Go here for an in-depth comparison of the two candidates and where they stand on key issues.
Claims against Blackshear
One mailer obtained by this news organization attacked Blackshear, who’s finishing up his second term in the Ohio House of Representatives, on three separate fronts.
First, the mailer claimed Blackshear “won’t show up for us,” and that he “has missed more than FIFTY critical votes in his current elected office.”
The fine print explains that these missed votes have taken place over both terms Blackshear has served in the Ohio House. According to Ohio House attendance records obtained by this news organization, Blackshear was absent for two of the 48 House sessions in his first term and three of the 24 House sessions so far in his second term. Combined, he’s been present for 67 out of 72 House sessions, or about 93% of the time. Each House session generally entails a multitude of votes.
The mailer’s second claim alleges that Blackshear “won’t get tough on crime,” which is backed up by supposed evidence from Ohio campaign finance records that show Blackshear making a personal donation to a candidate who has campaigned on ending cash bail.
In an interview, Blackshear told this news outlet that he’s not sure what donation the mailer is talking about. He didn’t go so far as to endorse ending cash bail, though he has advocated for it in the past.
“I can’t necessarily say that this is something that I 100% support, but we understand that there are folks who are in jail right now for misdemeanors and they can’t afford to get out,” Blackshear said. “These are non-violent people who are just sitting in jails. We have to figure out, what can we do to make this fair and just?”
The mailer’s third claim alleges that Blackshear “won’t protect young women,” evidenced by his vote against House Bill 68, a controversial bill pushed by Ohio Republicans to both ban gender affirming medical care for minors and ban transgender girls from playing in girls school sports.
Blackshear did vote against H.B. 68, as did the rest of the state’s Democrats. The issue was controversial even amongst Republicans, leading to a veto from Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. Though, support from most of the GOP supermajority in the Ohio House and Senate eventually overrode the governor’s veto.
A fourth claim against Blackshear, this one delivered in a television ad, attacks him for personal debts that brought him to court.
Blackshear was summoned to court over personal debts in 2023, according to Dayton Municipal Court records. A civil case was opened by the debt collection agency Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC over a sum of $6,533.53. The case was opened and dismissed without prejudice within three months.
To this news outlet, Blackshear said it was the result of medical bills sent to the wrong address. “I was never notified, nor served, but once I became aware of the bill, it got paid,” he said.
Claims against McGuire
This news organization also obtained a mailer from the Ohio Democratic Party attacking McGuire, who has represented the area on the Ohio Board of Education since 2016, over a 2022 board vote where she allegedly “refused to punish a teacher who had relations with students.”
The claim is misleading. Here are the facts:
The vote in question is from March 2022. The entire board was voting on a resolution to revoke the teaching license of Khalilah Forte, an ousted teacher from Trotwood-Madison High School who allegedly allowed a student to spend the night at her home, among other conduct deemed “unbecoming to the teaching profession.”
McGuire abstained from the vote. At that time, she was the “advising member” of the board, which meant she was selected by the board to work with state administrative staff and lawyers to assess cases and put together potential settlement agreements for the defendant.
Jason Wagner, the chief legal counsel of the Ohio Board of Education, told this news outlet that if defendants in these cases decide not to settle, the case then gets decided on by a board vote.
However, the board’s policy states that board members can only consider the “official record” of the case. Which means the advising board member, who received plenty of “extraneous” details during the settlement phase, must recuse themselves from the vote.
“When we vote on those cases, you’ll see me abstaining on several,” McGuire told this outlet, “and that’s because I was part of the hearing and conclusion process to take it to the full board.”
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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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