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the leading candidates for governor unveil their running mates and conversations with both major party candidates for U.S.

Senate.

That's this weekend.

The state of Ohio.

Welcome to the state of Ohio.

I'm Karen Kasler.

It is generally thought that running mates don't move the needle for voters, but the two leading candidates for governor, neither of whom have held elected office before, said they have reasons for selecting the men they introduced as their lieutenant governor candidates this week.

The Democratic ticket was the first to appear together, and an event planned as a roundtable discussion on affordability and costs at a restaurant in Bexley, near Columbus.

Doctor Amy Acton introduced David Pepper as her running mate, saying his work as a lawyer and local official in Cincinnati and Hamilton County are important to her campaign.

Pepper is lost in two statewide elections, and since leaving a nearly six year term at the Ohio Democratic Party in 2020, he's built a social media profile and informally advised her campaign.

My statehouse News Bureau colleague Joe Angle sat down with Acton and Pepper after their announcement.

he is absolutely the kind of partner I need because we've got a lot of work to do.

You'll be seeing me called on a call to public service across the state.

Because until we fix the statehouse, nothing gets better for Ohio.

And until we address the costs of everyday living in a way, instead of special interests, actually to improve people's lives and health care, child care and aging in place with dignity.

All this work is stuff that David has worked on over his entire career.

And Acton and Pepper, we've talked a lot about corruption among Republicans, which is a strategy Democrats have tried before, but with little success.

But Pepper, the former chair of the Ohio Democratic Party, said he and Acton are the outsiders who can bring change to people who want something different.

And we've seen a lot of well-funded candidates go down in flames when they're not the right fit for a state.

And Vivek Ramaswamy in the end, is not the right fit for what Ohio needs right now.

But the question voters should ask is be very skeptical of the person who's trying to buy the state with special interest money versus the one who's actually raising money in a grassroots roots way to solve the problems everyday people.

And I A few hours later and 120 miles away, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy introduced Senate President Rob McCauley to a crowd of supporters at a party venue in downtown Cleveland.

The tech billionaire said McCauley, who served in the House and in the Senate since 2015, brings legislative muscle to his campaign to eliminate the income tax, cut property taxes and make other changes.

But if your actual goal is to not just translate this into words and a serial cycle of complaints and grievances, but actual action, then it will require me, as a governor to work with our legislature to quickly, rapidly, surgically, unapologetically enact this vision into legislation.

And in order to do that.

I'm going to need a governing partner who's going to help me achieve those legislative victories.

That is where the rubber ultimately will hit the road.

Starting in the first few months that we're sworn into office.

McCauley used a lot of his time on stage to compare the candidates and echo what Republicans have been saying for months, attacking Acton for the state's early Covid policies as health director, which governor Mike DeWine has said he takes responsibility for, and then for resigning that position in June 2020.

Ohio needs a businessman, not a bureaucrat.

Ohio needs a creator, not a quitter.

Ohio needs a visionary, not a victim.

Ohio needs somebody who's going to focus on affordability, not somebody who's going to put in lockdown policies that are going to raise our prices.

Ohio needs somebody who knows how to grow the economy, not shut it down.

DeWine made the long awaited decision to endorse Rama Swami after the McCauley announcement, saying that Rama Swamy, quote, hit a home run with this and quote, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor must file their paperwork with the Secretary of State's office by February 4th.

Acton is not expected to have opposition in the May primary, but automotive engineer and designer Casey Potts said he will challenge Rama Swamy from the right, specifically on abolishing property taxes.

He said Friday he's picked up his running mate, Warren County Central Committee member Kim Georgetown, a former moms for Liberty chapter chair who headed up and anti-mask and anti-vaccine organization, a US Senate seat, is also on this year's ballot in Ohio.

The race is already attracting national attention because it pits the appointed Republican, who is seeking his first win to that office against the Democratic former senator who wants to return to the chamber.

My Statehouse news Bureau colleagues talked to both candidates last month before the military action in Venezuela and before deadly shootings involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents this week.

First up, Republican incumbent John Houston, in conversation with state House correspondent Sarah Donaldson.

