Election Day is Nov. 5, and plenty of races and issues are on the ballot this presidential election. Ohio voters have until Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. to cast absentee ballots and the deadline to cast mail-in ballots is Monday.
Here’s a compilation of national, state and county races and the hot-button issues each candidate’s campaigns tackled.
Race for Ohio’s second U.S. Senate seat
Incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, and opponent Bernie Moreno, a Republican, are facing off this November for one of Ohio’s two seats in the U.S. Senate.
Brown is a lifelong Ohioan who has served in the U.S. Senate as Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, a member of the Agricultural Committee, a member of the Finance Committee and is the longest-serving Ohioan member of the Veterans Affairs Committee. He also served as Ohio’s 13th Congressional District House Representative.
Moreno was born in Bogota, Colombia, and immigrated to the U.S. when he was five. His entrepreneurial career began when he purchased a car dealership in 2005. In 2018, he co-founded Champ Titles, an organization aiming to help governments make vehicle titles, registrations and liens more accessible to constituents. He is a strong supporter of strengthening southern U.S. border security.
Brown said he prioritizes Ohioan voices over those in Washington, D.C., a claim he has bolstered by holding over 500 roundtable discussion sessions with constituents across the state. He said he supports increasing the federal minimum wage, strengthening policies protecting against discrimination, and expanding public schools and healthcare funding.
Moreno said he will fight to shrink government size and spending to combat inflation. On the international stage, Moreno supports Israel and said he will fight against the selling of American businesses and user data to China. He also seeks to establish congressional term limits, defeat socialism in the U.S. and enact a ban on late-term abortions.
Ohio Congressional District 95 race
The Ohio University Student Senate hosted a debate between incumbent Ohio District 95 House Representative Don Jones and opponent Micah McCarey Oct. 8. They discussed green energy, gun violence, the opioid crisis, healthcare and Israel.
McCarey said he favors creating green energy, including wind turbines and solar panels, but Jones said such measures would not be practical in Southeast Ohio due to a lack of wind currents.
On gun violence, Jones expressed support for in-school safety measures such as arming teachers with firearms. McCarey contrastingly said his campaign would focus on preventing the issue of gun violence from reaching schools in the first place by enforcing stronger background checks for the purchase of firearms.
Jones’ term saw the construction of a mental health facility in St. Clairsville for preventing relapses in people struggling with opioid addictions. Both candidates agreed mental health crises, including addictive opioid use, can stem from unemployment and housing instability.
Jones co-sponsored House Bill 49, which aims to give patients access to a preemptive medical bill before committing to care. McCarey previously supported universal healthcare, which he calls unachievable now. Instead, he opts to expand Medicare and Medicaid and improve employee health benefits.
On the Israel-Hamas war, Jones said state legislators should focus on their communities rather than international affairs. McCarey stated that he values listening to the voice of his constituents who supported a ceasefire resolution he helped pass through Athens City Council in February.
Athens County Commissioner race
Incumbent Athens County Commissioner Charlie Adkins debated challenger Jon Rose at the behest of the Athens County League of Women’s Voters Sept. 24. The candidates discussed key debate issues surrounding affordable housing, incarceration and tourism in Athens.
Adkins’ current term oversaw a $12 billion communication center project as well as the creation of new senior housing and more apartment units in Athens. Adkins worked for the fire department before his term as commissioner and has focused his efforts on elderly and low-income residents. He also used a $2 million grant for improvement projects in Jacksonville, Albany and Coolville.
Rose pitched himself as a father, paramedic and business owner who wants to help people regardless of party affiliation. He campaigned to make the County Commissioner’s Office more transparent and accessible. During his campaign, he spoke with small-town residents who had felt disconnected from their elected officials.
However, Adkins also said he often visits residents and local trustees to discuss policy.
On incarceration, Adkins’ term restructured how Athens pays for the Regional Jail. Before Adkins’ term, the county spent $2 million annually regardless of the number of inmates, which Adkins restructured to ebb and flow with incarceration rates.
Rose; however, is focused on alternative routes to incarceration, such as more accessible mental health avenues for people struggling with addiction. He said the County Commissioner’s Office’s resources would be better spent on preventing people from being incarcerated in the first place.
Rose cited the discontinuation of a mental health EMS task force during Adkins’ term, which Adkins explained as the result of the task force’s founding organization pulling its funding.
Adkins and Rose agreed that Athens’ economy could benefit from increased tourism efforts such as supporting the Baileys Trail System, though Adkins said he is wary of how much funding the Baileys need.
