MY PERSPECTIVE
My views on the issues detailed below are founded on two related principles:
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The purpose of the State Legislature is to optimize the quality of life for Ohioans by ensuring that our schools, communities, and economy are sound.
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Extreme legislation is the single greatest threat to Ohio. Politically motivated grandstanding harms Ohio’s ability to retain people and businesses and compete on a national scale.
I believe that by stopping extremism in our state, we will protect Ohio's future.
ISSUES
Ohioans have spoken in favor of fair maps—and they have been ignored. The Congressional Redistricting Procedures Amendment passed in 2018 with 74.89% of voters—an overwhelming majority—confirming their desire for fair maps. Yet this year, the redistricting commission has ignored the Ohio Constitution, the Ohio Supreme Court, and the majority of Ohioans. They have submitted multiple gerrymandered maps and purposely ran down the clock as the Ohio Supreme Court issued bipartisan rulings rejecting each map, forcing the use of unconstitutional maps for the 2022 election. A side effect of their transparently illegal games? The commission cost taxpayers millions of dollars in the form of a second primary.
Fair maps mean fair representation. No party should be allowed to cheat to grab more power. When I am elected, I will work with my colleagues to hold the commission accountable for following the law and producing fair maps.
Fair Maps
Reproductive Rights
Extreme no-exception abortion bans have consequences that disrupt routine reproductive healthcare and cost lives. We’re already seeing those consequences play out in real time with the Heartbeat Law. Those who voted yes have paid lip-service to clarifying meaning (such as defining whether the ban applies to child rape victims) but have taken no concrete action to amend the law—something that is well within their power if these consequences are truly "unintended."
In fact, there are multiple additional bills moving through the Legislature that take the assault on reproductive rights even further. House Bill 480, which my opponent co-sponsored, threatens the legality of contraceptives, in vitro fertilization, access to life-saving care for miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, and even access to non-pregnancy related drugs for conditions such as cancer and arthritis.
These restrictions do not reflect Ohio's values. When I am in office, I will vote no on additional reproductive rights restrictions and immediately seek to repeal or amend the poorly conceived legislation that is already actively harming Ohioans.
Education
During my time in educational publishing, I have designed curriculum and written and edited textbooks and assessment items to fit various sets of English and Social Studies standards—national and state-specific. In my entire career, I have never seen anything like the current assault on teaching factual information. National textbook companies are faced with the difficult and costly decision of how to present information to children in states that outlaw the inclusion of simple facts about sensitive topics in their curriculum.
Ohio cannot pass laws that deprive children of accurate and thorough history.
Although a few grandstanding politicians make it out to be, this is not a partisan issue. Parents across the political spectrum want their children to be well-educated and competitive with children from other states. Censoring facts and teaching sanitized history does not achieve that objective. Pretending the LGBTQ+ community simply does not exist does not achieve that objective. Excluding historic figures such as Anne Frank and Martin Luther King Jr. from the curriculum does not achieve that objective.
When I am in office, I will fight educational censorship bills like House Bill 616, and challenge legislators who support them to listen to education experts. I will support legislation that supports honest education and keeps our schools nationally competitive.
Child Safety
Every parent in Ohio wants their children to be physically safe. Extreme politicians not only fail to address child safety issues—they actively create and escalate them.
House Bill 99, now Ohio law, reduced the training hours required to carry a concealed, loaded weapon in a classroom to a mere 24 hours. Under this law, schools do not have to inform parents that their child’s teacher—who may be barely trained to use a firearm, much less trained to do so under duress—will be teaching children with a loaded weapon at their hip. This legislation was widely criticized by law enforcement and concerned citizens.
I issued written testimony to the House on May 28, 2022 to oppose the legislation.
Representative Tom Young voted “yes.”
Ohio children are also facing another safety issue. Under House Bill 151, which has already passed the House with Tom Young’s support, Ohio girls could soon be forced to undergo invasive genital exams that may “include ultrasound and/or insertion of a doctor's hand to confirm the presence of a uterus and ovaries”—in order to keep sports titles, should anyone choose to challenge their gender.
Invasive and medically unnecessary testing is an abhorrent violation of children and should not be sanctioned by the state—full stop. This bill is one of the most horrific examples yet of extreme politicians violating Ohioans’ rights in the name of political theater. No one benefits.
When I am in office, I will challenge my colleagues to put these shock politics aside and consider two things: 1) the effect these laws have on Ohio's children and 2) the toll these laws take on Ohio's economy as people who have the means to do so flee to safer states.
Extreme laws will hurt Ohio’s economy. Businesses are already paying for workers to travel across state lines for routine medical care due to the “unintended effects” of the Heartbeat Law. How long will it be before they leave altogether—or find themselves unable to attract skilled employees?
When I am in office, I will support legislation that makes Ohio an attractive option for business growth. I will support legislation that leads to stronger schools and healthcare. I will support legislation that keeps large employers, such as Wright Patterson Air Force Base, comfortable bringing military families into our state. That is our way forward.