s remarks contrast with his calls for respectful campaigns

Elsewhere in the same recorded exchange, Click repeatedly criticized what he characterized as personal attacks against him and insisted that he had treated his own political opponents respectfully.

“I have always been kind to every candidate,” Click said, later adding, “I try to be nice to my opponents. I try to keep it to policy.”

Those statements echoed his public comments during the Republican primary, when he urged candidates to “turn down the rhetoric” and argued that political disagreements should not become attacks on opponents’ character. His subsequent description of Watson as “a nut” was directed not at a Democratic adversary but at a fellow Republican whose primary challenge nearly prevented Click from advancing to the general election.

TiffinOhio.net contacted Watson for comment on Click’s recorded remarks but had not received a response by publication. Nick Kraus, a campaign consultant for Watson’s primary bid, was also contacted and declined to comment. This story will be updated if Watson responds.

Click faces Jones on November 3 in Ohio’s 88th House District, which encompasses Seneca and Sandusky counties. The election will determine whether Click secures a fourth and final term in the Ohio House after narrowly surviving a primary challenge from a fellow Republican he now acknowledges he might have passed over in favor of a Democrat.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Organizers across hundreds of advocacy groups will pull together thousands of events nationwide Saturday to encourage early voting in this year’s midterm elections. Voting is already underway in dozens of states, and roughly 5.1 million ballots – both in-person and mail – have been cast, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab.

Saturday’s “No Kings: Vote Early Day of Action” events include marches and walks to the polls where early voting is already underway and open on the weekends. Also planned are gatherings that offer live music, food and assistance for voter registration, car pool sign-ups and information on how to become a poll observer.

“The best way to prevent any funny business from this administration after Election Day is to make sure that our turnout is massive — so clear, and so overwhelming that our victory for democracy is impossible to question,” Alma Couverthie, a senior organizer with the advocacy group Common Cause, said at a Wednesday morning press conference in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Common Cause is one of the nearly 320 organizations coordinating the events under the direction of nine national steering committee groups.

“There is no time to sit on the sidelines. We need everyone. So I urge you, make your plan to vote early. Don’t trust in the way you voted before. Check again. Make sure you know where you’re going, how you’re going, and who you’re bringing with you,” Couverthie said.

This one is different

Ezra Levin, co-founder and co-executive director of Indivisible, one of the nine steering committee groups, said Saturday’s events will be distinct from previous No Kings Day rallies in June and October 2025, and March 2026.

“It is different in the sense that No Kings One, Two, and Three were designed to send a message that the American people were not simply going to sacrifice their constitutional rights, that they were willing to stand up,” Levin told States Newsroom during an Oct. 9 interview.

The message of the three marches was “well sent,” he said, as each successive one expanded in numbers. It started with 5 million attendees across 2,100 individual events nationwide on June 14, 2025, to more than 7 million at 2,700 events on Oct. 18, 2025, and then reached 8 million across 3,330 events on March 28, 2026, according to organizers.

With Trump at historic low approval ratings, and with an “electoral wipeout” likely ahead if polls are on target, Levin said No Kings messaging “is largely completed” and that action is the next step.

“The goal of No Kings on October 17 is therefore not just to protest and get attention to the fact that people aren’t afraid to stand up, but to use this tool that is available to us right now in October, and it is a different constitutional right, not just the constitutional right to organize and make your voice heard — but your constitutional right to vote,” Levin said. 

As of Wednesday, more than 2,500 events were scheduled for Saturday in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to No Kings organizers.

Deirdre Schifeling, chief political and advocacy officer for the ACLU, said the civil liberties organization has been training thousands of volunteers to assist voters in knowing their rights and what to do if they encounter issues at the polls.

“We know that the best way to protect our freedom is to act free. That means showing up at the polls and making sure that your neighbors can show up too. See you at the polls on Saturday,” Schifeling said at the Wednesday press conference.

Joining forces

Other concerted efforts to do what organizers call “get out the vote” are joining No Kings events Saturday to amplify and strengthen their messages, leaders say.

Bishop William Barber, Repairers of the Breach founder and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, has been organizing 1,000 marches nationwide to the polls in an effort he announced in July as “Love Forward Together.”

So far, Barber’s campaign has organized 652 marches in 428 locations across the United States, according to Repairers of the Breach.

Standing before the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday alongside No Kings organizers, Barber said the overall goal despite the campaign or group “is about people being conspicuous in their courage and in their commitment.”

“There is no competition. We have one competition. We are competing against a low voter turnout that can no longer exist in this democracy if we are to have a democracy, and if we are to have a democracy that serves all the people,” Barber said. 

The Interfaith Alliance will be more than 10 days into a 15-state “The Vote is Sacred” bus tour Saturday when it stops in Charlotte, North Carolina, to join a “No Kings: Vote Early Day of Action” event.

Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush said the tour is about mobilizing faith communities to be “trained up” to recognize possible illegal interference at polling places.

“Unfortunately, this administration has threatened to disrupt. … We are going to bring the nonviolent spiritual mobilization that has been with us, and we’re going to be trained up all across the country,” Raushenbush said during an Oct. 6 interview with MS NOW’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” after the tour’s stop in Kansas City, Missouri.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment, but referred States Newsroom to a statement from a Republican National Committee spokesperson.

“From Virginia to Louisiana, Democrats have tried to manipulate congressional maps for political gain. Republicans are restoring the rule of law, protecting fair representation, and making it easier to vote and harder to cheat,” according to the statement from Ally Triolo, the RNC’s election integrity communications director.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

With three weeks until election day, there’s still a lot of voting to come. So far, data from the Ohio Secretary of State indicate early in-person voting is up — by a lot — while absentee voting has slipped compared to the last midterm election in 2022. Taken together, early voting in the current cycle is running behind that election.

Voters have been moving away from mail-in voting for several cycles, but growing suspicion of the process among Republicans can hardly have helped.

Despite voting by mail himself, President Donald Trump has spent years attacking it. In just one of many examples, last year he asserted without evidence that “ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS/VOTING.”

In Ohio, state lawmakers have eliminated the grace period for late-arriving absentee ballots and proposed — but not yet enacted — onerous new requirements like including a photocopy of your ID when voting absentee.

League of Women Voters of Ohio Executive Director Jen Miller said, “Absentee voting is secure and the most accessible method for many Ohio seniors, people with disabilities, military families, college students, and those who live far from their county Early Vote Center.”

“Absentee ballots are stored in rooms that require both Republican and Democratic keys to open,” she added. “Bipartisan teams of election workers work in concert to verify a voter’s identity before a ballot is mailed out and again when it is returned; otherwise, it won’t be counted.”

In the last few weeks, President Trump has changed his tune about absentee voting — a rhetorical reversal he’s made before.

The figures

In 2022, after a week of early voting, Ohioans had cast 50,368 ballots in person and requested 871,041 absentee ballots.

This year, 194,841 Ohioans have cast a ballot in person during the first week of early voting, or nearly four times as many as the previous cycle.

Statewide, counties have so far tallied about a third of the early in-person vote they saw in the entire 2022 election.

Franklin County, the strongest early vote performer that year, lags that statewide average slightly, but several other large counties are outperforming it.

Cuyahoga, Lucas, Lorain, and Summit counties — accounting for the Cleveland, Toledo, and Akron metro areas — have all already cleared 40% of their 2022 early vote totals.

At the same time, the number of absentee ballot requests has dropped by almost a quarter million.

So far, just 631,079 Ohio voters have asked for a mail ballot.

“I think it’s pretty easily explainable,” University of Akron Political Scientist David Cohen said. “The President of the United States for the last 20 months has been claiming that voting by mail is not secure.”

Trump’s last minute bid to boost absentee voting gets overshadowed by his past statements and actions, Cohen said.

He pointed to the president’s attempt to commandeer the U.S. Postal Service to impose new voting restrictions as one example.

The U.S. Supreme Court chose not to intervene in that case after a lower court barred the administration from going forward.

Cohen also brought up state lawmakers nixing Ohio’s grace period.

