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An Ohio city struggling with a surge of illegal immigrants lands in a harsh national spotlight.

And the chairs of the two major political parties share some thoughts.

With around 50 days till the election.

That's this weekend.

The state of Ohio.

Welcome to the state of Ohio.

I'm Karen Kasler.

A horrible racist rumor from Springfield early in the week has blown up into an international story sparked by a tragedy a year ago and obscuring the serious issue of the impact of an influx of illegal immigrants on a medium sized community between 10,000 and 20,000 immigrants from Haiti have added to the 60,000 person population of Springfield over the last few years.

Most are receiving short term protections from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to work legally in the United States through at least 2026, as their country endures political violence and instability.

The surge has put a strain on health care, schools, road safety and housing.

Residents have noted and complained about that strain.

And over the summer, a neo-Nazi group protested the Haitian community in Springfield.

But this week, in the midst of intense campaigning for this fall's election, rumors that started a year ago when an 11 year old was killed in a school bus accident caused by a Haitian immigrant driving without a license caught fire.

Claims that Haitians were stealing and eating people's pets started circulating wildly after being boosted by right wing social media accounts and eventually by Republican U.S.

Senator and vice presidential candidate J.D.

Vance and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Bernie Marino, among others.

Then Republican Attorney General Dave Yost said he was investigating, but the city and its police department say there are no firsthand accounts or hard evidence of this happening.

We wish to clarify that we have not been able to verify you credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.

The new story regarding a cat being killed and consumed did not originate in Springfield.

It actually involved a canton woman who was arrested for animal cruelty last month.

Rumors like this are taken away from the real issues, such as the issues involving our housing, our school resources, and our overwhelmed health care system.

And Nathan Clark, the father of 11 year old Aiden, who died in that bus crash, came to a Springfield City Commission meeting with a message.

politicians, Bernie Marino, Chip Roy, JD Vance and Donald Trump then spoke in my son's name and used his death for political gain.

This needs to stop now.

They can vomit all the hate they want about illegal immigrants, the border crisis, and even untrue claims about fluffy pets being ravaged and eaten by community members.

However, they are not allowed, nor have they ever been allowed to mention Aiden Clark from Springfield, Ohio.

but that hasn't stopped many high profile Republicans from continuing to spread the so-far unfounded claims which find their roots in false accusations about Third World immigrants that go back a century.

After the presidential debate on Tuesday.

Vance told CNN he stands by the claim.

Well, first of all, city officials have not said it's not true.

They said they don't have all the evidence is there's no evidence.

We've heard from a number of constituents on the ground.

Caitlin, who both first hand and second hand reports saying this stuff is happening.

If someone calls your office and says they saw Bigfoot, that doesn't mean they saw Bigfoot.

Why?

I mean, you have a sense of responsibility as a running mate, and he certainly does this as the candidate to not promote false information.

Caitlin, it's a totally fair point, but nobody's calling my office and saying that they saw Bigfoot.

What they're calling and saying is, we're seeing migrants kidnap our dogs and cats.

And city officials aren't doing anything about it.

Former President Donald Trump mentioned it in the debate, which got a fact check from ABC anchor David Muir, who said twice that the city manager has confirmed there is no evidence of this happening.

With Trump responding that he saw it on television.

Governor Mike DeWine has a long connection with Haiti.

He set up a school there named for his late daughter, Becky.

That school closed earlier this year because of gang violence.

DeWine said on Tuesday that he will send at least $2.5 million to Springfield to help with health care access and state troopers to reduce dangerous driving.

And he blamed the federal government for not offering more help to those receiving temporary protected status.

And the communities where they end up There has to be a plan to take to prevent situations like we're seeing in Springfield.

But if in fact they do occur, we clearly need help from the from the federal government.

Haitians, the patients who are here are hard working people.

They have families and they care about their families, and they care about their children.

They came to Springfield, Ohio, for work.

But DeWine deflected questions about the racist rhetoric, deferring to county and city officials on the matter.

A few days later, he echoed what Springfield officials have been saying that there's no evidence that this is happening.

There were a lot of other issues and questions that came up in that presidential debate beyond that.

The day after the debate, I spoke with Ohio Republican Party Chair Alex Triana.