Senator, you've been in the US Senate for less than a year.

18 months ago, you were seen as the most likely successor to governor Mike DeWine.

What is it been like over the last year to adjust course quickly to an entirely different role?

And now you're about to run probably an entirely different race.

Yeah, well, it's been a challenge.

Admittedly, you know, Washington, D.C.

is not as friendly as Columbus.

You know, you you have dealing with different issues, a frantic schedule, a lot of travel.

So I think it's a harder job.

But I'm up to the challenge because the one thing, even though I don't know Washington, I know Ohio.

And so I found that many people who work in Washington don't actually understand how these programs work at the local level, at the state level.

And so I'm, I use the experience I had in delivering for the people of the state to try to get Washington to be more responsive, turn more authority back over to the states and local governments, because people in D.C.

just don't know how it works on the ground here in places like Ohio.

It's almost guaranteed that you'll face off against former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown in 2026.

Of course, he lost to Senator Marino, but he also drew in record breaking cash.

How will your team meet that kind of fundraising machine this cycle?

Well, we probably won't be able to raise as much money as he does.

He has connections in New York and California.

He just had a fundraiser in Hollywood.

He will raise more money than we will, but we have great grassroots effort.

We have a proven, you know, record of success.

He lost his last election by four points.

I won my last election in Ohio by 25 points.

And I think that the voters of Ohio just trust me more than they trust him.

What do union endorsements mean in this race to you and to Brown?

Yeah, well, he's losing union endorsements to me because I've proven that I'm can create jobs in the state of Ohio.

They know that.

I just don't say the right things.

I do the right things.

And that's why we're winning many union endorsements, and I welcome them.

What issues are you talking about with voters?

The most specifically Ohio voters, of course.

Yeah.

I always talk about jobs and education and putting people first.

The American first agenda, making sure that we do.

We have more manufacturing jobs in Ohio and America, making sure that these jobs pay more, making sure that we give tax relief.

The the working families tax cut that we passed was the largest middle class tax cut in Ohio or in American history.

And the people of Ohio will see $7,000 on average, more in their pockets as a result of it.

So next year, no tax on tips and, tax cuts on Social Security, no tax on overtime, a $2,200 tax credit to help people with childcare and other things.

All of those things are things I've already accomplished.

We'll talk about those.

We'll talk about how we make things more affordable, keep gas prices down, keep food prices under control, and fight the regulatory bloat that Washington, D.C.

punishes the rest of America with.

You've talked a lot about, you know, priorities that you and other Republicans under President Trump have been pushing for.

President Trump's not going to be on the ballot this fall.

Does that help or hurt you?

I don't know the answer to that.

I know that President Trump and Vice President Vance, who has no Ohio ties, he's in Ohio, and that they will, you know, work hard for our team, and support us.

We look forward to having a great campaign.

I've done this before.

This is not new to me.

It's a new race.

It's a new place to work.

Washington.

Because I'm an Ohio guy, not a DC guy.

But we've had success on the ballot.

We'll continue to work just as hard as we've ever had.

I think this will be the best grassroots campaign any Senate campaign has ever run, because I'm a guy that's been to all 88 counties.

I have relationships there.

I know what's going on in central Ohio, northwest, southeast, all of these different places.

And all of that really accrues a benefit to you in a campaign.

Polling by Politico shows that many Americans, whether they voted for President Trump or former Vice President Kamala Harris, feel that life is unaffordable.

Is Congress doing enough to meet Americans concerns about the cost of living?

And what more could you and your colleagues do?

Yeah, there's three things to make things affordable.

Help people earn more.

Let them keep more of what they earn and reduce prices.

And so the Working families tax cut legislation we passed is going to be a job creator.

I saw that Ohio is created a ton of jobs since we passed that.

And we also want them to keep more of what they earn.

No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, tax credits for their children so they can keep more of what they earn and then drive prices down.

Get rid of these regulations.

We're doing that with gas prices and other things like, eggs and other products.

But we need to do better.

If we get rid of this regulatory bloat, we'll have more businesses investing in power plants and things like that.