“I think there are a lot of people on both sides of the aisle now that don’t actually trust (voting by mail),” he said, “and would prefer to just do it in person to ensure that their votes count.”

In terms of demographics, older voters make up the biggest share of the total so far. Seniors, for instance, have accounted for more than half of the ballots cast through Monday.

Democrats and unaffiliated voters lead Republican voters to this point. Democrats have returned about 94,000 ballots, and unaffiliated voters account for a little more than 67,000. GOP voters have cast nearly 64,000.

Although a lot can happen between now and Election Day, Cohen thinks those figures offer a warning for Republicans.

“If we believe the public opinion polling that we’ve seen,” Cohen said, “about two-thirds to maybe even three-fourths of those independent voters are voting Democrat this year.”

“There’s a reason that Donald Trump keeps coming back to Ohio,” he added, “and it’s not to vacation and it’s not to play golf.”

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Will Ohioans being wiped out by spiking premiums, out-of-pocket costs, and less medical coverage be wowed by what Ohio AFL-CIO chief Tim Burga called Trump’s attempt to “buy votes” weeks before the midterms?

Or will voters view the legally questionable windfall from a convicted felon the way Burga does — as a lame PR stunt that does little to move the pre-election needle and “reeks of desperation”? 

You decide why a president, facing historic lows in approval ratings, rushed ACA and Medicare checks to millions of Americans with campaign-like letters boasting about his greatness and signed in Sharpie Marker.

You weigh why the Affordable Care Act money was only doled out to a subset of enrollees — most Obamacare enrollees will not receive any — who also (by pure coincidence) live in many states with tightly contested U.S. Senate races.

Scrutinize, too, the propaganda notes attached to Trump’s $500 Obamacare “refund” checks.

The missives sent to households in prime political battlegrounds (falsely) accused the Biden administration of “overcharging” Americans for their health care and touted Trump’s commitment to “put America first, restore affordability, protect your hard-earned money, and lower the cost of healthcare.”

Put a pin in those easily debunked claims. 

Trump also offered electioneering cash (attempted bribes?) to 20 million traditional Medicare Part B enrollees to offset monthly premiums of about $200 for a program that covers outpatient care, doctor visits, preventable care, etc.

Like the narrow scope of insured who received ACA checks, Trump’s one-time payments of $90 for eligible seniors  excludes roughly 35 million Medicare Advantage enrollees, (who make up over half of Medicare beneficiaries) plus other people with disabilities and low-income Medicare recipients.

This midterm sweetener will cost the government $2 billion and come from the Medicare Improvement Fund, created by Congress to improve program management and conduct oversight of contracts and contractors.

The funding has been diverted before to expand healthcare coverage through the ACA, but it has never been used to directly pay recipients.

Is any of this legal? Trump writing Medicare and ACA checks without Congress? He has thrown another frontal assault on Congress’ constitutional power of the purse, but no court has blocked either payment yet.

Putting the rule of law aside, (as Trump does on the daily) the political impact of his money giveaway in the waning days of the 2026 midterm campaign is negligible in Ohio.

Don’t get me wrong. The estimated 70,000 Ohioans who got $500 ACA checks, out of the roughly 336,000 Ohio residents who still get their health insurance from the ACA marketplace, cashed them.

So did the 748,000 seniors in Ohio — less than a third of the total 2.5 million Medicare recipients in the state — who received Trump’s legally dubious $90 checks.

But the Trump pay-outs to seduce voters clobbered economically by Medicare Part B monthly premiums (that went up nearly 10% in 2026 and will climb again in 2027), or ACA premiums (set to jump 14.7% next year by the 11 remaining insurance companies on Ohio’s federal marketplace) probably won’t cause Ohioans priced out of medical care to swoon.

They know the truth. They crunch the numbers over strained budgets. Trump, and every Republican in Congress, gutted their health care funding to finance a trillion-dollar tax break for billionaires and corporations.

Last year GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill also blocked healthcare subsidies that lowered health insurance costs for over 20 million Americans.

Monthly ACA premiums more than doubled for many enrollees. Some 160,000 Ohioans, (a third of those enrolled in the state) who simply could not make those monthly premium payments, lost their healthcare coverage.

Ohio led the nation in the highest percentage of ACA enrollment decline with a staggering 32.4% drop-off between February 2025 and February 2026.

Now the state faces more than $33 billion in lost Medicaid funding over the next decade_,_ thanks again to Trump and his compliant congressional Republicans, including Ohio U.S. Sens. Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno, who voted for the ridiculously named One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

More than 3 million Ohioans, nearly 1 in 4 residents, depend on Medicaid, including 40% of all children in the state.

Trump’s signature healthcare package, which slashed federal Medicaid funding by $911 billion over a ten-year period, could soon end government-sponsored health insurance for hundreds of thousands Medicaid users in Ohio just trying to get by. 

When new OBBB Medicaid work rules kick in January 1, researchers estimate millions of working Americans could lose their coverage.

The federal changes — which create heavy administrative and procedural burdens that often strip eligible low-income adults of health insurance — are expected to purge up to 356,000 Ohioans from Medicaid.

As coverage falls access to health care across Ohio disappears.

Eleven rural and safety-net hospitals in Ohio face risk of closure because of Trump’s 2025 spending law cuts to Medicaid.

Hospitals across the country have already begun cutting services and jobs in response to the devastating measure heralded by the president and his Republican puppets on the stump as their chief legislative accomplishment.

But go ahead, mail out checks to mitigate the damages wrought by the sender. Just don’t expect voters to be dazzled by a drop in the bucket that does nothing to put out the fire.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Standing in front of a judge in Austin’s Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center, attorney Matthew Shrum secured a ruling that spared his client from serious punishment on a shoplifting charge.

In the hallway immediately afterward, the defendant thanked Shrum with an appreciative hug.

“She walked out of there a free lady,” Shrum observed later. “It was Christmas in October.”

The 49-year-old Austin lawyer has spent most of his 20-year legal career as a defense attorney, and since 2023, he has been affiliated with the nonprofit Capital Area Private Defender Service, one of two entities in Travis County charged with representing indigent clients who can’t afford an attorney. The Travis County Public Defender’s Office performs a similar mission.

In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that under the Fourteenth Amendment, states must provide lawyers to criminal defendants who cannot afford one. But throughout Texas and many other states, the rosters of public defenders have been shrinking at an alarming rate, often leaving defendants in jail for days, weeks or months without access to an attorney.

Many public defenders are leaving, while those that remain are forced to juggle enormous caseloads. At one point, Shrum told Stateline, he had more than 500 cases. The overload facing him and other public defenders in Travis County, he said, results from “more indigent people than there were lawyers to take court-appointed cases.”

In a report to the Texas Indigent Defense Commission, which was created to monitor and partly fund county indigent defense programs, researchers from the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M found that the state lost 1,345 attorneys tasked with representing indigent clients between 2014 and 2024 — nearly a fourth of all such attorneys. The decline occurred even as the total number of attorneys in Texas grew by more than 25,000.

A 2023 study by the Sixth Amendment Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, ranked Texas 46th nationally in per capita spending on indigent defense at $9.19. “Some states are struggling more than others,” said Aditi Goel, the center’s executive director.

Goel said there are no national statistics on the shortage of public defenders.

“It’s a complete black box,” she told Stateline. “We do not know as a country right now. There is absolutely no way to know whether every single person is getting their right to an attorney, and if not, how long they’re waiting for their right to an attorney.”

Problems across states

But there is plenty of evidence to suggest that jurisdictions across the nation are struggling to provide attorneys to the estimated 80%-90% of criminal defendants who cannot afford one.

Earlier this year, for example, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that more than 1,400 criminal cases had to be dismissed because there weren’t enough lawyers to represent the defendants. A 2022 report by the American Bar Association found that Oregon would need an additional 1,296 attorneys — more than three times the number it had at the time — to meet its constitutional obligations.

In Pennsylvania, a 2024 study by the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania found that in a typical year, the state’s 850 public defenders are assigned cases that would require 1,200 lawyers to provide adequate representation. Sixty of Pennsylvania’s 66 counties don’t have enough attorneys, the study found.