Feeling So let's talk about the debate.

Even on Fox News, the reviews were he didn't seem like he was ready.

There were some moments where you were like, oh my God, where are we going with this?

Brit Hume said, make no mistake, Trump had a bad night.

But bear, President Trump did take a lot of the bait that she threw out, Martha MacCallum said.

He went down a few cat and dog holes.

You posted on X right after the debate that Trump was the clear winner.

Why do you think so?

I think you won on policy.

I think what we didn't see last night was any clear solutions of the problems that Americans and Ohioans are facing.

I don't remember a single thing that Kamala Harris said about fixing the problem with inflation.

I don't remember her making a concrete proposal about the border.

I don't remember her talking really about anything concrete about how to solve some of the international crises.

So look, I mean, Kamala Harris, the expectation were low and they did a nice job of setting expectations low.

A lot of us, especially on our side, have seen clip after clip of her engaging in word salad and seeming incoherent.

I'll concede she wasn't that way last night.

Look, it was an hour long debate.

This campaign is going to be about more than that.

But I did think that our message for the American people, for regular Ohioans, regular Americans, was the better message.

And talking about real solutions.

Donald Trump talks about immigration.

He talks about building a wall.

You don't have to agree with it, but it is a solution.

I didn't haven't heard a solution from the other side.

So for in that in that way, I thought we had a better night.

Last thing.

Why was Joe Biden's age?

He's 81 years old.

Important, but Donald Trump's age, he's 78 right now.

He'd be 82 if he's elected and finishes out a four year term.

Why is Joe Biden's why was his age important?

Donald Trump is not.

I mean, anybody who's watching Donald Trump and Joe Biden knows that age isn't the issue.

It's just your mental capacity and mental faculties.

And, you know, I haven't seen any real slippage in President Trump.

I just haven't.

And I don't think most American people have even they don't like him.

It's fair to say the man can still articulate his positions.

He again, you may not agree with him all the time, but he does articulate his positions well.

He holds his own mentally.

There's a clear difference.

And we saw it in the last debate between the mental capacity and faculties of Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

So, you know, age should not be a factor necessarily in this race.

What should be is your mental abilities, but more importantly, the policies that you're going to have for the American people.

And on that challenge, I think we've met that challenge as a party to suggest that our solutions are better ones for the people.

There have been debates in the past where the image of one candidate versus the other candidate really defined things for some people.

Do you think that the image of Donald Trump and the image of Kamala Harris, that was it's fair to compare them?

You know, I've never been a fan of that comparison, really, even if it works to the benefit of Republicans.

I mean, ultimately, we have to evaluate what these candidates say.

If we as a country are electing our president based on style points, we're doing the country a disservice.

And look, there's plenty of cases where we went on style points, and I know that.

But ultimately, I don't think that's how we ought to pick our next president.

So I'm not terribly concerned about those optics.

The contest in Ohio between Bernie Marino and Sherrod Brown was expected to be expensive and close, and that appears to be what we have.

There's a belief that the shake up on the Democratic ticket helps Brown, even though Trump is still at the top of the ticket for the Republicans, because it's harder than to tie Brown to Biden if Biden's not actually running.

So what do you think the shake up on the Democratic side is going to mean in that race?

Well, that shake up now, which is what, some six weeks old we haven't seen that help Sherrod Brown.

As a matter of fact, the polls have closed in that race.

And any objective, person looking at this will tell you that the polls have narrowed in that race.

Bernie Merino had been down some period a some some the percentage that that number is gone now.

I think even internally, Sherrod Brown would have to admit this is a dead heat race.

And that's after they've spent millions trying to define Bernie.

But listen, it's not just tying him to Biden.

It's time to the last four years or last three and a half years of Biden's policies having a porous southern border.

Again, your groceries cost more in the Biden administration.

We do see an explosion of crime in the big cities.

So we see these things that are happening on the Democratic side.

And he, you know, Sherrod Brown can't run away from Joe Biden.

He's voted with him 98.5% of the time.

So he just can't run away from the policies of the last four years.

It's not so much the man, but it's the governance and the policies that have come out of Washington.

On the Biden under Joe Biden's watch.

