Four Democrats are competing in the March 19 primary for a chance to face off in November with incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, who is unopposed in the Republican primary.
** Amy Cox: Cox, of Eaton, said she’s running for Congress because she thinks public policy consistently fails working class people.
“Think about those basic needs and how Corporate America has taken over,” she said. “You have to get those things under control to get basic needs met.”
Cox said she was asked to run for District 10, despite not living in the district, because of her working class platform and her background as a former teacher. She is endorsed in the race by the Ohio Democratic Party.
Cox said that if elected, protecting women would be her “number one priority.”
“Women are in trouble with limiting our health care,” she said. “You see that play out all across the United States.”
Cox said other priorities if elected center on housing affordability and the empowerment of workers who want to unionize.
** David Esrati: Esrati, owner of a Dayton advertising firm and an Army veteran, said Congress needs leaders who can think outside the box.
“We need a government we can trust again,” Esrati said.
Quality, affordable healthcare is at the center of his campaign.
“How is it that we’re being distracted by people talking about trans bathrooms, banned books, DEI, all this stuff,” he said, “when the reality is, Congress has healthcare and you don’t, and your healthcare costs have gone up 250% in just the last 20 years, and the number of billionaires in this country has quadrupled?”
Esrati said he is 100% pro-choice and wants to see a resurrection of federal protections for abortion. He said he is tired of “thoughts and prayers” and no action surrounding gun violence, believes in the importance of allyship and support with Ukraine, and wants homeownership to be an accessible step for all.
** Joseph Kuzniar: Kuzniar, a retired lieutenant colonel of the U.S. Air Force and Enon resident, is running for public office for the first time.
“I don’t know much about politics,” Kuzniar. “But I do know what needs to be done. And I know how the federal government works.”
He said his main reason for this new mission is to uplift Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Kuzniar pointed to deteriorating buildings at the military base, and said the base’s vitality is crucial to retaining talent in the region and spurring business development.
“What we have to do is protect what assets we have there,” Kuzniar said.
The Enon man wants to protect Social Security if elected, and he is also concerned about housing access, given the number of people who are homeless.
Kuzniar is a proponent of gun safety and responsible gun ownership, saying AR-15s and AR-16s should be for military and police.
** Tony Pombo: Beavercreek resident and political newcomer Pombo threw his hat in the ring after seeing Ohio leaders’ reaction to ballot issues about abortion and changing the state constitution last year.
“We have a government that isn’t doing what the people want it to do,” Pombo said.
Pombo is a computer scientist and previously worked as an electrician. He said people are worried about healthcare limitations and living on fixed incomes.
He said he wants to reduce healthcare and higher education costs, support Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and other major employers, and safeguard Social Security.
“You should be able to work full-time on minimum wage and afford to live,” he said.
The son of an immigrant, Pombo said he would seek solutions to “eliminate any benefits” to moving to the U.S. while undocumented.
Pombo, who said he identifies as a moderate Democrat, is “pro-choice” but does not view abortion as a “substitute for birth control.”
District 15 — Parts of Miami and Clark counties, plus areas east to Columbus
Two Democrats, Adam Miller and Zerqa Abid, are seeking the nomination to challenge incumbent Republican Mike Carey in the 15th Congressional District. Carey is running unopposed in the March primary.
** Adam Miller: Miller, of Columbus, serves as Ohio’s 6th District state representative and is an Army JAG reserve colonel. He previously served on the Grandview Heights school board.
Miller, 59, said he is running to help ensure Ohioans can compete in the modern global economy and to encourage working together in Washington.
“Good jobs start with investment in people, from higher education to trade careers. We need investment in infrastructure and in working families for good jobs here at home,” he said. “We must end the discord and dysfunction of Washington politics. We must elect officials who promise to work together rather than against one another.”
Among his priorities would be ensuring women have the ability to make their own healthcare decisions, and stepping up efforts to help families dealing with addiction and mental health issues.