Last year, a report by the Deason Criminal Justic Reform Center at Southern Methodist University in Dallas estimated that Kansas needed to add 277 public defenders to its roster of 123 lawyers to provide effective counsel to every indigent defendant. And a 2022 study found that New Mexico, which had 295 public defenders, needed an additional 602 full-time attorneys to provide effective counsel.

In Texas, the shrinking number of attorneys has been caused in large part by retirements and burnout among older defense attorneys and an accompanying shortage of younger lawyers or law school graduates willing to replace them. Instead, many younger lawyers are drawn to more financially rewarding jobs with private firms.

The growing complexity of evidence such as videos and body camera footage and increases in prosecution budgets also are contributing factors.

The indigent defense commission says one in three attorneys handling indigent defense in Texas is overburdened, carrying caseloads that exceed the commission’s caseload guidelines.

“It’s a big demographic problem of lawyers aging out, nobody to replace them,” said Keith Lauerman, another Austin public defender who is close to ending his 33-year legal career to become a Red Cross volunteer.  Lauerman, 70, says he’s enjoyed his years representing defendants but felt it was time to “pivot for a third act” after working as an attorney and school teacher.

Cited for contempt

A number of states and communities have been credited with taking steps to shore up support for public defenders while are others are embroiled in turmoil over the issue.

In California, San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju was cited for contempt by Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman after he announced that he would periodically stop taking “a very small percentage” of new cases because of “a dramatic increase” in active cases coming into his office.

“The pressure has been tremendous,” Raju told Stateline, citing a 78% increase in active misdemeanor cases and a 56% increase in active felony cases from 2019 to 2026.  Raju, the state’s only elected public defender, was also hit with $26,000 in sanctions by Dorfman but the fines haven’t gone into effect while the case is on appeal.

The Los Angeles County Public Defender, the largest public defense agency in the country, also made news following a study that defenders are carrying workloads more than double the volume that allows them to effectively represent their clients.

A new commission co-organized by former District Attorney of San Francisco Chesa Boudin has been empaneled to push California toward new standards and legal regulations for public defense.

“There was a crisis playing out in plain view and people weren’t paying attention,” said Boudin, who is the founding executive director of the Criminal Law & Justice Center at the UC Berkeley School of Law.

Texas is one of about 15 states in which counties bear the responsibility for representing indigent defendants, although the Texas Indigent Defense Commission provides limited state funds through grants partly reimbursing counties for their costs.

“Travis County, like a lot of counties, we have an attorney shortage,” said Geoff Burkhart, county executive for Community Legal Services, which oversees Travis County’s two indigent defense organizations. “We don’t have enough lawyers for public defense.”

Working miracles

Supporters of the Capital Area Public Defenders Service and the Travis County Public Defender’s Office turned out at a September budget hearing before Travis County Commissioners to urge a funding boost for the organizations. Kaylee Brilhart, who is in her third year as an attorney at the public defender’s office, warned that the “public defense system in Travis County is at capacity.” She said there are people in jail who have been “without attorneys for months.”

“I have clients who express gratitude just because I answer their calls from the jail or I respond to their texts or phone calls,” she said. “We work miracles in our office every day.”

The larger Capital Area Private Defender Service, known as CAPDS, was created in 2015 to manage and oversee appointments of private attorneys contracted to represent indigent clients.  The Travis County Public Defender’s Office, composed of staff attorneys and support personnel, was created in 2020 to further expand indigent services.

As of the 2024 fiscal year, the two organizations spent a total of $29 million on indigent defense services, handling 17,000 cases, with CAPDS shouldering the biggest caseload.

The leaders of both organizations say they are committed to the highest quality representation but acknowledge that the lingering shortage of attorneys is a constant challenge.  “You’re doing it because you believe in justice and want to help people,” said Adeola Ogunkeyede, the county’s chief public defender, while acknowledging that “there are not enough attorneys to represent people.”

Bradley Hargis, executive director of CAPDS, said the shortage has worsened over time.  “It started quietly,” he said. “There was an occasional shortage, an occasional day in which we were struggling to find the right attorney for each case, and then those occasional days became more regular, and then became chronic.

“It leads us, our attorneys, having caseloads greater than we would want, and really leads to overwork and burnout, and that’s what we are trying to guard against — overworking our attorneys,” he added.

Two of the state’s most populous counties — Travis, anchored by Austin, and Bexar, anchored by San Antonio —  have seen their indigent defense pools shrink by 50% over the past five years amid a 26% drop in the state’s urban counties.

In rural Texas counties, the number of public defenders has dropped by 29% in the past decade, from 1,926 to 1,371 attorneys.

After Bandera County Judge Richard Evans noticed an alarming absence of defense attorneys in his home county, he rallied leaders in neighboring jurisdictions to create the five-county Hill Country Public Defenders Office. Similar multicounty defense organizations have sprouted up elsewhere across the state.

“I really do believe we’ve improved indigent defense in the region,” said chief public defender Karli Kennell of Boerne, Texas.  The nearly six-year-old defense organization includes 20 attorneys and a staff of 30 charged with Kennell’s commitment “to go in and fight for our clients.”

“It’s important to me that my attorneys are advocates, that they’re not just a plea mill.  So now we don’t have as many people waiting in jail without an attorney,” she said.  “I do take pride in what we’ve done in this region because I think most of Texas is still struggling quite a bit.”

Pamela Metzger, executive director of the Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center at Southern Methodist University, said the stakes could not be higher.

“Every day that an arrested person doesn’t have a lawyer is a day that their constitutional rights are being violated — period, full stop,” she said.

This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Ohio Capital Journal, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Community members, local business owners, organizations and students from a local school art class have transformed the streetside planters into seasonal displays, each with its own design.

Some feature skeletons surrounded by pumpkins and autumn decorations, while others combine Halloween props with flowers and greenery. One display features a large pumpkin bearing the Tiffin logo alongside a moss-covered skeleton, while another surrounds a skeleton and skulls with spiderwebs, spiders and cascading flowers.

Mayor Lee Wilkinson praised the contributions of residents and students who helped decorate downtown.

“These planters are a great example of the pride people take in our community,” Wilkinson said. “Each one is a little different, and that’s what makes them fun. It’s especially nice to see our young people getting involved and sharing their creativity. I appreciate everyone who took the time to add something special to our downtown.”

The displays will remain along Washington Street throughout October, according to the city.

The decorations also arrive ahead of Downtown Tiffin’s annual Third Thursday Trick-or-Treat and Great Pumpkin Drop on Thursday, Oct. 15. Trick-or-treating at participating downtown businesses begins at 5 p.m., followed by the Tiffin Fire/Rescue Division’s Great Pumpkin Drop at 6:30 p.m. in City Lot 6.

Wilkinson encouraged residents to walk through downtown, see the displays and visit local businesses while the decorations are up.

“Sometimes it’s the little things that make our community special,” he said. “Take a walk, enjoy the creativity, and see what our neighbors have put together.”

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The three-term Republican incumbent incorrectly attributed language from the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution, falsely described Israel as America’s only ally in the Middle East and suggested super PACs would not contribute to challenger Aaron Jones because they did not want to support him, although such organizations cannot donate directly to candidates.

The sharpest confrontation came after a student asked about transgender rights. Click defended his legislation restricting gender-affirming medical treatment for minors and accused Jones of lying when the challenger criticized his record. Jones responded by directing students to a website scrutinizing Click’s claims, prompting an interruption from the incumbent and applause from the student audience.

The hourlong debate was organized by the Sandusky Register, a sister newspaper of Tiffin’s Advertiser-Tribune, as part of its Register in Schools debate series. Sponsored by the Greater Sandusky Partnership and moderated by Register publisher Jeremy Speer, the event gave Fremont Ross students an opportunity to question the two candidates for Ohio’s 88th House District, which encompasses Seneca and Sandusky counties.