57% of Ohioans voted last year to protect reproductive rights and abortion access.

Marino says he's 100% pro-life.

And he said that vote came from cheating.

But he also says he supports the Republican Party platform, which would leave abortion related decisions up to the states.

And now you've got, it's unclear whether Donald Trump is going to sign an abortion ban.

Both of them seem to have supported national restrictions.

And about 15 weeks, is this going to be a key issue for Ohioans who voted to approve abortion access last year?

I mean, it shouldn't be.

We've decided this question in Ohio.

Ohio voters went told us, you know, I was on the other side of that debate.

And look, I've been in politics a long time.

We should be listening to our voters.

And here in Ohio, voters have told us where they are on this particular issue.

Look at the end of the day, this is about the kitchen table issues that affect Americans and Ohioans.

It's about, again, the cost of your groceries, how safe you feel in your community, whether or not what's happening in Springfield, Ohio, you know, with 20,000 immigrants coming into a community of 60,000 people, how that affects your day to day life.

This bigger issue, I think Donald Trump nailed it last night.

Frankly, in the debate, it's being contemplated and and fought over in the states.

The small the democratic process is at play to tell us where the American people are.

Here in Ohio.

Ohioans have spoken on this question.

We think the proposal that's on the books now is too extreme.

There may be a time to review it, but certainly not now.

So there could be another abortion related amendment right now in Ohio.

You know, you can you can have bought a baby in the ninth month of pregnancy, in the eighth month of pregnancy.

If you look at the current construct of the law, that's very rare circumstances.

It's still that kind of extremely rare circumstance ought to not be allowed, and there ought to be some real hurdles before someone can do that.

So, you know, again, to the extent that people listen to what our position is and they're not, you know, they're not getting a lot of help, frankly, from our friends in the press on this topic.

But the answer is that we can't allow those late term abortions, and there ought to be some restrictions there.

And I think all Americans, most Americans, agree that there ought to be some commonsense restrictions around that procedure.

Republicans have A43 advantage on the Ohio Supreme Court right now.

How important is that race with three seats up on the ballot?

And was it wise for Justice Joe Peters to challenge his Democratic colleague on the bench, Melody Stewart, to try to win her seat in the full term?

That comes with that, as opposed to running for the seat he was appointed to with two years left on that term.

Nobody's entitled to any seats, and I believe strongly in that.

If you're an elected official, you should be prepared to defend your positions regardless of what term you're in or where you are.

So, Justice Joe Deters is well within his rights to run for the full term.

I encourage them to do that.

It's a record he consulted with the Ohio Republican Party.

I was involved in that decision.

So I stand by the decision strongly.

Those races are very important for putting a lot of resources in those races.

Karen.

We believe our candidates are the better candidates.

We have three candidates who are former prosecutors in the toughest kind of prosecutors, and we think that we should have judges who first and foremost look to protect the community.

They should do justice, but they should do justice with an eye toward making sure that victims rights are as protected as the rights of defendants.

So we're confident that our three former prosecutors that are running in this state are the best choices for Ohio.

And finally, last month, RNC Chair Michael Whatley came to the Ohio GOP headquarters to talk about recruiting and training thousands of volunteers to be on the lookout for potential problems in 18 states, including Ohio, on Election Day.

And with early voting.

This is happening, as we've heard repeatedly, that Ohio is the gold standard for elections and that our system is great.

But it is also coming, as former President Trump has said, he lost the 2020 election based on fraud.

Aren't these mixed messages here that Ohio's elections are safe and secure, but that the RNC is going to still bring in people to watch what happens in Ohio?

Like there's going to be problems.

Well, and I appreciate the question.

Sorry to jump ahead.

No, no, I mean, look, in the same way that I believe the banking system is safe, we still have safeguards everywhere.

We have a Pin.

We have, you know, secondary ways to assure your identity when you're logging into an app or something.

So know making sure that we have a kind of belt and suspenders approach is appropriate.

And that's what you're seeing in Ohio.

Protecting election integrity is important.

Regardless of where you fall on the issue, it's fair if one steps back to look and say that there is a significant portion of Americans that believe that this this lacked integrity, the system that the election last election lacked, the integrity that deserves the Covid crisis certainly contributed to that.

