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And from 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 Welcome to the state of Ohio.

I'm Karen Kasler.

talking this week with Democratic candidate for governor, Amy Acton.

Thank you so much for being here, especially after what happened this past weekend.

You had a situation where an armed man pushed his way through a crowd that you were speaking to at the Canfield Fair.

Two people were injured.

You were not.

What do you want to say about that?

Well, thank you, Karen, for having us.

And yes, you know, first of all, there's just no place for violence in this work we're doing of civic life.

We all know that.

We have to say this sentence way too often.

I am so grateful to our State Highway Patrol officers who took very swift and decisive action.

It was horrifying to see people being pushed over.

I, particularly an older couple and I hope they are doing well there in our thoughts and prayers.

I hope to get a chance to talk to them later today.

My opponent refuses, simply refuses to call for this inflammatory rhetoric to stop.

You know, I have received 60 million in attack ads against me since March.

Not on the ideas of the day, but on lies and hate and chaos and vitriol.

I am asking for my opponent to stop this fringe group of people and and and the ads that had, you know, that have been shown, in fact, checked after facts tech to be wrong.

This is what incites this.

And it's very, very important that leaders understand that the words matter.

I'm asking for everyone in this race to bring this level down.

I've been fighting.

The thing I hear most from Ohioans is that they want this chaos and hate and vitriol to stop, and us to focus on solving problems that actually affect their lives.

That's what I'm going to do for the next 56 days, as I'm going to be speaking with Ohioans everywhere in this state about what matters in their lives.

Let's talk a little bit about some of your policy issues.

You've got property taxes, which is probably the biggest one of the two biggest issues.

You have a plan that would raise the household income limit on the homestead tax exemption, which goes to older and disabled Ohioans, to $50,000.

That expands it to 55,000 more homeowners.

You'd also create a tax rebate of up to $1,000 for those with household incomes under 132,000, with houses under 350,000.

If their property tax bill goes up by 4% a year.

What is the total cost of your proposal, and do you think it's enough considering a lot of Ohioans will not benefit from it?

Yes, it absolutely is imperative that we do something about property taxes.

And Karen, we have to go back to the fact that we stopped fully funding our local funds.

This is where this began.

And that put more pressure on our local communities to, to, to be able to afford the things we all rely on.

Are public schools in Ohio are are safety officers, our first responders, our disability services or mental health services.

All of this is something that Ohioans want to see funded, and they want to see it funded fairly.

So our very first step in coming in, in office is getting the cost down.

And that's why you see us go after the homestead exemption for those who are most vulnerable, certainly are aging, who want to stay in their home that they've been in their whole life.

You see us trying to help folks with disabilities and others.

We have this property tax rebate for people who have had their taxes spike, you know, at a rate that just isn't normal with inflation.

But more importantly, we've got to stop the predatory practices that are preying on people in this situation.

And the fundamental thing we need to do is fully fund our public schools.

We had a bipartisan funding plan if we did that right, which we have people on both sides of the aisle who want it, that will actually take the pressure off our property taxes.

Do you have a total cost for the proposal, and would the state pay for that?

Would local communities pay for that?

You know, we do.

And a lot of times folks talk about budget.

It's the first thing we encounter coming into office.

A budget is a reflection of your values.

I will budget for this and stay.

We're state where we have to balance our budget.

It's just my priorities are different than Mr.

Rama Swami's, who would recklessly eliminate all taxes for the public services we all need.

So to enrich himself and his billionaire friends.

This is about actually prioritizing what we're prioritizing a working families tax cut for the rest of us, a child tax credit, you know, and earned income tax credit above what the federal government does.

This will affect many of us.

And that's in addition to what I'm saying about property taxes.

We're going to do things when I take office, like eliminate medical debt.

My my opponent likes to say it's going to drive up the cost, but actually the opposite.

For pennies on the dollar, we can renegotiate medical debt, every one of us being one healthcare emergency away from losing everything we've worked for our whole lives.

This is the number one cost Ohioans are facing.

So I will balance a budget.

It's just my priorities will be on working and everyday Ohioans.

You mentioned the fair school funding plan that has not been fully funded and the group policy matters.

Ohio has said that it's about an estimate of about $2.75 billion to fully fund that.

That's a lot of money.

Where do you find that in the budget, along with these other things that you're talking about?

You know, we find it in a budget.

The state budget approaches $100 billion.

So it is a matter of what we prioritize.

There are so many issues that are very corrupt and broken.

Statehouse have not been fighting for Ohioans on everywhere I go in this state, you know, and I've been on the road for two and a half years.

People are talking about the cost of everyday life, child care.