The candidates addressed abortion, campaign finance, artificial intelligence, government surveillance, school safety and the war with Iran. Throughout the debate, Click emphasized his six years in the Ohio House and repeatedly argued that students should evaluate what candidates had accomplished rather than what they promised. Jones, a Tiffin City Council member, Army veteran and manufacturing supervisor, challenged Click’s record and argued that Republican leadership had failed to address the district’s problems.

Click accuses Jones of lying over transgender rights

The confrontation began when Fremont Ross junior Gabriel Flores asked how the candidates would affect the transgender rights movement in Ohio.

Click responded that everyone should be treated respectfully regardless of their identity, while defending restrictions on gender-affirming medical treatment for minors. He argued that decisions involving permanent physical changes should be reserved for adults.

“As an adult, do what you want. Do what you feel like is you,” Click said. “But as a minor, we think you ought to take that time, finish growing up, and then make that decision as an adult.”

Click sponsored House Bill 68, which restricted gender-affirming medical care for minors and barred transgender girls and women from participating on female school sports teams. Republican lawmakers enacted the legislation in January 2024 by overriding Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto. It took effect that April.

Jones immediately challenged Click’s assertion that he treated everyone respectfully.

“My opponent doesn’t do what he just said, first of all,” Jones responded.

Jones argued that Ohio lawmakers had deliberately targeted transgender people and other members of the LGBTQ community through legislation, and that those efforts had no place in state government.

“I truly do believe, and I stand by anybody’s right to love who they love, to be who they want to be,” Jones said. “They shouldn’t be discriminated upon. They shouldn’t be shunned.”

Jones promised that if elected, “there will not be culture wars” and that everyone would have a seat at the table.

Click rejected the criticism, arguing that certain policies described as transgender rights were not rights at all. He referred students to LGB Courage, an organization associated with activist Jamie Reed, whom he described as a friend, and alleged that some parents had pressured gay children into transitioning because they did not accept their sexual orientation.

Click asserted that such cases were documented but did not identify any specific examples during the debate.

“Some of these things that are called rights are not rights,” Click said.

He then accused Jones of dishonesty directly.

“I support everyone making their own decisions, and I have never attacked anyone for their identity, contrary to what Mr. Jones says,” Click said. “That’s a great talking point, but it’s a lie, and you shouldn’t be lying to teenagers.”

Jones responded by pointing to a website established to challenge the incumbent’s public statements.

“There’s two people on this stage, and only one of them has a GaryClickFacts.com,” Jones said.

Click interrupted, saying the website was “put out by your party.” Jones told him to wait his turn, drawing applause from the audience.

Jones then defended his integrity by invoking his military service.

“When it comes to truth and integrity, I served this country honorably for four years and would do it again tomorrow if anybody that I served with ever asked me,” Jones said.

The exchange centered on a legislative record that is not in dispute. Click was the primary sponsor of House Bill 68, which imposed restrictions on transgender minors’ medical care and athletic participation. His insistence that he has never attacked anyone because of their identity does not change the restrictions his legislation placed on transgender Ohioans.

Click’s claims about super PAC money conflict with campaign-finance rules

Another confrontation emerged when Fremont Ross junior Keith Nelson asked the candidates about removing money from politics and reducing the influence of super PACs.

Click defended political action committees, arguing that they often represent the interests of ordinary workers and organizations seeking a voice in government.

“A lot of people try to make super PACs and lobbyists like they’re bad and they’re evil,” Click said.

He pointed to labor unions and construction trades organizations that collect contributions from members and use those funds to support candidates. Citing the operating engineers union, Click argued that such contributions could help elect lawmakers willing to advance legislation addressing worker safety.

Jones acknowledged that political campaigns require money but argued that large contributions from wealthy donors and outside interests threaten the independence of elected officials.

“I’ve been doing it for the last 10 months, and I haven’t taken a dime from a super PAC, not one,” Jones said.

He said nearly all his campaign contributions had come from residents of the 88th District and questioned why politicians should depend on large contributions from people with little connection to the communities they represent.

“At the end of the day, who are you working for?” Jones asked. “When someone’s writing you a big check, who are you working for at that point?”

Click responded by suggesting that Jones had no super PAC support because those organizations did not consider him worth supporting.

“He hasn’t taken a dime from super PACs, ’cause they won’t donate to him,” Click said. “That’s the bottom line.”

The explanation was misleading. Super PACs are independent-expenditure organizations that cannot contribute directly to candidates’ campaign committees. They can instead raise and spend money independently to support or oppose candidates, including through political advertising.

The Federal Election Commission explains that super PACs cannot make direct, in-kind or coordinated contributions to federal candidates. Ohio law similarly distinguishes independent expenditures from spending authorized or coordinated by campaigns.

Traditional political action committees, including the labor PACs Click described, are different. They can contribute directly to candidates under applicable campaign-finance laws.

“Gary’s right. The super PACs haven’t given me any money, because I’m not taking it,” Jones said. “I don’t need it. He might need it. I don’t need it.”

Jones then invoked billionaire Elon Musk’s involvement in Ohio politics, asking students why someone who does not live in the state would invest heavily in its elections.

“Elon Musk, does he vacation in Ohio?” Jones asked. “Why is he so interested in Ohio politics?”

The argument over campaign contributions followed an earlier exchange about prescription drug prices, during which Jones accused elected officials generally of accepting money from pharmaceutical companies that compromised their independence. Click rejected any suggestion that he had been bought by the pharmaceutical industry and cited his legislative work on insulin pricing and emergency prescription refills.

Click cites the Constitution but quotes the Declaration of Independence

Click made another factual error when a student asked the candidates directly about abortion.

“That’s easy. I’m against it,” Click said.

Explaining his opposition, the Republican incumbent invoked what he described as constitutional protections for life.

“The Constitution says this: You have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” Click told the students.

The phrase does not appear in the Constitution. It comes from the Declaration of Independence, adopted in 1776. Click incorrectly identified one of the country’s most recognizable founding passages while arguing about constitutional rights.

Click went on to declare that he would always oppose abortion.

“I’m always pro-life. I’m not ashamed of it. I’m always gonna be that way,” he said.

Jones responded by pointing to Ohio voters’ approval of a constitutional amendment protecting reproductive freedom in November 2023. He argued that decisions about abortion should remain between patients and their medical providers rather than politicians.

“I think government should not tell people what to do with their bodies, whether it be a male or a female,” Jones said. “I think those conversations need to be held with your medical provider.”

Click then characterized Jones’s remarks as an expression of support for abortion, pressing him to state his personal position rather than referring to the decision Ohio voters had already made.

Jones rejected Click’s interpretation.

“I never said I was for or against abortion,” Jones said. “I’m simply standing by what the law is and by what each individual’s choices should be.”

Ohio’s reproductive freedom amendment, which took effect in December 2023, protects individual reproductive decisions, including abortion. The amendment permits certain restrictions after fetal viability but requires exceptions when a treating physician determines an abortion is necessary to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.

Click’s personal opposition to abortion remains unchanged, but Ohio voters placed reproductive freedom protections in the state Constitution despite opposition from anti-abortion lawmakers and organizations.

Click falsely calls Israel America’s only Middle Eastern ally

The candidates offered sharply different views of the war with Iran and the United States’ relationship with Israel after a student asked about the American-Israeli alliance.

“I support Israel,” Click said.

He then asserted that Israel was the only democracy in the Middle East and America’s only ally in the region.

“That is our only ally in the Middle East,” Click told the students.

The claim was false. The United States maintains significant security partnerships with several Middle Eastern countries, including Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar. Those countries, like Israel, have received major non-NATO ally designations or equivalent formal recognition from the United States.

Click argued that supporting Israel did not require agreeing with every decision made by the Israeli government. He invoked the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks to defend Israel’s right to exist and its security relationship with the United States.

Jones took a sharply different position, criticizing the Trump administration’s decision to involve American forces in military operations against Iran. He argued that the United States had been drawn into a war serving Israeli interests rather than America’s own.

“Israel saw an opportunity with a guy in office who’s easily persuaded, and he conned us into fighting their war,” Jones said. “Once again, we’re fighting their war.”

Jones said the issue was personal because his nephew serves as a helicopter pilot with the 82nd Airborne and is deployed in the region.