** Zerqa Abid: Abid, of Grove City, is a small business owner, consultant and nonprofit executive director. This is her first bid for an elected office. Abid, 55, said she is running for office for the children and for the future.
“I have been serving this district as a small business owner and a women’s rights advocate for 16 years. I have served on various commissions and committees in education, public safety and human services areas. In 2014, I repurposed my life after hearing about children being trafficked from Columbus to Minnesota and Tennessee. I started an organization from my kitchen. In the last 9 years, that organization has become the largest Muslim Social Services organization in Ohio,” she said.
Among Abid’s priorities would be women’s rights and empowerment including the right too choose and equal pay; healthcare; and foreign policy and national security.
District 8 — Butler, Preble, Darke, and parts of Miami and Hamilton counties
Both parties have primaries in District 8. On the Republican side, incumbent Warren Davidson is being challenged by Kay Rogers. On the Democratic side, Vanessa Enoch, David Gelb and Nathaniel Hawkins are competing to advance to the November election.
** Vanessa Enoch: Enoch calls herself a public policy and business consultant, a Christian minister, and a community organizer who is passionate about social justice and human rights.
She lost election races to Davidson in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
She said women deserve economic justice and she wants to “restore a woman’s right to bodily autonomy” when it comes to abortion. She said she would work to improve racial equity and to end gerrymandering in the creation of voting districts.
On education, she said schools “should be cultivating the curious minds of our students, and equipping them with life skills” rather than “teaching to tests.”
** David Gelb: Among his top issues, small business owner Gelb listed “ensuring that personal health decisions are made by women, not politicians,” and making affordable healthcare accessible to every resident of District 8.
He advocates for wages that ensure a quality life for all workers, and he said he is dedicated to policies that spur growth and ensure the well-being of every resident.
On immigration, he said it’s a complex issue in need of a bipartisan solution that respects both security and humanity.
Gelb also said one of his first acts if election would be putting something on the House floor “to get rid of standardized testing.”
** Nathaniel Hawkins: Hawkins, who works at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, said he’s running because there are too many “who have been undervalued and underrepresented.”
He has criticized Davidson’s voting record, citing votes against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election, and against the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Respect for Marriage Act and John R. Lewis Act on voting rights.
Hawkins lists his top issues as universal healthcare, women’s reproductive freedom, livable wages, “common-sense firearm regulation,” clean energy, and fiscal responsibility in Congress’ appropriations process.
“Our issues are not divided into “red issues” and “blue issues”. They are all American issues, and it will require all Americans to come together to solve them.
** Warren Davidson: Davidson, who served in the Army and graduated from West Point, has been in Congrees since 2016. He has said he works to “limit runaway government expansion that threatens to bankrupt America.”
Davidson said he is in favor of a border wall creating complete control over who enters and exits the United States, as well as a new conditional visa program.
He opposes many gun control measures “including red flag laws, expanded restrictions on lawful transfers (and) magazine bans.”
He also opposes any reduction in Social Security now, but says for Americans under 25, he would raise the retirement age, work to improve the investing alternatives, and change withholdings to make it solvent.
** Kay Rogers: Rogers was the Butler County auditor for over a decade, but pleaded guilty to bank and mail fraud in 2008. She claims in campaign materials that it was a result of “lies, deceit and mis-characterization.”
“I think the fact that I’ve survived all this makes me a really good candidate,” she said recently.
Her No. 1 campaign issue is for existing immigration/citizenship laws “to be enforced and the judicial process has to be expedited.
She favores requiring a balanced federal budget each year, and instituting term limits for Congress.
She hopes to help “re-establish America as the leader of the free world,” calling it important to both national security and our fiscal health.
Other districts
** District 1, which includes Warren County, has only one Republican and one Democrat on the March ballot, meaning both of them will advance and square off in the November election. The Democrat is incumbent Greg Landsman, while the Republican challenger is Orlando Sonza.
** District 4, which includes Champaign County and areas to the north, has incumbent Jim Jordan running unopposed on the Republican side. For the Democrats, voters will choose between Stephen Thomas and Tamie Wilson.
