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Early voting is underway for the March 19th primary, which will finalize some big races.

And the first of my conversations with the candidates in the Republican U.S. Senate primary this week, Senator Matt Dolan is here all this week in the state of Ohio.

Welcome to the state of ohio.

I'm karen kasler.

Early voting is underway in ohio for the primary for president, u.s. senate and congress.

99 members of the ohio house and 16 of the 33 senators are on the ballot this year, though not all of them are facing primaries.

There are 13 incumbents in the House who have no challengers.

There are 21 open House seats and six open seats in the Senate.

Republicans.

Senate President Matt Huffman, whose term limited hopes to win the open House seat he's running for.

And the expectation is that if he does, he'll challenge Jason Stevens, who's running unopposed in the primary for speaker.

11 of the Republicans who supported Stevens for speaker over Derek Marin, who had won a caucus vote for speaker in late 2020 to face primary challengers.

Democratic leaders in the House are asking for help from the US Department of Justice to probe what they call, quote, questionable practices and circumstances at the highest level of state government.

In the House Bill six nuclear power plant bailout case, the Democrats specifically cite circumstances involving Governor Mike DeWine and Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted.

There are simply too many unanswered questions.

And frankly, the state alone, the very system that manifested this corruption, does not possess the capacity, nor, it seems, the resources or political will to detach itself from the political realities of Ohio's control of state government.

It's time that we fully close this dark chapter in Ohio's history that we undo the economic damage of corruption that, again, Ohioans are still paying today, and that we ensure that this corruption is never commonplace in our state government, no matter who is in charge at the highest levels.

A spokesman for DeWine said the request is disrespectful to the investigators who've been working on the HB six case since the summer of 2020, when Republican former speaker Larry Householder, former Ohio Republican Party chair Matt Burgess and others were arrested.

Householder and Burgess are now in federal prison.

Attempts to repeal HB six have gone nowhere after a 2021 bill that took back the billion dollars in subsidies from ratepayers for the nuclear plants and ended the decoupling provision that would have ensured FirstEnergy got around $1,000,000,000 a year in revenue.

Speaker Stevens said on this show in December that HB six has been thoroughly reviewed and the things that were not good have been repealed.

Speaker Cupp at the time put me on the special committee that went through line by line of every part of House Bill six that was chaired by Representative Jim Hoopes, and we went through all of those issues.

Then in the following G.A., which was last year, we passed, I believe it was House Bill 28, 128, and went through every provision of the original House Bill six.

The House voted.

The Senate voted.

The governor signed it.

It has been put into law.

And so, in my opinion, we have reviewed that well before.

You know, any news comes out of this in the future.

House Bill six, no repeal.

Well, like I said, we've already looked at all that repealed the things that were, you know, not good.

And we went through every single line and and did that.

And it's it was done, you know, almost three or four years ago now.

So there's been a lot of time to go through some.

One of the two coal fired power plants that get subsidies through HB six is in Stevens district.

And this week, state officials launched a new tool to help people looking for nursing home care find it close by and compare facilities.

The Nursing Home Quality Navigator is an online database that indexes federal and state data about hundreds of long term care facilities.

Searchable by location and by individual nursing home, A profile on each place features its Medicare and Medicaid star rating details its bed numbers and staff ratio and flags.

Whether it's been cited for abuse among dozens of other data points.

It also allows users to weigh location side by side.

It is not new information, but for the first time it's together in one place.

This week, we begin a series of conversations with the three men who are running in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.

With the winner moving on to run against incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown, who's been in the U.S. Senate since 2006.

All three candidates support cutting taxes, streamlining regulations and blame President Biden for increased inflation.

They all strongly support Israel in its war against Hamas, though they may disagree on funding for that.

And they all say they're concerned about cancel culture and what they see as liberal indoctrination in schools and universities.

So with the limited time available, I'm asking the candidates about issues where they disagree with their opponents, as well as specific questions about their campaigns.

This week, Matt Dolan, who's been in the Senate since 2017 and is chair of the Senate Finance Committee three times.

He was in the Ohio House from 2005 to 2010 when he resigned to run against Democrat Ed Fitzgerald for Cuyahoga County Executive, which he lost.

He's term limited in the legislature and is running for the second time for U.S. Senate.

Now, you've tried twice to run for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in a field of seven candidates in 2022.

You finished third and in a field of three this time, why do you think you have a better shot this time, especially without the endorsement from former President Trump?

Well, as you said, this is my second time I had to look at why, you know, what was what would be different this time rather than last time.

And there are a number of factors.

One, the biggest of which is the ultimate winner of this primary, needs to go against Sherrod Brown.

So I think Republicans around the state are understanding we've got to elect the best Republican who can beat Sherrod Brown.

And I think as the race is evolving, they're seeing that I can beat Sherrod Brown in the areas where he's really strong.