And when you have more supply, that reduces prices.

And so we've got work to do.

But we've come a long way.

These tax cuts will kick in in 2026.

Make life a little bit more affordable for every working person in Ohio.

I didn't hear you mentioned tariffs.

How do tariffs factor into the cost of living for Americans?

Yeah tariffs.

Tariffs are a challenge because we've got China ripping us off.

You talk to many small business owners who say they stole my intellectual property.

They've copied my products.

They're putting me out of business.

They've been cheating.

Stealing, on pharmaceutical, supplies, chips, rare earth and so we've got to hold them accountable.

But at the same time, when they retaliate, sometimes, that makes it hard on American consumers.

So, literally, I think we're going to get this worked out.

We have to stand strong.

We have to stand up to China who's been cheating us.

The tariffs are one tool, but I think the president is finally bringing this in for a landing.

I think in early 2026, they plan to have all of these trade deals done and the tariff issues largely resolved.

So the 43 day long federal government shutdown is in the rearview.

But the debate over whether to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies is still there.

Brown's team has been hitting you guys on health care hard.

Almost every day I get an email from their team about health care.

What is the solution to address Sky-high costs?

You know what he's doing.

He's hiding from his own record.

Every problem in the health care system is something that Sherrod Brown created over the last 32 years.

He voted to end these premium subsidies in 2025.

He's the one that put the Obamacare system in place that limits people's choices.

And he's trying to cover up for that.

But I want Ohioans to know I'm trying to fix his his mistakes.

I'm working across party lines to try to to build consensus over renewing the premium tax credit, but also eliminating the fraud.

I think the American taxpayers are tired of the fraud that goes on in the health care system, and particularly for working people.

Sherrod Brown voted to give people who won't work free health care, but then he raised the price on people who are working.

They have to buy their health care.

And I'm trying to remedy that problem.

When you talk about I mean, I hear a lot about ACA reform or health care reform is to you the fraud.

Is that the number one issue?

Yeah.

Well, we need to make sure that only American citizens are receiving it.

We need to make sure that the $0 premiums that have led to insurance companies basically stealing from the American taxpayer.

That's got to end.

I believe that if we can just get Democrats to say, hey, let's end the thievery that we have in our health care system, that we can get the votes to extend the premium tax credits to help people who really need the help.

Ohio has large communities of Haitian and Somali Americans and immigrants, so many of whom are here legally.

President Trump has long denigrated the immigrants from these countries, as well as other African and Middle Eastern countries.

Governor DeWine said he worries that when TPS status ends next year for Haitians in America, Ohio is going to have, quote, a lot of unfulfilled jobs.

Where do you fall on that issue?

Well, I'm looking out for American citizens and people who are in this country legally, no matter what country you come from, if you're here illegally and you're following the rules, we should embrace you.

But if you are here illegally, if you overstay your welcome, if you're not following the rules, then you need to be deported.

But I think in the end, that this is going to open the door to, in some ways higher wages.

It's going to, make sure that more Americans have access to jobs.

But at the same time, if you're a hardworking immigrant, I embrace you.

America embraces you.

There's a way that we can do both.

Shut down the border.

Send the people who are here illegally committing crimes.

Send them back home, but also protect our economy and protect the, history that we have, the legacy we have as a as a welcoming nation.

And just zeroing in on that TPS status.

Because right now, those folks are here legally.

Do you think, TPS is being overused or those folks overstaying their.

Well.

So it's an interesting thing because I keep hearing Democrats say, well, we made a mistake.

We shouldn't have let those 15 million people into the country over the last four years.

Well, part of that is returning them to the countries from which they came from illegally.

If you came here under TPS, there's a there was an exit date on that, and that exit date is not being renewed.

And so following the law means you have to return once the TPS is eliminated.

If you're if you have another claim, our office is helping people who have legitimate claims for reasons that they should be able to stay in the United States.

But once your TPS is over, you got to follow the rules.

We're we believe in the rule of law.

We got to follow the rules.

You shouldn't come here illegally.

You shouldn't overstay.

You're welcome.

But, we also want to help, you know, help you if if you have a legitimate claim.