“We got conned into this war against Iran, from Israel. That’s what happened,” Jones said. “And we need to stop it and start thinking about America.”

Click returned to the conflict in his closing remarks, defending American military action against Iran and asserting that the country posed an imminent danger through its nuclear capabilities.

“They would have brought them to America if we did not destroy those nuclear capabilities,” Click said.

Click presented no evidence during the debate supporting his prediction that Iran would have brought nuclear weapons to the United States. The statement went substantially beyond his argument that Iran should not be permitted to develop a nuclear weapon.

The disagreement reflected a broader divide between the candidates: Click defended the military operation as necessary for American security, while Jones argued that the war had been a choice made by the Trump administration and was putting American service members at risk.

Click calls for banning Flock cameras, but his bill would allow immigration enforcement use

Although the candidates disagreed sharply on several issues, they found common ground over government surveillance.

Fremont Ross sophomore Ava asked what they would do to regulate access to information collected by Flock automated license plate recognition cameras and whether misuse by authorities should be criminalized.

Click cited House Bill 1011, legislation he introduced to temporarily restrict the use of automated license plate recognition systems and certain mass surveillance technology.

“I’m not just worried about individual officers misusing it, to be honest,” Click said. “I’m worried about the government misusing it.”

He told students that he ultimately favored a complete ban.

“I don’t trust the government with all that information, so I would like to see a total ban ultimately,” Click said. “But the pause is just the starting place.”

His proposal, however, would not permanently eliminate the technology. It establishes a one-year moratorium with exceptions, including emergency alert systems and use by federal immigration agents enforcing immigration laws.

Click’s own September 11 announcement expressly identified an exception for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The legislation remains pending and has not passed the Ohio House.

The exception matters because Click’s stated concern about government misuse of surveillance data would coexist with permission for federal immigration enforcement authorities to use the technology.

Jones supported stronger restrictions on the cameras and questioned whether their usefulness justified the privacy implications and cost.

“I don’t support government, you know, Big Brother watching everything,” Jones said. “I would agree with Gary that a complete ban is probably better.”

Jones argued that police departments could spend the money on protective equipment, safety improvements and other operational needs rather than automated surveillance.

Neither candidate offered a specific proposal to criminalize misuse of the collected data, which was part of the student’s original question.

Data centers and local jobs draw contrasting approaches

The expansion of artificial intelligence and data centers also came under scrutiny after senior Lydia Hicks asked whether the candidates supported regulating AI.

Click cited House Bill 646, which he sponsored to address data center development and establish a state study commission. The legislation passed the Ohio House in March but has not received final approval from the Senate.

He argued that AI could be a useful technology but warned that data centers were expanding faster than lawmakers could establish meaningful safeguards.

Jones similarly acknowledged the benefits of technological innovation while warning about automation, employment displacement and the broader consequences of increasingly powerful AI systems.

Both candidates said regulation would be necessary, although Jones emphasized that many of the most consequential decisions would require federal involvement.

When another student asked about improving Ohio, Jones connected the technology discussion to economic conditions in Seneca and Sandusky counties. He argued that communities were losing young people because the region lacked sufficient career opportunities, particularly for college graduates seeking employment outside a narrow range of industries.

“If you graduate from college and you live in Seneca or Sandusky County, there’s not a whole lot of opportunity,” Jones said.

He called for greater investments in manufacturing, skilled trades and professional employment rather than treating data centers as a solution to the district’s economic challenges.

“We don’t need data centers to do that. We need manufacturing facilities,” Jones said. “We need professional facilities here to keep people here.”

Click countered by emphasizing industrial development and his endorsements from manufacturing and skilled-trades organizations. He also cited funding for Vanguard-Sentinel Career and Technology Centers, arguing that his work in Columbus had already produced tangible benefits for the district.

Click also cited Keith’s Law, which established a voluntary database intended to help first responders identify individuals with special needs.

His repeated argument was that students should judge him by those legislative accomplishments rather than promises about what he would do if reelected.

Affordability, prescription drugs and the gas tax

Students also questioned both candidates about rising household costs, including groceries, housing, electricity and prescription medications.

Jones argued that working families were struggling under an affordability crisis that disproportionately affected middle-class households. He cited his experience supervising manufacturing employees who work full-time jobs yet still struggle financially.

He called for adequate funding for public education and protecting assistance programs for working families rather than balancing state budgets through cuts affecting people with limited resources.

“We can’t cut benefits for people that are working that need that extra assistance,” Jones said. “It’s a hand up, not a handout.”

Click responded by discussing what he called the benefits cliff, in which workers can lose public assistance as their earnings increase, sometimes leaving them financially worse off despite earning more money.

He described how his mother struggled with that problem while raising three children and cited bipartisan legislation he had worked on to address it.

On prescription drug costs, Jones blamed the influence of pharmaceutical industry money in politics, arguing that corporate contributions compromised elected officials and contributed to high medication prices.

Click rejected any suggestion that he personally had been purchased by the pharmaceutical industry, pointing instead to legislation addressing insulin pricing, emergency prescription refills and education about sudden unexpected death from epilepsy.

The candidates found more agreement when junior Caleb Seibert asked what Ohio should do after the state’s temporary gas tax suspension expires.

Click defended the 90-day tax reduction and said lawmakers would have to evaluate economic conditions before deciding whether additional relief was warranted. Jones supported the temporary suspension but said the state could not indefinitely forgo transportation revenue without accounting for the consequences.

The gas tax holiday, enacted through House Bill 519, began October 4 and runs through January 2, 2027. The legislation includes a $725 million transfer from state reserves to offset the temporary reduction and preserve transportation funding.

Both candidates acknowledged that Ohio lawmakers cannot directly control global oil prices. Jones also criticized the ongoing war with Iran, tying the conflict to economic uncertainty and higher energy costs.

Students challenge candidates over school safety and online predators

Several students used the debate to question the candidates about issues affecting their own safety and education.

Junior Gracie Overmeyer asked how Ohio should address school shootings, particularly as schools impose stricter cellphone restrictions.

Jones supported the use of school resource officers, controlled building access and other security measures, while acknowledging the fear students face in an environment where school violence remains a concern.

Click cited legislation he said was prompted by an incident at Old Fort schools involving a student who brought a loaded gun to school. He described changes allowing conditions to be imposed before certain students return following serious disciplinary incidents, including counseling requirements.

Both candidates supported restrictions on student cellphone use during the school day. Jones compared the problem to cellphone distractions among adults at the manufacturing plant where he works, while Click defended state efforts requiring school districts to establish policies.

Another student asked about protecting minors from online grooming. Jones cited investigations by the Tiffin Police Department targeting online predators and argued that law enforcement should continue receiving resources for that work.

Click emphasized personal safety online and supported legislation requiring age verification for certain applications and websites.

The candidates also addressed college affordability. Jones favored stronger state funding, additional grant opportunities and expanded access to education. Click highlighted Ohio’s College Credit Plus program and scholarship opportunities intended to encourage students to attend college and remain in the state.

When sophomore Kaitlyn asked why excused school absences still counted against students’ attendance totals, both candidates admitted they did not know the applicable rules.

Jones said he would need to consult school officials. Click likewise acknowledged that he did not know whether the issue was governed by state law or local policy and invited the student to contact his legislative office.

The exchange was one of the few moments in which both candidates openly acknowledged not having an answer rather than attempting to defend a position.

Click defends Republican record as Jones calls for change

The candidates closed the debate by returning to their competing arguments about experience, accountability and the direction of state government.

Jones criticized nearly two decades of Republican control in Columbus, arguing that the party responsible for governing Ohio could not credibly distance itself from the problems facing the state.

“In the state of Ohio, one party’s been in charge for 19 years, and that same party says they need to fix the problems,” Jones said. “But they’ve been in charge for 19 years, so we have to look at who caused the problems.”

Click defended the Republican governing record, pointing to the state’s rainy day fund as evidence of fiscal improvement. He then attacked Jones for criticizing state government without detailing accomplishments from his three years on Tiffin City Council during the debate.

