For 8 straight years, from December 2014 through December 2022, I never missed a vote, totaling 2,189 consecutive votes. For the 9 year and 5 month duration of my tenure so far, at the time of the Dayton Daily’s writings, I have a 97.2% voting record. Of the 2,369 possible votes, I’ve voted 2,302 times, missing 67 votes. Yes, the Dayton Daily News has written 4 articles about my missing 67 votes out of 2,369. Many of these have been road naming, license plate creating, or toothless resolutions, as this past year and a half has been the least productive General Assembly in 74 years, since 1955. I certainly do not take missing votes lightly, but I have done this in protest of the Senate leadership; boycotting or protesting certain actions is a common political tact used by Democrats and Republicans alike throughout history. Let me explain.
It’s no secret that I’m a conservative, even relative to my Republican colleagues. I often buck leadership, voting against bills they put to the floor that I feel will not help Ohioans, and I speak up about my opposition. This is not looked kindly upon by the political establishment. I voted against the state spending the $5 billion of federal dollars we received from Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, introduced a bill to ban ballot drop boxes that they legalized, and much more. I didn’t go to Columbus to get along and be a pushover for the establishment. I’m proud to be considered a conservative rabble-rouser, because I’m there to serve you, not the political ruling class or fat cat lobbyists. For this, I’ve paid the price.
The current Senate President is Matt Huffman, who was forced to apologize after making a lewd comment about a female legislator, and his position is incredibly powerful — he decides nearly all procedural questions in the Ohio Senate. You may have heard of his cousin, the Dayton region’s own State Senator Steve Huffman, who made national news when he was fired from his private sector job after making an incredibly racist statement. Well, the Senate President has done everything in his power to politically assassinate me. I was kicked off of the powerful Health Committee and Medicaid Oversight Committee, on which I had served for many years. They put me on the least powerful committees, such as the Transportation Committee, which mainly names roads and creates license plates. Every bill I’ve introduced has been killed, most not even receiving a single hearing — despite Senate Rules requiring that. The Senate President regularly doesn’t allow me to speak on the Senate floor, a significant violation of Senate Rules and tradition. Finally, during the redistricting process, they made my district, which had leaned Republican, into a significantly Democrat district, one that Joe Biden won by over 8 points in 2020. In order to accomplish this in the map, they had to cut through farm fields in Miami Township in order to remove Miamisburg, a base of support of mine, to put it in another Senate district. I haven’t talked about these issues publicly, because I am not one to complain. However, the Dayton Daily’s articles have forced me to explain myself. Instead, I choose to try to solve it myself; including meeting with the Senate President twice to try to bury the hatchet — it didn’t work, he just sharpened it and used it more.
For these reasons, and more, I had to do something to stand up for myself. The past year and a half of taking these hits has not been easy. But I am not one to turn the other cheek. In reflection, perhaps a boycott of 67 votes, all of which I deemed to be on bills and resolutions of little consequence, was the wrong response. If you have that belief, then I apologize. Given the few levers I had to pull, it’s the decision I made. I’ll always stand up for myself, and in turn, for you. I will never waver from my beliefs or compromise my values. If I pay the price for that, then so be it. Serving this region the last decade has been the honor of my life, but my story is just beginning in public service; the establishment will never beat me, and I will always fight for you.
I’ve made it my business to stand steel-spined for you. I’ve had a governor try to strong-arm me into voting for his way. I’ve had lobbyists threaten me if I didn’t change my vote. In the words of Marshall Mathers, “I’ve been protested and demonstrated against.” But I will never bend or break, and that you can always count on.
State Senator Niraj Antani has served Ohio’s 6th Senate District since 2021, serving as Ohio’s youngest Senator and the 1st Indian American State Senator in Ohio history. He previously served as a State Representative in the Ohio House of Representatives for 6 years.
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