So there is this distrust by a significant number of people.

We shouldn't just we shouldn't just ignore their concerns in the same way that, you know, we don't ignore the concerns of people who care about who are worried about police brutality, for instance.

And I would argue that that's not the norm.

Of course, there are episodes of police brutality, but it's not the day to day functioning of the police.

We go to great lengths to assure that people have respect for law enforcement.

We should go to great lengths that to make people believe that our elections have integrity.

The next day, I spoke with the chair of the Ohio Democratic Party, Liz Walters.

So it's widely acknowledged that Kamala Harris had a great performance at the debate, especially with the expectations from Biden's debate in June.

Well, she did land several punches on Donald Trump and clearly rattles off a few times.

She also did not answer a few of the questions.

Is that concerning, since voters are still getting to know her in her positions?

Let me start by agreeing with your premise that, Kamala Harris won that debate this week.

And I think more importantly, with all the questions and the totality of the debate performance in clear view, what we know is that, we had a clear contrast.

And for any undecided voter or voter who was turning in to decide to figure out who they might be leaning towards, you couldn't have had a clear choice.

On one side, you had a career prosecutor who laid out her vision for the country and came to the table with ideas for how to help working families here in Ohio, and then a 34 time convicted felon who couldn't form a coherent thought about a policy or priority had that would actually benefit, the voters.

And so for anyone who came to that debate with questions, for the extreme, to the entire of the entirety of the two hours, one person could present and, policy ideas and priorities, and the other person ranted and raved at the sky.

There are some comparisons.

Interestingly, Harris's stance to Ronald Reagan, of all people when it comes to foreign policy in particular, and especially as the Republican Party has moved further to the right.

Is that a problem for more left leaning members of the Democratic coalition, especially when you start talking about the Israel-hamas war?

I think that what you've seen with, Vice President Harris is that she is united, the Democratic Party.

Full stop.

The full spectrum and coalition of voters who want to see, her in office.

It is, includes people from the farther sides of our party, but also a whole host of independents and, undecided voters or even kind of left of center voters.

Plenty of room in our tent for Nikki Haley.

Voters who do not want to see an isolationist president or a president who buddies up to dictators like Donald Trump, back in office.

And so while, within the Democratic Party, because it's a big tent, we don't always have full alignment on all issues.

Right now, you can know for sure that the Democratic Party is fully aligned behind Vice President Harris.

The last time we talked was at the statewide gathering of Democrats in Columbus, and there was obviously a focus by the folks there.

And you that the race, the US Senate race was the priority.

Pretty much.

It was acknowledged that Donald Trump is likely going to win Ohio.

This doesn't change that significantly, does it?

Well, listen, I think the the race is greatly different in Ohio.

On the presidential side, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz have unique messaging that speaks directly to Ohio voters.

And we're seeing those numbers shift, substantially compared to where the head to head was, between President Biden and former President Trump.

But the reality is, right, we're not sure that they'll compete for Ohio meaningfully.

Either candidate doesn't seem to be spending a lot, there.

Any Ohio voter with a TV knows you're hearing a lot about the Senate race.

And so our assignment hasn't changed.

We continue to remain focused on making sure that, the man who works hardest for Ohioans, Sherrod Brown, goes back to the Senate this November.

Let's talk about that race.

The, contest was expected to be expensive and close, and it sure is.

There's a belief that the shake up on the Democratic ticket does help.

Sherrod Brown, even with Trump still on the ballot.

But Republicans say that they're still going to try to tie Sherrod Brown to Joe Biden, that, they're they're the same, essentially.

Does that work against you?

I think that at the end of the day, this race has always been between Shared and Bernie.

That's it.

This race is about who's going to go into the US Senate and fight for Ohioans every day, who's going to put our needs first, and who is going to stand up to the folks who don't have our best interests at heart?

And at the end of the day, Ohio voters know that Sherrod Brown is on their side.

He has stood up to corporate interests, to pharma, to railroad companies, and sometimes to his own party.

When he doesn't think that's what's right for Ohioans.

And we know that's what's going to drive a lot of folks to the polls so they can run whatever ads they want against Sherrod Brown.