“Aaron has done nothing but complain and tell you what he will do or what should happen,” Click said. “He’s been on the city council for three years, and he’s not told you one thing that he has done that helps the city of Tiffin.”

Click returned once more to the message he had introduced at the beginning of the event, telling students to use their critical thinking skills when evaluating the candidates.

That appeal came after a debate in which Click had accused his opponent of lying, misstated the source of a famous founding document, falsely described America’s alliances in the Middle East and presented a misleading explanation of super PAC contributions. Those statements were made before students participating in an event specifically intended to encourage informed civic engagement.

Jones framed the election as a choice between continuing Republican leadership and changing the direction of state government, while Click asked voters to reward his legislative record with another term.

Voters in Seneca and Sandusky counties will decide between the two candidates in the November 3 general election.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

U.S. Sen. Jon Husted voted for an Ohio law that explicitly exempted public utilities from new restrictions on taking private property for commercial development, preserving their ability to use eminent domain to acquire land for power lines. Nearly 20 years later, American Electric Power is planning transmission corridors across southern Ohio to serve a massive artificial intelligence data center, and property owners face the possibility of having land rights taken for the project.

Husted was speaker of the Ohio House when lawmakers developed the 2007 eminent domain overhaul. He appointed House members to a task force studying the issue and joined the Senate president in selecting public members, including a man who would later become a FirstEnergy lobbyist. On June 27, 2007, Husted voted for Senate Bill 7, which passed the House 71-27 and took effect that October.

The legislation restricted the use of eminent domain to transfer property for economic development, but its definition of public use specifically exempted transfers to public utilities, municipal power agencies and common carriers. It also presumed that utility facilities and projects undertaken by public utilities qualify as public uses. That distinction matters today: A transmission line built to deliver power to a privately operated data center can still be a utility project for eminent domain purposes.

The law went further. Under Section 163.09, a public utility that presents evidence that an appropriation is necessary receives a rebuttable legal presumption in its favor. If a state or federal regulator approves the appropriation of the particular property interest, the statute provides an irrebuttable presumption of necessity. Those provisions can change the terms of a court fight between a utility seeking a transmission easement and a landowner resisting it.

Husted’s task force included a future FirstEnergy lobbyist

The process began after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 Kelo decision intensified scrutiny of governments taking private land for economic development. Ohio lawmakers enacted Senate Bill 167, creating a task force to examine the state’s eminent domain rules. The January 24, 2006, Ohio House Journal records Husted appointing Reps. William Seitz, Bob Gibbs and Joseph Koziura and jointly appointing public members with the Senate president.

One of those public members was Ty Pine, then listed as a representative of small businesses. The task force delivered its recommendations in August 2006, and Senate Bill 7 incorporated recommendations from its work the following year. Its final text retained the utility exception even as lawmakers imposed new protections against other economic-development takings. Utilities already held condemnation powers before 2007; Husted’s vote protected their treatment under the new restrictions and supported additional presumptions favoring them in condemnation proceedings.

Pine subsequently became FirstEnergy’s Ohio director of state affairs and helped the utility build legislative support for House Bill 6, the 2019 nuclear bailout law at the center of Ohio’s FirstEnergy corruption scandal. He received a $25,000 bonus after the legislation passed, according to reporting by The Blade. Pine invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a 2024 regulatory deposition and later testified under a court order in 2025. He has not been charged with a crime in the scandal. Pine was appointed to the task force as a small-business representative years before joining FirstEnergy.

AEP invoked the 2007 law against Ohio landowners

The practical importance of those protections was on display in a dispute involving AEP’s Ohio Power subsidiary. When property owners in Washington County resisted the company’s proposed easements for an electric transmission upgrade, Ohio Power filed eminent domain actions and claimed the benefit of the presumptions in the law Husted supported.

The dispute reached the Ohio Supreme Court in Ohio Power Co. v. Burns. According to the court’s December 2022 opinion, a company right-of-way representative testified that Ohio Power generally sought more property rights in proposed easements than were necessary for a project, then narrowed the demands if the landowner contested them in litigation. In the Washington County case, the company withdrew a request for distribution-line rights after the property owners challenged its necessity.

Ohio Power argued that government approvals entitled it to a conclusive presumption that the disputed easements were necessary. The justices rejected that argument because regulators had approved the transmission project without examining the particular property rights Ohio Power sought to take. The company did receive a rebuttable presumption of necessity based on evidence it presented, but the Supreme Court required a separate determination of the need for each challenged easement term.

FirstEnergy Service Company filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the justices to reverse the lower court decision in Ohio Power’s favor. The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation supported the landowners. The case did not concern a data center, but it established that an AEP subsidiary had already sought to use the 2007 statutory protections in a real fight over Ohioans’ private property.

Now AEP wants miles of new transmission lines for a data center

AEP’s current expansion would bring the same underlying question — when a utility can compel a property owner to surrender land rights — to a much larger power project. In March 2026, AEP Ohio announced plans for $4.2 billion in transmission infrastructure to serve a planned 10-gigawatt data center campus at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant near Piketon. The project is part of a broader development involving new power generation and one of the world’s largest proposed artificial intelligence computing facilities.

The Baku-Gavin transmission project alone would build approximately 51 miles of 765-kilovolt line through Pike, Jackson and Gallia counties. Ohio regulators estimate its cost at $1.1 billion. According to AEP’s project information, its steel lattice towers would typically stand around 155 feet tall, with rights-of-way approximately 155 to 200 feet wide. Other proposed routes and power-grid improvements would extend the construction footprint across more of southern Ohio.

Residents in Ross County have also confronted possible routes being studied for connections to the Piketon development. In September, the Chillicothe Gazette reported that landowners Laura Dill Morton and Mason Purdum had received notices that their farmland could be affected by new transmission lines. They described uncertainty about potential routes and the possibility of eminent domain. Those Ross County feasibility-study areas are distinct from the pending Baku-Gavin application, and the reports do not establish that their properties have been condemned.

AEP says the data center developer has committed to paying for the $4.2 billion in transmission investments to help avoid increases in transmission rates for other Ohio customers. That financial commitment does not eliminate the question facing property owners whose land may be needed for transmission corridors: whether they will agree to easements, or whether a utility will seek to acquire those rights through eminent domain.

The Baku-Gavin application remains pending before the Ohio Power Siting Board, which has scheduled a public hearing for October 27 at 6 p.m. at Jackson Middle School Auditorium. The lines have not all been approved, and the specific land interests ultimately needed will depend on routing and regulatory decisions. But the statutory framework utilities can use to pursue those interests was protected and strengthened in legislation Husted supported as Ohio House speaker, long before the state’s data center boom began.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Vernon Edwards, an Amherst resident classified by Ohio authorities as a sexual predator, appeared repeatedly alongside his wife in Ramaswamy’s advertisement about rising property taxes. His criminal record was not difficult to find: A nearly 20-year-old Ohio appellate court ruling documents his conviction, while the state’s public sex offender registry lists his offenses, photograph and identifying information. According to The Bulwark, which exposed Edwards’ appearance Wednesday, his registry photograph even shows him apparently wearing the same patriotic shirt Ramaswamy personally complimented when they met at a county fair.

Rather than discovering the conviction before producing and distributing the commercial, Ramaswamy’s campaign acknowledged it had been unaware of Edwards’ history after The Bulwark asked about it. Campaign spokesperson Evan Machan said the man had been removed from the advertisement. The campaign also deleted an earlier social media video showing Ramaswamy interacting with Edwards, according to the publication.

Eight-year sentence for sexually abusing a child

Edwards’ criminal history is documented in a November 15, 2007, decision from Ohio’s Eighth District Court of Appeals, which upheld his eight-year prison sentence.

According to the ruling, a Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted Edwards on four counts of gross sexual imposition involving his niece, who was younger than 13. Edwards pleaded guilty to two counts under an agreement that dismissed the remaining charges and required him to stipulate to classification as a sexual predator. A judge imposed two consecutive four-year prison terms, totaling eight years.

