The district now includes nearly all of Dayton and the entirety of Trotwood, Kettering, Oakwood, Riverside, Carlisle, Centerville, Moraine, Springboro, West Carrollton and a smattering of townships.
The Dayton Daily News earlier this year surveyed readers to ask what they see as top issues in this year’s election for Ohio Statehouse. We then asked both Blackshear and McGuire their views on these issues, as well as their priorities and plans should they get elected on Nov. 5.
Ohio senators are elected to four-year terms and receive an annual salary of $63,007 a year, plus more if they get into their caucus’ leadership.
Democrat Willis Blackshear, Jr.
Blackshear, a Wright State University graduate who is finishing up his second term and fourth year in the Ohio House while pursuing a master of business administration degree at Ohio State University, focused much of his conversation with this news outlet on education, typified with the phrase, “our youth are 20% of our population, but 100% of our future.”
If he wins, Blackshear would be the first Democrat to represent the Dayton area in the Ohio Senate in over a decade.
In addition to the issues below, Blackshear pointed to the need to increase access to affordable childcare, particularly as a means of attracting and retaining the workforce in and around Dayton. He hopes to improve the area’s retention of college graduates coming out of nearby universities, which he said entails removing blight, creating more affordable housing stock, and investing more state dollars into neighborhood rejuvenation projects.
Education
In terms of priorities, Blackshear said providing more state funding to public schools — and in turn alleviating some of the system’s reliance on property taxes, which are rising throughout the state — is “at the top of the list.”
In particular, he took aim at the state’s recently-expanded universal school voucher system, which allows every Ohio K-12 student the chance to use taxpayer funds to attend private schools. The state spent nearly $1 billion on the expansion within a year, with most of the funds going to students who were already attending private schools.
“We’ve given over a billion dollars to private and charter schools that were public school dollars, public school dollars that we so desperately need,” said Blackshear, who has been endorsed by the Ohio Education Association. “We need to stop that.”
He spoke of “tough decisions” that have been made in public schools as a result of a lack of funding, which includes teachers leaving the field due to low pay, or Dayton Public Schools’ inability to provide bussing to most of its high school students.
Gun legislation
Blackshear currently has a bill that would restore Ohio’s ban on gun magazines that can hold more than 30 rounds of ammunition — a ban that was lifted four years before the Oregon District shooter used a double drum, 100-round magazine to devastating effects in 2019. The bill stalled in committee after a first hearing.
Taxes
Blackshear said he hoped to be a part of the solution for skyrocketing property taxes, which is a convoluted issue fed both by rising home valuations and a reliance school districts and local governments have on property tax levies to raise revenue.
“We don’t want a situation where people are getting taxed out of their homes, people aren’t able to put food on the table, people have to get multiple jobs to survive,” said Blackshear. “We need to create a tax system that works for everybody and makes sure people pay their fair share.”
In that vision, Blackshear mentioned raising the amount of state taxpayer dollars that go toward local governments and raising taxes on Ohio’s corporations and highest earners. “We give tax breaks to major corporations and to the rich. They talk about trickle-down economics, but that does not trickle down. It stopped somewhere,” he said.
Abortion
Blackshear said he supported Ohio’s 2023 abortion-rights amendment, which was the state’s quick response to the dismantling of longstanding federal protections to abortion access.
“I believe every woman has the right to choose,” Blackshear said. “Politicians need to stay out of the doctors’ offices.”
When asked if he thinks the Republican legislature will leave the abortion issue alone now that Ohioans supported the 2023 amendment, Blackshear said, “They most definitely will not.”
“We’ve seen that time and time again. They will continue to chip away at it,” he said. “That’s why we need elected leaders who respect a woman’s choice to choose and leave it at that.”
Republican Charlotte McGuire
McGuire, who has served the area on the Ohio State Board of Education since 2016, also brought a focus on education to her conversation with this news outlet.
McGuire believes her focus on “human flourishing” can rocket Ohio to the No. 1 spot in the country for families; economic development, innovation and job creation; and education outcomes from preschool to college. “I think we can do this,” McGuire said. “Maybe I’m crazy. But, it’s within us. I have to think that.”
Education
Originally appointed to the board by then-Gov. John Kasich, McGuire won reelection campaigns in 2018 and 2022. She said much of her role there is focused on administration, and that she’s excited for the opportunity in the Ohio Senate to legislate, set operating standards and, as she called it, “elevate the profession.”
“You want to return the joy of teaching with the joy of learning. All of my districts have heard me say that. When those two sparks meet, that’s when you release the inherent potential within every child,” McGuire said.
In her vision, this entails decreasing student-to-teacher ratios; limiting teacher burnout; evaluating state testing to determine if it’s a reliable indicator of student outcomes across the state; focusing on oft-ignored hard skills like financial literacy; and eliminating the need for teachers to pay for classroom supplies.
McGuire said her passion for education stemmed from her own childhood, which was spent in Memphis, Tennessee, during segregation.
“Growing up in the segregated south, the law was against me and all I wanted was equal opportunity. My dad and mom always told me education was the key to my freedom, hard work and dedication would pay off,” said McGuire, who earned an undergraduate degree from Central State University. “I just want the same opportunities for every child in Ohio, that’s all.”
On school vouchers, McGuire said the state should prioritize public education, but ultimately believes that education funding should be tied to students, not the school districts.
“I’m big on education for that child, not a system. I want that child to flourish, I want that child to succeed, I want that child to fulfill their dreams and their aspirations,” McGuire said. “(Public schools) should be the districts of choice, but when they’re not, parents have a right to choose.”
Taxes
On taxes, McGuire noted that many within Senate District 6 have been struggling due to inflation and the rising costs of housing, energy, grocery bills and property taxes.
“People are concerned, (asking), ‘How much of every dollar I make do I get to keep to keep my family intact, grow my family in a way that they will have a future for themselves?’” McGuire said, advocating for ensuring that state tax dollars that come out of Montgomery get reinvested back into it.
She did not immediately endorse an increasingly-popular GOP plan to phase out the state income tax altogether.
Gun legislation
McGuire said she supports the right to bear arms but wants to improve responsible gun ownership through certification and registration. She said she’d consider gun safety legislation, such as Blackshear’s extended magazine ban, but wants to do more research before weighing in on specific proposals.
“One of the things we’ve got to know is who has guns,” McGuire said. “We should know, hold them accountable according to established law, and those who are caught having guns outside the purview of the law, we should deal with it.”
Abortion
This outlet asked McGuire what the government’s role in the abortion debate is following 2023′s passage of an abortion-rights amendment in the Ohio Constitution. “It’s done,” said McGuire, who expressed measured support of the right to an abortion in cases where the life and health of the mother is at risk. “The government is of, for and by the people.”
When asked if she’d support any effort to weaken or undo the amendment, she responded, “It’s in the constitution. We’ll cross that road when we come to it.”
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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