One of the biggest issues that affects the economy in Ohio are ability to work.

The state House would not work on it.

They literally just would the governor beg them to work on it.

They would not work on it.

We subsidize this at 49th out of 50th in the country.

We're seeing people going out of state to get childcare.

We're in Steubenville.

They're going across the border into West Virginia to get childcare and then crossing back in to Ohio to go to work.

This is a matter I can't say enough.

People are longing for public servants again in the state House and in the state government, who actually work on solving the problems of our everyday life.

We can balance this budget, but we just have to stop giving tax breaks to a couple to build a football stadium and start working on fully funding our constitutional commitment to our schools.

I will fight and, you know, public schools save my life.

As a kid, I had a very rough childhood.

Going to fight to make sure we uphold that bipartisan funding plan and all the things that we hold dear.

It's going to be about child care.

It's going to be about lowering our electric bills immediately.

When I come into office.

It's about making sure everyone is access to health care.

In Ohio, we had the most people not enroll in the Affordable Care Act of all states in this country.

People are going an hour and 15 minutes in Ohio to have a baby delivered, and babies are being born roadside right now because our maternity units are closing left and right.

We have a lot of real issues that affect our everyday life.

This isn't about enriching my opponents, friends and Elon Musk and all the rest of them.

It is about fighting for everyday Ohioans, something I've been doing my entire life.

Do you anticipate having to raise any taxes?

No.

You know, we we are not putting forward a tax raise, but we're going to stop doing additional tax breaks for people at a million plus.

And we're actually talking about a tax break for working families, a responsible tax break.

I want to ask you about data centers.

Of course, that's the other big issue.

I think you have called for a moratorium on data centers.

Actually, your moratorium came out before your opponent's moratorium did.

But you have some things in common.

But one of the things that is in yours is that you want data centers to be built exclusively with union labor.

Now, a governor can't sign an executive order that does that.

So how can you make that happen?

First of all, we were just coming out of Labor Day, and I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio.

My grandfather worked in this film, Mills.

I'm married to an elementary school public school teacher for 44 years, teacher and a coach.

And we are a union family.

All of our lives are improved when people get fair wages and good paying jobs.

And that is what I'm fighting for in Ohio.

And and I can tell you, a governor can do a lot.

You know, my opponent has been open.

He won't even say the word union.

He is saying he is ending teachers unions.

And we know that's not where he's stopping.

I'm going to be the most pro-labor governor that we have seen.

And there's a lot I can do walking in on day one on wage theft.

On the way, we set up the agreements and project labor agreements that we do and purchase, as the governor and I will absolutely use the bully pulpit and work with my partners in economic development to do this.

I think the best in business want to make sure that they're improving their community.

We are open for business, but we are not for sale in Ohio.

It's the slogan, I would say, and look, I'm very different than my opponent.

My opponent is deeply invested in data centers and as are the people who are funding his his, you know, inflammatory rhetoric and ads in his pack of victors, not victims.

That's where the money.

Why?

Why is this man running for governor?

Why are these people giving him, you know, outrage as someone in Philadelphia has given him $30 million with the express goal to end public schools.

That is his goal in life.

He's not even from the state.

My opponent has said over and over again how great he thinks data centers are, until he realized that the people of Ohio disagree with him.

And I've said from the beginning, the cost of our energy bills is what I first heard from Ohioans, and no one should be coming in our communities in the dark of night and doing deals that the people are not aware of.

We want good paying jobs and we want the money to actually benefit our communities.

That is the thing we're fighting for our air and our water as well.

As you know, I always have I want to ask you about one thing that is similar in your plan to his.

Your conditional moratorium also would require data centers to invest in their own energy options.

But you say that you want to prioritize low cost, carbon free and net zero energy options accompanied by storage options.

Some of this, though, will mean more natural gas plants potentially right next to data centers, and that could affect air pollution.

It also could affect Ohioans who live near them and don't really want to see a natural gas plant there.

Should Ohioans be okay with more natural gas plants next to data?

So one of the things we desperately need in this state is an energy policy.

What we have had is one of the most corrupt state houses in the country, and I personally have stood up to somebody who took $60 million in bribes.

We absolutely need the best and the brightest in Ohio.

We should literally be a net exporter of energy.

And I think energy and growth in the energy sector will be a big boon to us, but we want to do so responsibly.

You know, I've been very vocal.

We have natural gas in Ohio.

It is an asset.

But that natural gas should be used in ways that are responsible and carefully regulated.

We shouldn't see, you know, fracking brine boiling up in Marietta, Ohio.

That is not okay.

And we were going to put the right people in in these positions to regulate and make sure we're doing so safely.