The proceedings also revealed allegations involving additional children in Edwards’ family. The appellate court recounted that evidence presented at sentencing indicated Edwards had molested several other nieces. Those incidents were never separately prosecuted because the statute of limitations had expired.

Edwards appealed his sentence, arguing that the trial judge improperly considered conduct for which he had not been charged. The appellate court rejected that argument, finding that the additional conduct was not the sole basis for his punishment. The court noted that the sentencing judge considered the lasting harm inflicted on the victim, the impact on both families and Edwards’ risk of committing another offense.

The appellate judges upheld the sentence. Edwards’ conviction remains documented in the court’s published opinion, and the Ohio Attorney General’s offender registry continues to identify him under the state’s former sexual predator classification, which carries lifetime registration requirements.

None of those records were confidential. The criminal case, the eight-year sentence and Edwards’ sex-offender registration were publicly documented long before Ramaswamy’s campaign selected footage of him for its television advertising.

Ramaswamy complimented the same shirt visible in sex-offender registry

The encounter that eventually put Edwards in a gubernatorial campaign commercial began at the Lorain County Fair in Wellington, which ran August 23 through 30, according to the fair’s official schedule.

Footage subsequently published by Ramaswamy’s campaign showed Edwards greeting the candidate and shaking his hand. Ramaswamy complimented Edwards’ patriotic shirt. Later, Edwards’ wife, Patricia “Patty” Edwards, approached Ramaswamy and became emotional while describing her struggle with rising property taxes and her fear that the family could lose its farm.

According to The Bulwark, the patriotic shirt Ramaswamy admired appears to be the same one Edwards wore in the photograph displayed on Ohio’s sex offender registry. The registry also listed identifying information matching the Amherst address associated with the family.

The interaction became the foundation of a professionally produced campaign advertisement. Ramaswamy’s team contacted Patty Edwards about recording the commercial, which featured her speaking directly to the camera and sitting at a kitchen table while discussing the financial pressures facing her family.

Although Patty Edwards was the principal spokesperson, the campaign incorporated several shots of her husband into the television spot. The original advertisement was publicly circulated before the campaign acknowledged Edwards’ conviction and announced his removal.

The distinction between the two appearances is central to the episode. Ramaswamy’s initial handshake with Edwards was an encounter with a member of the public at a county fair. The subsequent television advertisement was a campaign production, assembled from selected footage and distributed to promote Ramaswamy’s candidacy for governor. At that stage, his campaign had the opportunity to check the identities and backgrounds of the people it chose to feature.

Campaign claims ignorance, then removes Edwards

When The Bulwark confronted Ramaswamy’s campaign with Edwards’ criminal history, spokesperson Evan Machan said the campaign did not know about the conviction and was changing the commercial.

“We had no knowledge of the circumstances now being reported,” Machan told the publication. He added: “The man has been removed from the ad.”

Machan defended the advertisement’s central message, arguing that high property taxes were forcing Ohio families to consider leaving their homes and that Ramaswamy would address the issue.

The campaign’s explanation did not account for how Edwards passed through the production process without his publicly documented criminal history being identified. His conviction was available through Ohio’s court system, his sexual predator classification was listed in a searchable state registry, and his photograph provided another means of identifying him.

After supplying its statement to The Bulwark, the campaign also removed the earlier social media video of Ramaswamy’s interaction with Edwards. The publication reported that at least one Republican state representative who had shared the footage also deleted the post. The removals followed the news organization’s inquiry, although the reporting did not establish whether those accounts independently decided to delete the footage.

Wife disputes allegations despite guilty pleas and upheld sentence

Patty Edwards, whose concerns about property taxes were the focus of the commercial, defended her participation in an interview with The Bulwark. She said Ramaswamy’s campaign had approached her about telling her story, not her husband, and emphasized that she was not accused of any wrongdoing.

She also disputed the accusations underlying her husband’s criminal case, alleging that prosecutors had withheld evidence favorable to his defense. She argued that he had served his punishment and had since been an exemplary citizen.

Her account does not change the disposition of the criminal proceedings. Vernon Edwards pleaded guilty to two felony sexual offenses involving a child younger than 13, received an eight-year prison sentence and unsuccessfully challenged that sentence before an Ohio appellate court. The separate allegations concerning other nieces were considered during sentencing but did not result in additional convictions.

Nothing in the reporting indicates that Patty Edwards committed a crime or was involved in her husband’s offenses. The campaign’s vetting failure concerns its decision to place Vernon Edwards in the advertisement without identifying a criminal history that had been publicly documented for nearly two decades.

Ramaswamy’s campaign has said it removed Edwards from the commercial, but its response did not disclose how widely the original advertisement aired or what background checks, if any, had been performed before its release.

The footage was not merely an unplanned encounter captured on the campaign trail. Ramaswamy’s team selected it for a television advertisement intended to influence Ohio voters, distributed that advertisement and only announced Edwards’ removal after journalists brought his conviction to its attention. By then, the public records establishing his crimes had been available for almost 20 years.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

The October 9 report by journalist Harri Leigh documented a country-of-origin label on a campaign shirt distributed to volunteers over the summer. The shirt was manufactured by Gildan, a Canadian apparel company with factories around the world, including in Bangladesh. The findings put Merrin’s own campaign spending practices at odds with a central theme of his pitch to working-class voters in Northwest Ohio.

Merrin, a former Ohio state representative seeking a rematch against Kaptur in the November 3 election, has repeatedly blamed the longtime congresswoman for the decline of American manufacturing. His campaign has distributed mailers promising good jobs, larger paychecks and products made in Ohio, according to Spectrum.

But when Spectrum confronted Merrin about the foreign-made shirts and asked what standards candidates who promote American manufacturing should apply to their own campaigns, he did not directly answer. Instead, he accused Kaptur of favoring foreign businesses.

“Marcy Kaptur is pro-China and pro-Mexico,” Merrin said, according to Spectrum.

The accusation is particularly notable given Kaptur’s documented record of opposing major trade agreements with both countries.

Kaptur opposed landmark trade agreements with China and Mexico

Merrin’s suggestion that Kaptur favors China and Mexico omits two consequential votes from her congressional record. On November 17, 1993, Kaptur voted against the legislation implementing the North American Free Trade Agreement, which eliminated many trade barriers among the United States, Mexico and Canada. The legislation passed the House 234-200.

On May 24, 2000, Kaptur also voted against legislation establishing permanent normal trade relations with China. That measure passed 237-197, with support from 164 Republicans and 73 Democrats.

Both votes came during major national debates over whether expanded international trade would benefit American consumers and businesses at the expense of domestic manufacturing employment. Kaptur opposed the agreements despite support for them from prominent figures in her own party.

Those votes do not settle every question about Kaptur’s decades-long trade record, but they provide significant context missing from Merrin’s accusation. The congresswoman opposed two of the most consequential trade measures involving the very countries he invoked when questioned about his campaign’s foreign-made merchandise.

Kaptur has also publicly supported domestic purchasing requirements for federal defense contracts. Her congressional office identifies Buy America provisions as a means of helping Northern Ohio manufacturers, including tool-and-die companies, foundries and machine shops, compete for federal business.

Campaign shirts linked to manufacturer with labor controversies

The merchandise identified by Spectrum was made by Gildan, a major international apparel manufacturer that has faced scrutiny from labor-rights organizations over conditions in its manufacturing and supplier operations.

A 2024 investigation by the Worker Rights Consortium identified Gildan among the principal buyers from APS El Salvador, a garment factory that closed in 2022 without paying workers approximately $1.9 million in wages, severance and other benefits. The organization reported recovering $1.35 million from buyers to compensate affected workers, while continuing efforts to secure the remaining funds.

Spectrum also reported allegations concerning working conditions at facilities in Honduras and Haiti, as well as protests in Bangladesh following the October 2025 death of a pregnant Gildan employee who workers alleged had been denied medical leave and assistance. Those allegations concern the company’s broader operations; Spectrum did not establish that the particular factory producing Merrin’s shirts was involved in those incidents.

