Ohio governor candidates on the issues: Jobs and the economy

The debate will be moderated by News Center 7 anchor James Brown. Questions will be asked by Dayton Daily News Columbus Bureau reporter Laura Bischoff, News Center 7 reporter and WHIO Reports host Jim Otte and University of Dayton assistant political science professor Christopher Devine.

Related: Dayton to host first governor debate at UD

Ahead of the debate, we are taking a look at where DeWine and Cordray stand on key issues such as jobs and the economy.

Q: Ohio lags the nation in job growth. What will you do to bring jobs to the state?

Mike DeWine: We need to create a world-class workforce for Ohio's future to attract more growing and in-demand industries to our state.

In the DeWine-Husted Administration, we will work to establish Ohio as the best place in the nation to obtain 21st Century job skills and ensure that every high school graduate is either college- or career ready.

SPECIAL REPORT: How do we get the economy to boom for all?

We will also support a jobs-friendly regulatory environment and maintain a low and predictable tax structure that gets government out of the way of economic growth.

Richard Cordray: We must examine Ohio's approaches to job growth, including the past performance of the Department of Development, the current Jobs Ohio program, the Third Frontier initiative, and brownfields redevelopment.

My running mate, Betty Sutton, has proposed ways to refocus our efforts to close the skills gap and strengthen our economy by growing jobs and wages.

We will include local communities as equal partners in job growth strategies, including siting, community development, and workforce development.

We also need to invest in opportunities that are right in front of us.

Small businesses rooted in local communities frequently create quality jobs that stand the test of time. We will work with capital investment markets to bring more, and more timely, venture capital and other financing into Ohio communities to support our small businesses in order to expand jobs and economic opportunity.

What do you think?Add your voice to the conversation on our Facebook page, and see what your neighbors have to say as we move forward. — Ron Rollins, Community Impact Editor