And my opponents would have trouble doing that.

Sherrod Brown only has to win 16 counties to win this area.

The other the other factor is this is that I think because I ran last time, I think people begin to understand that I have a conservative agenda of getting results.

And I think people want to see things get done.

They know I've cut their taxes, reduced regulations, expanded school choice, invest in our infrastructure, the things that I've been able to get done here in Columbus.

They want to see that happening in Washington.

They want to see that we are controlling spending, that we're going to get a domestic energy going again, that we're actually going to secure and seal the border.

So in me, they see somebody who can beat Sherrod Brown and executes on the, you know, the Republican values and principles that we believe in.

I want to talk a little bit about secure and seal the border.

You've made immigration a key issue in your campaign, as many Republicans have.

If the border is secured and sealed, you've talked about that mean temporarily shut it down.

Would that actually stop illegal immigration or could that really have a detrimental effect on the U.S. economy?

I mean, price spikes and shortages for consumers as well as for business?

Well, I understand what it means.

We're not we're not shutting down the border as it relates to trade.

We're not setting the border down as relates to tourism because there are ports of entry for that.

And you had the proper, proper documentation for all of that.

What I am saying is if you suspend the border temporarily from immigration, then you are securing the border at the same time, more walls, more law enforcement technology remain in Mexico.

Yes.

So it is if if people continue to try to get across while we're doing that, there's very clear they're not here seeking asylum.

They're not here doing anything else but illegally entering our country.

They will be immediately deported.

But right now, under Biden and Brown, we have 50% less Border Patrol agents.

So we have to bulk that back up the wall, stop being built.

I mean, President Obama built wall in Arizona where it makes sense.

They work.

We have to continue to do that.

So that's that's what we mean.

If the border situation or the invasion, as many candidates, including I think you have called it, is an emergency and a crisis.

Well, should Republicans in Congress be trying to fix that and support that bipartisan bill that the Border Patrol actually endorsed?

I mean, either it's a crisis and needs to be fix now or it can wait until after the election.

Which one is.

It?

Well, you could have been asking that same question, caring for the past 30 years.

And what happens in Washington is that we try to solve everything regarding the border immigration into one bill and of course, getting everyone to agree to that one bill has proven very difficult in the past 30 years.

What has been the result of that?

Our border remains open.

Under Biden, it has turned from an issue to a crisis to an invasion.

So that's why I'm saying if you listen today, you listen to Democratic mayors, you listen to Republican legislatures and individuals around the state.

They all agree we need to secure the border and seal the border.

And that's why I'm saying let's be laser focused on that so that we can build the infrastructure we need to make sure our border remains secure and that when we when we begin the process again, we have things in place remain in Mexico where, you know, the cartels need to go.

We need to work with the Mexican government on that.

We need to declare fentanyl our weapons of mass destruction so that that's not just a campaign slogan.

That means we can stop the ships that are coming from China into Mexico.

They're supplying the supplies that makes that all which is killing folks here in Ohio.

These are things we have to do.

These are things I think we can find agreement on.

The Trump campaign has said if he is elected, the U.S. will launch what is being called the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.

The military will be deployed to go after what may be 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

Is that realistic, given how long it takes to do that and the space that is limited in detention centers without building mass detention camps?

Well, here's my point.

So, you know, that's a plan.

I'm sure there's going to be others with a different plan if we are talking about those plans.

While the border remains open.

We're defeating the purpose.

So what we do with those who are here is is, you know, I make it akin to we have a patient that's bleeding out on the table and we're talking about cosmetic surgery.

Let's stop the bleeding and then let's have a fruitful discussion about what happens to those folks who are here now.

But if we don't cut government benefits, if we don't secure and seal the border, it's just going to be a steady flow.

The problem is only going to increase.

Instead of doing things in a systematic step by step basis that does what most Americans want us to do have a sovereign nation.

Be a land of of immigrants again, but be a land of law and order at the same time.

And forget undocumented immigrants aren't getting government benefits.

They are in some areas.

You don't have to go very far.

I was in Boston and I witnessed it.

Undocumented immigrants who are able to get cab service, groceries and a place to stay.

And those owners of those are the cabs or the grocery stores.

The hotels just need to submit a voucher to the government and they get reimbursed.

That's what's happening today.

So that has to stop because that's an incentive to come across the border.

That's an incentive.

These are waiting a long line and pretend like you're seeking asylum and then you're hearings two years from now or to cross the river and put your family in danger.

Stop the incentive.

That's that's what we need to do.

I want to turn to Ukraine.

But you you have some differences of opinion on Ukraine with your opponents.

Bernie Marino has said that he wants to stop all funding to Ukraine.

Frankly, Rose, in the debate earlier this week was noncommittal about what he wants to do in Ukraine.

One of the things that's been brought up is you said that we need to keep funding Ukraine because you don't want Ohio and American young people fighting Vladimir Putin.