Separately, on October 8, the Federal Trade Commission announced that Gildan and a wholesale distributor had amended a contract provision restricting discounts available to competing distributors. The agency closed its price-discrimination investigation following the change. Gildan said it had not admitted wrongdoing or paid a monetary penalty.

The Spectrum investigation does not establish who selected the shirts for Merrin’s campaign, how many were distributed or where campaign graphics were printed onto them. The country-of-origin label does establish that at least some of the shirts distributed to volunteers were manufactured outside the United States.

Kaptur campaign says its shirts are American-made

The two campaigns have taken different approaches to their merchandise, according to the same Spectrum investigation.

Kaptur’s campaign told the outlet that its T-shirts were manufactured by Royal Apparel, a U.S. company with production facilities in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Spectrum obtained one of the campaign’s shirts and confirmed that its label identified it as made in the United States using imported yarns.

Kaptur emphasized the importance of domestic production in her interview with Spectrum, saying the country needs to make products rather than merely purchase them.

The distinction is especially relevant in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, where manufacturing employment and the consequences of overseas production have been recurring political issues. Merrin has made the loss of industrial jobs a central criticism of Kaptur’s tenure, while Kaptur has spent much of her congressional career advocating for domestic manufacturing and trade protections.

The candidates are facing each other for the second consecutive election. According to the Ohio Secretary of State’s official results, Kaptur defeated Merrin by just 2,382 votes in 2024, receiving 181,098 votes to Merrin’s 178,716. Libertarian Tom Pruss received another 15,381 votes. The 2026 rematch will take place under congressional district boundaries adopted in 2025.

As the November 3 election approaches, Merrin has offered no direct explanation in the Spectrum interview for why a campaign built partly around bringing manufacturing back to the United States distributed apparel manufactured in Bangladesh. The original investigation did, however, establish a concrete difference in how the two campaigns sourced at least some of their merchandise.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

However, Acton’s success with donors got swamped by Ramaswamy’s personal wealth. In August and September, Ramaswamy made $5 million-plus in loans to his campaign.

In all, Ramaswamy has staked more than $36 million of his personal fortune on his bid for governor. Because those funds are structured as loans, he can pay himself back with money from donors.

Ohio’s monthly reports cover contributions for statewide candidates in July, August and September. Campaigns aren’t required to share their expenditures over that timeframe. Still, the reports offer a glimpse of a campaign’s finances during the months between the post-primary and pre-general reports.

Acton’s latest figures

During the month of September, Acton’s campaign raised slightly more than $6 million. In August, the campaign raised $4 million, and in July it brought in $5.8 million.

The campaign’s biggest donor in September was the Ohio Democratic party. The state candidate fund gave her $232,000 across three different donations. Aside from that, Acton collected several contributions organized labor, fellow candidates and interest groups.

Unions representing bricklayers, auto workers, teachers and firefighters all gave $10,000 or more. Emily’s List, which backs female candidates who support abortion access, and the PAC for America’s Future, which supports Democratic state candidates, both effectively maxed out for Acton.

Among others, she got big donations from the CEO of the major league soccer team FC Cincinnati, a vice president at Oracle, and a couple of nursing home executives.

More than $5.5 million of Acton’s September contributions came from individuals, and $3.5 million, or 63%, of that total came from Ohioans.

Ramaswamy’s contributions

In September, Ramaswamy’s campaign raised a little more than $3 million. Its August fundraising was just shy of $2.6 million and in July the campaign brought in nearly $4 million.

Where Acton’s donations from political action committees lean toward labor, Ramaswamy’s lean toward business.

Committees representing Ohio hospitals and contractors both maxed out for Ramaswamy. The Ohio Chamber of Commerce gave $16,000, and American Property Casualty Insurance gave $16,600. Two groups representing home builders gave a total of $10,000.

Ramaswamy also got significant backing from OHCANN, a trade group representing licensed cannabis companies in the state. In September, the group gave $15,000 between two donations.

The cannabis industry shows up in Ramaswamy’s big ticket individual donations as well.

The President and CEO of Illinois-based Green Thumb, which operates Rise Dispensaries, both maxed out in September.

Ohio Chamber executives Steve Stivers and Rick Carfagna, both former lawmakers, tapped funds leftover in their previous campaign accounts, giving Ramaswamy $5,000 and $2,000 respectively.

Ramaswamy also cashed big checks from the CEO of NetJets, a partner with the commerical real estate firm the Daimler Group, and leaders for the car dealerships Ricart Automotive and Kerry Automotive group.

Ramaswamy even got max donations from a father and son running an antiquarian book and photograph shop in New York.

A bit more than $1.6 million, or 57%, of the $2.8 million Ramaswamy raised from individuals in September came from Ohioans.

Ramaswamy’s loans

The campaign’s most substantial influx of cash, however, came in the form of Ramaswamy’s personal loans.

On the one hand, his largesse makes good on an early campaign promise. In July last year, he pledged to put at least $30 million behind his election effort.

Acton has outraised Ramaswamy on a regular basis, but the sum total of her donations since entering the race still fall about $5 million short of Ramaswamy’s personal contributions alone.

In addition to his $5 million loans in the two most recent monthly reports, Ramaswamy has made several highly specific loans ranging from $39,984.22 to $136,749.

The Ohio Capital Journal requested comment from Ramaswamy’s campaign but got no response.

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.

Ohio state Sen. Bill DeMora, D-Columbus, recently introduced Ohio Senate Bill 477 and Ohio state Rep. Eric Synenberg, D-Beachwood, is planning on introducing his own bill in the coming weeks. 

“We are not trying to prevent Ohioans from using e-bikes and e-scooters,” Synenberg said. 

“Our goal is to make sure that riders understand the rules and risks before they ride, and give motorists, pedestrians, local government, law enforcement, and businesses clear and consistent expectations.”

The bill would also ban riders younger than 18 from using high-powered e-bikes. Currently, Ohio law says a rider has to be at least 16 to rent a “low-speed micromobility device.” 

“These devices are not toys,” Synenberg said. 

“Unfortunately, not all of our kids are mature enough to have that kind of responsibility. We believe the state has an obligation to make sure all riders understand the risks before they get on these devices.”

Ohio organizes e-bikes by three classes. Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes can go about 20 miles per hour with a mild pedal assist. 

Class 3 e-bikes can go up to 28 miles per hour with light pedaling. Riders must be at least 16 to operate a Class 3 e-bike and wear a helmet in Ohio. 

“Current law has no (age) limit for the Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes,” Synenberg said. “A six-year-old could be riding one.” 

Children 11-14 made up nearly 40% of all pediatric injuries related to e-bikes and scooters nationwide, according to data from the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission. 

By mid-July, Akron Children’s Hospital surpassed the total number of e-bike and e-scooter injuries it treated in 2025, DeMora said. 

“These injuries include brain injuries, fractures, road rash, lung contusions, and injuries to major internal organs,” he said. 

“We’ve seen serious injuries and fatalities when e-bikes and e-scooters are struck by vehicles, including fatal crashes and hit and runs not only in metropolitan areas but in rural areas like Brown and Athens County.” 

A 58-year-old man riding an e-bike recently died from injuries he sustained after being hit by a van in Columbus.

The bills would set a 10 mile-per-hour limit on shared-use paths and five miles-per-hour limit on sidewalks. 

Personal e-bikes and e-scooters would also need to be registered with the state, which includes a $25 registration fee. Failure to register would result in a minor misdemeanor and the possibility of the vehicle being impounded for 30 days, Synenberg said. 

Several cities in Franklin County have their own regulations for e-bikes and e-scooters, but DeMora said that doesn’t go far enough. 

“It becomes increasingly difficult when every community has different rules, and riders may not know what requirements apply when they cross a line from one community to another,” he said.

The use of e-bikes and e-scooters will go down during winter months, but Synenberg said he wants to have these regulations in place by the spring. 

The Ohio lawmakers are currently on break and will come back after the November election. Any bill that does not pass before the two-year General Assembly ends in December would have to be reintroduced. 

“In lame duck, all things are possible,” DeMora said.  

Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on X or on Bluesky.

This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.

Originally published on TiffinOhio.net.