But more importantly, what we've seen is we never built the entire pipeline around the gas industry.

We were supposed to get more good paying jobs.

We were supposed to do the whole pipeline.

You can't even get the generator that would, you know, that we would use to create electricity in here in Ohio.

The wait list is seven years.

Now.

What I'd love to see is a whole industry up and down that benefits Ohioans and benefits our community.

Instead of seeing all that pump to jobs that are from out of state and going out of state.

But there's so much more we can do in energy.

We are doing it all of the above energy strategy.

When I am governor of Ohio, I want to ask you about a couple other issues that you've also mentioned and some maybe that you haven't.

You've said a flock cameras when you were asked, and other automated license plate readers that you absolutely no.

Many crimes are being solved with that technology.

And that's what governor Mike DeWine has actually said, too.

But you said you'll do a very comprehensive overview of all of our public safety and emergency response.

You do have people, though.

There are misuses, misuses of those cameras.

You do have people who say they don't want to make that trade off between solving crimes and feeling like they live in a surveillance state, so what?

Why not come out more strongly against cameras?

If that's the case?

I feel my statement was pretty strong.

If people go back and actually hear my statement and see the complete statement I made.

I've said all along.

You know, as governor.

Safety is the number one issue.

And having served alongside five different governors or advising them in one way or another, and obviously during one of the hardest times we've ever faced, the safety and well-being of Ohioans is something I'll always fight for.

And I always say, no one in this state will ever be unseen by me.

But I want to make sure that we are using the tools that we need to keep people safe, but we can't be doing so at the expense of our rights.

And and I'm excited by the bipartisan legislation we see moving forward.

I would absolutely support that.

I think what we're seeing revealed in the weeks that we're going through now is these abuses.

I said clearly that when I come in.

We are doing a complete and comprehensive review of all the tools we use in public safety.

And that particularly is involving AI surveillance on expanded gambling.

Several states have done that.

They made a lot of money doing that.

The opposition, of course, is fierce.

You've got a lot of church groups and others saying that this ruins lives, especially for young men.

Where do you stand on expanded gambling in Ohio?

You know, I've said that I am for the fact we have gambling, and I would like to see it benefit Ohioans.

And certainly I see it as a source of revenue that can help fund the proposals that we need to help bring down the cost of living in this state and provide for the services we need to fund.

And that said, I am a doctor and a public health professional, and I want to make sure we have the right regulatory environment around it.

I want to make sure we stop the sort of predatory advertising we're seeing, and I want to make sure our young people are protected.

So that's what you'll see when I do this, you know, a very nuanced and comprehensive strategy.

Where do you stand on temporary protected status for Haitians in Ohio?

This is heartbreaking.

I can't say enough.

You know, folks came here to Ohio from a country that I have worked in as a global health doctor.

I've gone there with governor DeWine where he was building schools in Haiti.

You can't even fly an airplane over Haiti right now.

It's one of the hardest countries I've been in.

People came here legally, helped build back the city of Springfield, and it's heartbreaking.

These are law abiding citizens.

Absolutely.

I've always felt we have to have safe borders.

We're we're a nation of laws.

But, but, but seeing the death of this young man, Pierre de la Spell, it was unnecessary.

And I'm going to to fight to keep our community safe, keep violent criminals off the streets.

But we can't be terrorizing our communities and we can't be making them less safe.

I will always be supporting the work we do, but I think this is heartbreaking, and I really stand by the governor and how he has been trying.

I stand by the mayor.

I stand by this community.

We know what's right and we know what's wrong.

On the death penalty.

Governor Mike DeWine has not allowed any executions and has come out against the death penalty.

Where do you stand on resuming executions in Ohio?

You know, we are going to do a complete review of this when I am governor.

I have to say, I you know, I had a very rough childhood.

People know I experienced a lot of abuse, you know, unspeakable things as a child.

I have an opponent who literally says, I'm just complaining about something done to me in my childhood, when I experienced sexual abuse and all sorts of things that no one should do or have to go through.

And, and I just, I want to keep people safe from this sort of thing.

But I want to make sure that we do everything we do with humanity and in a humane way.

So I will review all these policies.

This is another area I feel that I, in talking to past governors in the concerns we have for our ability to make sure that everyone gets the representation they need and our concerns about, you know, the drugs and things and that all of that will be on the table and in review.

I absolutely want to see justice done, but I will be taking a deep look at it.

Sounds like you have concerns about how that is applied.

Absolutely.

Your views on communities working with Ice.

Flock cameras, voter photo ID, trans athletes and girls sports have put you at odds with, I'd say, a significant percentage of Democratic voters.