That goes against many Republicans, including president former President Trump.

And I want to ask you about that.

Why do you need.

Why do we need to keep funding operations in Ukraine?

Yeah.

So here's some basics said points.

If Vladimir Putin is not our friend, he's our enemy.

Second thing is, in 1994, Americans convinced the Ukrainians to withdraw all their nuclear weapons in return.

We said, look, we understand who's on your border of Russia to invade.

We will provide conventional weapons.

Fast forward to today.

It's happened and I know this, that you and Ohioans and Americans are safer when our allies and our enemies know America will keep its promises.

And that's what we need to continue to do.

Ukrainians aren't asking for American soldiers.

They're asking for weaponry.

And President Trump, by the way, gave Ukraine weaponry.

And guess who didn't invade?

President Biden didn't do it right away.

Guess who invaded?

So strength matters.

It's also matter of our economic.

We have 25% of the world's wheat.

Do you want Putin to control that Ukrainian now sits on a great deposit of lithium.

Do we want Putin to control that?

Do we want Putin to have another port of entry for oil and gas exports?

These are things that matter to us.

And I do not want American soldiers fighting in the Baltics, in the Poland, and I don't want China and Iran to look at America and say they no longer protect their allies, they're no longer their word doesn't mean anything.

So it is very difficult, but we need to continue to do it.

And Karen, I would remind you that most of the money, over 60% and I'm lowballing it, actually stays right here in the United States because we're having our own manufacturers make the weaponry and ammunition here in the United States and shipping it over.

That not only helps our economy, but it helps our own war effort because we're building more weaponry and ammunition.

Are you concerned at all about the relationship between Trump and Putin, especially since Trump said just a couple of days ago that he would encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want when it comes to NATO allies who have not met spending guidelines.

Well, here's the thing to think can be true at the same time.

So President Trump styles is his style.

But the reality is our NATO allies need to make sure that they meet their financial commitments to be a member of NATO.

So that is correct.

But it's also correct to say that, as I believe, that the Americans will not back away from their responsibilities, NATO and that if a native country were to be invaded, issue five would be proclaimed and we would defend them.

Let's not forget when 911 happened here in this country.

NAITO for the first and only time, issue five was was given settlement.

NAITO countries came to our defense.

Are you concerned at all about a path of victory here?

That's one of the things that Marino has said, that there's no path to victory.

So why keep funding this endless war?

Do you think there's a path to victory?

Well, there's a problem with President Biden.

I think that when we first when Russia first invaded, it needs to be very clear that the Americans goal in providing the weaponry should have been let's push Putin back to the 2022 boundaries and then you can always go to the American people and say, our efforts here are to their being successful or not.

But here's here's the thing.

Why I've heard Bernie say, well, we must have a negotiation.

Why?

I've done a fair amount of negotiating both here in the state legislature, my private sector.

And if you are dismantling the strength of one side of the negotiation, why would Putin negotiate?

He's just going to wait us out and continue to destroy the Ukrainian country, and they will be at the doorsteps of Poland and other NATO allies.

So you need to continue to show strength if there's any hope that Putin's actually going to negotiate.

But with the right weaponry, they can push it back to 2022.

You know, the fact that Putin's army is being decimated is a good thing for the United States of America.

And we we saw last week that Putin wants to demilitarize space.

Well, if he's spending his time and resources in Ukraine, that's not bad for the United States.

You and your opponents have all talked about being pro-life.

They were endorsed by the Ohio, right, by Ohio, right to life.

You are not.

It seems possible that if Republicans win the House, the Senate and the White House, that a national abortion ban will be introduced.

You've said states should be handling this, though.

How would you vote on a 15 week ban when Ohio voters made it clear last year when they voted on a constitutional amendment that guaranteed abortion access if they wanted that, and also because a 15 week ban would still allow 90% of abortions to happen.

So let's take a step back.

I have a pro-life record that I'm proud of that reduced abortions.

But I have been consistent.

I have always said the three exceptions that I support are life of the mother, rape and incest.

And I think issue one showed us that you're right, there are needs that Ohioans generally want a period of time upon which abortion is available.

With the three exceptions.

What issue one did do, though, is went beyond those three exceptions and does allow for abortion to occur late term.

What I said.

Is up until viability.

No.

Then you keep reading that the language is as clear as day.

That says even after viability.

If a doctor.

And the parents that.

Right.

Well that that allows for late term abortions because it says the health of the mother, not the life of the mother.

The health of.

It didn't say fiscal health.

It didn't say emotional health.

Physical health.

What does it mean?

So what I have said is, if we are seeing across this country that late term abortion is becoming the norm, then yes, I do think the federal government should look at it.

But I would hope that the states will start settling in on what is a what is the reasonable position to allow for it to happen for a short period of time, with the exceptions.