Houston is expected to face Democratic former U.S.

Senator Sherrod Brown, who talked with my Statehouse News Bureau colleague Joe Ingles last month.

Let's talk about endorsements.

You've always had a lot of major union endorsements, but in recent years, we've seen some major unions backing President Trump and the Republicans.

What do you expect in terms of endorsements and, and particularly those and those who have endorsed and the Republican side.

So I'll, I'll get every almost every major union endorsement, but more than that is, I, you know, is to, to talk individually workers.

I know that the media narrative with some truth has been a lot of workers have gone against their union leaders endorsements and voted for not so much for Republicans, but voted for Trump for president.

I have a reputation of always going to bat for workers.

Not just not just a UAW member or a, a steel worker, but also, workers in McDonald's and workers, back office workers at nationwide or, or JPMorgan Chase or, a worker on a construction site that's union or nonunion.

And I will always go to bat for them.

And going to bat for them means you take on the drug companies and the oil companies and, and the big, the big railroads, as we know from you've covered that issue, Joe, taking you on people who have have promoted their corporate interests at the expense of workers and workers all over, regardless of their job.

Really, people on making under 150,000 or so are seeing more money going in and going out and coming in, and they've not had anybody speaking and fighting for them in the last year.

And John Houston, you know, John Houston's whole economic program, if you give tax cuts to billionaires and then what do you do next?

Well, you've got to cut veterans benefits.

You got to cut, health insurance for working families who don't have health insurance.

You've got to do all kinds of things to pay for those tax cuts.

And you don't start an economic program by giving money to billionaires and special interest groups that have funded your campaigns, as John Hughes, tell us that you've always talked about the dignity of work.

You've cited with labor, low income working Ohioans on many issues.

Republicans, though, are painting you as a DC guy, and they're painting you as someone who's out of touch.

How are you going to let working Ohioans know that you're on their side?

Well, people know that I've had a career in and public office in Ohio fighting not just the term dignity of work, but fighting for workers.

And again, that means taking on the drug companies, when they raise the price of insulin, it means taking on the oil industry.

When they when they do, you know, when they raise prices and in what they do with so many things with climate, taking on the railroads and East Palestine, taking on Wall Street, I mean, the reason we're seeing the rich get richer and richer and richer in the middle class shrink is because Wall Street and the drug companies and the oil companies, have had in the electric company have had so much power.

Electric rates continue to go up dramatically in Ohio, and there's some some long term and short term reasons for that.

Wall Street continues to have profits are out of control.

And it's because people like John Hughes said, would rather we'd rather help their special interest friends than what I do.

Fighting for those working families is affordability.

This is affordability, the key issue in this campaign.

And that's why, yeah, the key issue, call it whatever you want, but it's that that people see the system is rigged.

People see that corporate executives are making more and more.

They see they're more productive as workers.

They're working harder than ever before, and more money is coming out the door than coming in.

And they simply can't afford things.

I mean, I I've done in the last several years and including this year, I've done roundtables.

I today was did a roundtable with a bunch of small business owners, restaurants and others.

And, they're getting hammered by the tariffs as prices go up.

And one of things they said that was pretty interesting when, a supplier, maybe, selling lettuce or selling, a piece of restaurant equipment, a supplier will say to them, you know, we're going to have tariffs of the price, we're going to charge more.

Well, then the tariffs come off.

They don't lower their prices.

The supplier.

So the restaurant tour has to either lay people off, do a lot more business.

That's really hard.

Or cut their own, their own, first of all, their own pay and then the pay of their workers.

And that that's where the quality of their food.

So none of that works in this economy.

All because billionaires are getting a tax cut at the expense of everybody else.

Your opponent, John, he instead will point to his record of income tax cuts, lowering regulations, no tax on tips and over time, as ways that he's making affordability, capturing affordability for Ohioans.

What about that?

It's hard to say that he or others are interested in bringing prices down when they've done not one bill to bring prices down.

They're taking health insurance literally from a half million Ohioans.

Literally half my half million Ohioans could feel people who have lost their health insurance because of John Houston's vote can fill Ohio Stadium almost five times over.

