Serving as a precinct election official has been one of the most rewarding and illuminating experiences of my life. I have seen first-hand the sanctity with which our boards of elections execute free and fair elections. It can be a source of pride for all of us.

However, when we empower elected officials and not citizens to draw the state’s electoral maps, politicians are essentially choosing their voters. Partial voting districts are not a true representation of an area, leading the voters who live there to become disenfranchised—as if their vote and their voice doesn’t matter.

For example, this district I want to represent—District 31—includes five counties that span northeast to southeast Ohio, including part of Appalachia. It slices two of the counties into different districts and excludes contiguous, neighboring counties.

As your next State Senator, I will prioritize impartial, citizen-led voting districts.

For the past 30 years, the elected majority in the Ohio Statehouse has favored a “business-friendly” tax policy—incentives, loopholes and abatements for corporations, as well as tax breaks for the wealthiest among us. This policy has resulted in Ohio losing out on billions of tax revenue annually, causing the share of everyday Ohioans’ taxes to increase and our communities scrambling to find funding.

When the state’s share of paying for local government services and infrastructure is low, the burden falls on local municipalities and citizens to cover the costs. As a result, public schools, libraries, children’s services, health departments and other community service organizations are left with no choice but to pass levies to make up the lack of state funding. We’ve all experienced how divisive those levies can be within a community. It doesn’t have to be this way.

PROPERTY TAXES

Ohio ranks 8th highest in property taxes in the country. Homeowners throughout the state are concerned about being priced out of the homes they already own. Meanwhile, there are corporations with the resources to contest the amount of their tax valuations getting reductions in their tax bill, thus reducing the benefits promised to local communities.

Property taxes are essential for local townships, municipalities, and counties to fund the services we value and rely on—everything from EMS & Firefighting squads to community infrastructure to cemetery management. And while they are essential to our daily lives, taxes don’t have to be so onerous on property owners.

INCOME TAXES

Ohio is compounding its lack of tax revenue with a recent policy change to a flat tax of 2.75% for all Ohioans. Prior to this change, Ohio had a progressive income tax.

As your next State Senator, I will prioritize closing the corporate loopholes that increase taxes on everyday Ohioans and leave our local communities under-supported and underfunded.

Strong public schools are the foundation of strong communities. Equal access to schools that inspire a love of learning while developing the strategic thinking and social skills needed to become good neighbors and citizens is crucial to a thriving democratic society. However, many districts are financially struggling, impacting their ability to provide high-quality education to our students in a safe environment. That’s not fair to our kids or educators.

Ohio ranks 42nd in the nation for school funding. And while state leaders tell us they’ve never spent more on education, when you adjust for inflation, the increased number of specialized education needs being identified and an increase in state mandates on public schools, Ohio’s per-pupil spending is below average at best. And that is before factoring in the money reallocated to private school vouchers and the money the state keeps when a student open-enrolls in a different district.

In 2021 with bipartisan support, the statehouse passed the Fair School Funding Plan. It was a 6-year plan which based state-level school funding on the true cost of educating each student and the district’s ability to cover those costs. However, the current state budget is not fully funding schools per the plan—they should have provided $3 billion total for last year and this coming year combined. The statehouse budget fell incredibly short, just $250 million and leaving districts across the state severely underfunded.

Additionally, other sources of funding for public education are being shortchanged, most notably from corporations building pipelines through our communities who promised money to local districts and haven’t followed through. And last year’s House Bill 335 dealt yet another blow to school funding by eliminating inside (unvoted) millage to go to public schools, increasing the need for voted levies.

As your next State Senator, I will prioritize adequately funding the true cost of educating each student in our district, and I will hold corporations accountable for the taxes they owe.

The state of our economy is a lot more nuanced than what the S&P and DOW tell us each day. How everyday people are doing in their everyday lives is a much better indicator of whether an economy is working for the majority.

Can they afford the basics—food, utilities, healthcare, housing, dependent care, transportation? Can they find gainful employment without even one of those basics? Because no matter what the stock market or unemployment numbers tell us, the economy suffers when people don’t have their basic needs met.

HEALTH CARE

People all across our district are having to make incredibly difficult decisions about where to allocate their limited budgets—often forgoing preventative or early-intervention health care, including critical medications. Cuts and increased restrictions for Medicaid, SNAP benefits, and insurance through the ACA are forcing people to make difficult decisions about their health care and reducing the number of people with insurance coverage.

In fact, an analysis from the Health Policy Institute of Ohio found that Ohio public health is one of the worst funded in the country—ranking 13th lowest.

As your next State Senator, I will prioritize access to quality, affordable health care, including mental health care.

HOUSING

High mortgage rates, home prices and rental costs are making it difficult for people to find housing security, especially first-time home buyers and those from multi-generational poverty.

As your next State Senator, I will prioritize statewide initiatives that increase availability and affordability of housing.

DEPENDENT CARE

Our rural district faces a shortage of options for adequate dependent care that is safe, reliable, and affordable. This leaves so many of us in the position of choosing between employment opportunities for ourselves and providing care for our loved ones, whether they are our children, our elders or both.

As your next State Senator, I will prioritize policies that support dependent caregivers and strengthen the quality and affordability of caregiver providers.

Independent, family farms have defined our area and its way of life since before voting districts even existed. We are incredibly fortunate to have miles and miles of prime farmland with some of the richest soil in the country. We are also incredibly fortunate to have generations of hard-working people who are dedicated to sustaining our civilization.

Today’s farmers face an ever-changing landscape of challenges. From extreme weather to workforce shortages, many of the farmers I’ve heard from agree that it is getting harder to make a living doing this essential work. When commodity prices aren’t keeping up with input costs, it becomes unsustainable for farming to be a family’s sole means of income. And when you combine that with limited access to dependent care and health insurance, succession planning becomes really tricky, even among generational family farms.

Farmers are now and have always been a self-sufficient community, but they deserve to be heard and represented at the state level.

As your next State Senator, I will prioritize policy that supports and incentivizes local, family farms to prosper.