And then we can focus on the things that I've done pregnancy crisis centers get more money, adoption programs get revamped, that that's what we need to be discussing.

But my opponents are going to put this they're going to put 24 in jeopardy because, frankly, those who said, I want a six week national band and he was unsure on exceptions, Bernie Marino said, I'm 100% pro-life, no exceptions.

These are things that Sherrod Brown is going to run on a loop against him because he wants to make the 24 election about abortion.

He can't do that with me.

You did not actively seek Trump's endorsement, but you've made it clear that you're on board with his policies.

That may be frustrating to some moderate Republicans who were seeing you as an option to the your opponents who are very supportive of Trump.

How can you continue to support a candidate who's been indicted on 91 felony counts, who said he'd encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want when it comes to NATO's allies that haven't met their spending guidelines, who added more than $8 billion to the national debt when he was in office, and who you've said lied about stealing the 2020 election, that it was stolen?

Well, see, there's a difference.

So we're going through a primary process and it's clear that he's going to end up being the Republican nominee.

And as a Republican nominee and the eventual Republican president, there are things that he has done that I am fully supportive of and I have done in Ohio, cut taxes, reduce regulations, giving parents more control over school choice.

These are things that I have done.

But I didn't seek his endorsement because my singular focus is going to be on what's best for Ohio, what's best for our country.

So where President Trump and I align with that, he will have a strong fighter if he does.

If we don't align on that, I don't I mean, I'm not embarrassing guys.

I don't I don't, you know, just pound my chest.

I'll work with him.

But my focus allows me to do what I think is the best interest of Ohio.

And I don't have to get caught up in any other issues that I don't think I help our country or help Ohio.

Do you feel, as Trump does, that the justice system has been weaponized against him and it's a witch hunt?

Or from your experience as a former assistant chief assistant prosecutor for Georgia County and a former assistant attorney general, that he's facing charges, these are legitimate charges that that need to be heard in court.

Well, the facts will play out, but here's what what you do know is that in a in a short period of time, four different indictments, four were against the guy.

So was there coordination amongst the between the federal and state government?

That's unusual.

You know, yeah, we're a law and order nation.

So if a prosecutor in good faith felt like there was a there was could be a possible violation of law, fine.

But here's what I do know.

You can't convict President Trump.

We are innocent until proven guilty.

And that's what I think is happening is that the press wants to make him guilty already.

The Democrats are talking as if he has been convicted, and that is not the case.

That is weaponizing the federal system, that that President Trump is innocent as he stands here today.

And he has the absolute right to a defense.

And and as such, he is not barred from being a nominee or ultimately the president of United States.

And that's what I know to be true.

So let's not convict him.

Look, you know, he's mounting his defense.

But I do think as I'm a next U.S. senator and I get to cross-examine those who are going to be appointed and these important positions, I'm going to make it very clear that justice is blind.

And nobody, whether they're Republican or Democrat, is going to use the justice system for political advantage.

And this may kind of dovetail into what you just said here, but you have said that you supported you voted for Trump in 2016 and in 2020, and you plan to vote for him in 2024, even if he's convicted.

If he's the Republican nominee.

Yes.

And finally, you and your family are wealthy.

How do you convince average Ohioans that you really do have their best interests at heart?

Yeah.

Well, first of all, you know, telling on a campaign trail, you have the option of telling his story of your family.

So, you know, my parents story is one in which I think a lot of people can relate with.

And I want a lot of people to repeat, you know, there they are, the American dream.

But I also think that because I have a record of achievement, I think if you look at the private sector, what I've been able to accomplish, if you look at what I've been able to accomplish as a as a public servant, that impacts all Ohioans.

So Sherrod Brown can attack me for the for the, you know, the success of a family.

But the reality is, is when I begin to discuss about issues that I have taken under my wing and I have had a real impact on Ohio families, I think they'll understand that I'm going to Washington for the best interest of Ohio.

Businessman Bernie Marino is scheduled to appear on this show next week, and I hope to talk with Secretary of State frankly, Rose soon.

And that is it for this week for my colleagues at the Statehouse News Bureau of Ohio Public Radio and Television.

Thanks for watching.

Please check out our website at state news dot org or find us online by searching the state of Ohio show.

And please join us again next time for the state of Ohio.

Support for the Statehouse news bureau comes from medical mutual dedicated to the health and well-being of Ohioans offering health insurance plans as well as dental, vision and wellness programs to help people achieve their goals and remain healthy.

More at Med Mutual Rt.com.

The Law Offices of Porter Wright Morrison, Arthur LLP.

Porter Wright is dedicated to bringing inspired legal outcomes to the Ohio business community.

More at Porter Wright AECOM.

Porter Wright inspired every day.

The Ohio Education Association representing 120,000 educators who are united in their mission to create the excellent public schools.

Every child deserves more at OHEA.org.