That's how many people will lose their health insurance.

That's a whole lot of people.

The prices, the premium costs are going to go up first in the year.

And John Houston, so I've introduced a bill, but he's voted nine times to to not keep those costs.

He could vote any one of those votes.

He could have voted to put a lid, put a cap on what people are paying for their insurance.

And I was talking to a guy in Columbus the other day, self-employed, owns, an exterminating company.

Hard work.

When he saw his price of insurance.

More than double because of John Houston's inaction.

He's going to go without insurance.

He's in a pretty high risk job.

He wasn't.

I don't know how old was.

He wasn't in his 20s or 30s.

And him, his going out without insurance could cost him and his family for sure.

But it also means prices go up for others.

As somebody like him checks out of the insurance pool and none of that's good.

And, you know, John can talk about whatever he talks about.

But the fact is he had a chance to cap those and he walked away from Let's talk about immigration.

TPS status is being lifted for many, including the Haitians who have been working and living in Springfield.

There are concerns about the future of that community, and President Trump has made some denigrating comments about them, and most recently, the Somali community.

Where do you stand on the future of undocumented and of undocumented residents of Ohio, and can Ohio business function without them in the workforce?

Well, I said in the last part, because many of these people are here because Ohio businesses have asked them to come in.

That's what happened in Springfield.

The governor took a responsible position.

Governor DeWine, Republican governor, local businesses did.

Former Congressman David Hobson, who has since passed, was involved in that.

I want our immigration systems clearly broken.

I want to fix it.

I when I talk to these these small businesses this week and Columbus and Cleveland earlier and Toledo and lime and all over Cincinnati, I did too.

I they they want to be able to hire people, that are on the road to citizenship or citizens.

They want to be responsible.

They know they need employees.

But we've got to do it.

We've got to do it in a way that's fair.

And that brings everybody on the table and brings people in the community.

It brings, it brings businesses and, and, to, for for anybody to attack them by name or by nationality.

It's just wrong to attack in this community, attacked Somalis.

As you've seen the president United States do and call them names is outrageous.

And nobody should be nobody should be targeted.

That way.

The whole line about, Haitians eating their pets was just made up as a talking point before a presidential debate.

And that's, that's beneath should be beneath the respect of a president.

Tariffs.

Are they playing into this?

I know they are for farmers, but what about everyone else?

Farmers.

As we know, American farmers spent 12 months and still sold $12 billion of soybeans to China.

Now that number zero.

And the government, gave a $20 billion subsidy to Argentina for reasons nobody explained.

And now Argentina's essentially replace Argentine farmers, American farmers selling those soybeans.

But tariffs, tariffs have a role in the discussion with a bunch of restaurants to say what what they say is their price has gone up.

Their costs have gone up.

Whether it's one talked about lettuce, one talked about beef.

That's particularly bad.

One talked about restaurant equipment.

But what happens is the president talks about tariffs.

And then these companies go to these to their seller, to their buyers.

I'm sorry.

The the buyers, the mid-level supplier company goes to their ultimate consumer.

The restaurants say sorry your price is going to go up.

Have to go up because of tariffs.

Then Trump takes the tariffs off and then the company then bring their price down.

So this whole this whole reckless way terrorists could work if they were one at a time with an end point.

And they were explained not not for all Canada, but for maybe for washing machines or steel to Turkey or to China, things I worked on before.

And instead you talk about tariff, you threaten, you drop back and it creates turmoil, creates unpredictability.

Any business person's particular small business person will say that predictability.

You can't run a good business without some certainty.

And predictability.

To invest and to sell and to buy.

And that's just not happening.

Now, Last week we heard about election year strategy from the chairs of the Ohio Democratic Party and the Ohio Republican Party.

You can find those interviews in our archives at State news.org.

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

Thanks for watching.

Please check out our website at State news.org or find us online by searching.

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Thanks for watching, 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.com.

The law offices of Porter, right, Morris and Arthur LLP.

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

More at Porter.

Right.

Com Porter Wright inspired every day.

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

Every child deserves more at o h e talk.