I want to ask you, are you concerned about losing their votes and not gaining votes of people who might agree with you on those issues, but not other issues?

You know, I'm a doctor, I'm not a politician, but I am a lifelong public servant who has been fighting my entire life to make life better for Ohioans.

And I can tell you, I've traveled the state.

People are exhausted of living this way.

There existed of being pitted against one another.

They want us to solve the problems of everyday life.

95% of what I hear from Ohioans no one would disagree on.

That's where we must begin.

You know, rent being an affordable housing.

I've been fighting to get good housing my whole life, fighting to lower these energy bills.

I'll be fighting to get good public schools, which saved my life.

I'll be fighting for our libraries.

I'll be fighting to make sure people can age in place with dignity, and maybe with a little bit of fun and a good quality of life.

I know there are issues that are nuanced, and I will be fighting to make sure no one is unseen in the state.

I ask everyone to come to act and for governor, take a look at our policies.

Make sure you see the actual words that I have said.

I will never look the other way, but I want to make sure we stay focused on the things we all hold dear and things I can take immediate action.

I'm honored to be in this race.

I'm honored to be a servant.

You know, I the things I've experienced in my life, the childhood I had, I would not be here if it wasn't for the kind of policies that we put in place to lift us all up.

I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the kindness of strangers who refused to look the other way when they saw me suffering.

That is what motivates me.

I am angry, I am furious in some ways about this inflammatory rhetoric and this condoning of these fringe conspiracy theories that are intentionally done to keep us pitted against one another.

And I am going to continue to hold space for us to come back together and solve our problems.

I want to ask you about the campaign here, along with attacking you for your work during Covid, which DeWine has said he was the one that you signed the orders.

But were his policies your the Republican Party and your opponent, if painted you as someone with a serious and current alcohol.

And our drug abuse problem, which you've said is false and they've questioned your competence as a doctor, that's part of the reason that you outlined as rejecting debates.

So I want to ask you just why not debate and put that on the spot?

Kind of.

First of all, I've been out answering hard questions from Ohioans from the media like we're doing here today.

I did that for an hour and a half every day, live, unscripted on TV.

I will always make myself available to Highlands, and I will probably be the most available to the press governor there has ever been.

I think it's really important in this time that I can help hold space again.

You know, the unsaid part of being a governor is that you have a bully pulpit.

And in the in the times where living in when we're being purposely pitted against one another, I really want to take Ohioans behind the scenes to understand deeply the decisions I make.

But I will never, ever normalize my opponent.

This isn't a person who has done debate with me in ads or contrasted us.

He is literally been fact checked over and over again, and I hope everyone will come to the fact checks on our website or done by credible media sources.

I've never had a ding against me on my medical record.

I've always had an excellent medical record, and that can be seen as part of public records online by anyone in Ohio.

I do not have a drug problem.

I've never had an alcohol problem.

I have never, ever had that sort of issue.

And I think it's horrible to be demonizing people because so many of our family members do.

In my family, probably in everyone's family, I fought my whole life to get treatment and help for people, mental health disorders and addiction, and I'll continue to do that.

I'm proud of what I did in the opioid settlement to make sure that we'd have more money to treat addiction.

We've had fact checks on somebody who is known to be part of this fringe conspiracy world, literally be paid for by my opponent in an ad to say things about her mother dying.

And that has clearly been fact checked as to to who she is.

My opponent needs to denounce these fringe theories.

But you know what?

My opponent has spent his entire public career promoting them, and so I am not giving a platform to someone who I think is not just out of touch and not right for Ohioans.

I think he is a danger, and that is why I will not give him that, that that platform just real quick.

You're going to have to work with some of the people.

If you're elected, you're going to have to work with some of the people who are saying some of these things about you, like in the legislature.

You know, I've, I've worked on both sides of the aisle.

I got so much passed, I got housing work passed with this legislature.

Many of them I consider close friends, and many of them have reached out to me also denouncing this.

We've seen a governor denounce what has happened in an attorney general, while my opponent is giving a nod to people saying what I just experienced and many people experience as under investigation by State Highway Patrol as a hoax, and that kind of rhetoric, inflammatory rhetoric has no place in this state.

But I will always answer the questions of Ohioans and the press, and you will see me do that.

Very much so in the 56 days we have left.

Doctor Acton, thank you so much, I appreciate it.

Thank you, thank you.

My conversation last week with Republican candidate for governor Vivek Ramaswamy is available in our archive at State news.org.

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

Thanks for watching.

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Support for the Statehouse News Bureau comes from the law offices of Porter, Wright, Morris and Arthur LLP.

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

More at Porter Wright.com.

Porter Wright.

inspired every day.

And from 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