But I think most Ohio voters know who he is and what he stands for.

And that, he represents the values we want to see in the US Senate 57% of Ohioans voted last year to protect reproductive rights and abortion access.

Marino says he's 100% pro-life, but is also said that vote came from cheating.

He also says he supports the Republican Party platform, which would leave decisions related to abortion up to the states.

Trump has been unclear on what he might do with the national abortion ban or any restrictions.

Is this still going to be a key issue for Ohio voters this fall, or do they consider it settled because of last year's vote?

It is absolutely one of the top issues we are hearing about from voters that we're seeing in polling and that we know is going to matter to how voters.

You made an important point, right?

Last year, Ohioans overwhelmingly voted to enshrine this right in our state constitution.

They made their voices heard.

And what we are seeing that whether it is Dave Yost, Mike DeWine, Frank Loras, Bernie Marino, Donald Trump, they do not respect the voices of Ohio voters and continue to lean in on this issue to try and find ways and undermine the will of Ohioans.

The choice on this issue couldn't be more clear.

If you want elected officials who are going to respect the voices of the people in Ohio, especially on the issue of abortion, Sherrod Brown's your guy, and Democrats up and down the ticket are committed to having a pro-choice state.

There is no room for debate there on, on that issue in our mind, bigger issue, though, than the economy or immigration.

You know, they it all plays differently depending on who the voter voter is you're talking to.

All of these things are important to folks, and it's important reminder that family planning is an economic issue for millions of women in Ohio and for their husbands or their partners.

Having children is an important decision.

Your health care, providers and what you can services you can have that's an important economic impact.

And so I don't think this issue was disconnected and separate.

It's a big issue that impacts so many aspects of the lives of Ohioans and women across the country.

Republicans have a 4 to 3 advantage on the Ohio Supreme Court.

Democrats would have to win all three seats that are on this ballot to gain control of the court, and incumbent Justice Melodee Stewart is being challenged by her Republican colleague, Joe Deters.

And it looks like it's an uphill battle for Democrats.

And yet there are several abortion related laws that are going to come before the court.

You have three, at least members of the court who have said that they believe that life begins at conception.

How do you this is this is going to be rough for you to win.

It's a big fight.

I will acknowledge that.

But I don't think it's quite the uphill battle that everyone makes it out to be.

When the issues are this clear and when the will of the voters is this disconnected from their elected officials?

I think that argument is a little simpler for us to make.

It doesn't make it less difficult, but the choice is clear.

And I think on the Supreme Court races in particular, what we know for sure is that Ohio voters are sick of out-of-touch, extreme politicians who don't listen to them.

They are sick of, nepotism and corruption guiding so much of Ohio state government.

And it's worth noting that Joe Deters has publicly admitted that the only reason he got the appointment to the Supreme Court was because he had to promise the Republican Party to run against Melodee Stewart.

That's pretty shameful.

But when all of these decisions are presented to voters and they have the opportunity to make a decision, we think that those choices are clear.

And our job for the next eight weeks is to make make that case, which we're absolutely going to do.

On Thursday afternoon, Trump announced there would not be another debate, though Harris had said she wanted one.

Circling back on the Springfield rumors, Alex Triana sent me a statement that reads in part, quote, I am mindful that the Haitian population in Springfield is largely there through legal means.

But the shock to the community remains the same as people with different cultural norms, customs and traditions settle there.

We've heard various stories about some cultural differences that involve food choices and other lifestyle choices that most Americans might find odd at the least, and objectionable at worst.

I've heard these stories, even from our own Republican leaders and Clark County Senator Vance has likely heard similar stories.

While I personally cannot corroborate them, that's not my interest.

I am the child of immigrants who also came here bringing cultural norms that were different than most of our neighbors.

So I have some sympathy for the plight of Haitians finding a new home.

But none of this excuse is a broken southern border, a badly managed immigration process, and the policies of Biden-Harris that have fundamentally changed the immigration situation in America and have created challenges for communities, absorbing huge population changes with little help from the federal government and, quote, the Ohio Democratic Party didn't issue an official statement on the Springfield rumors, but several prominent Democrats shared statements from other accounts denouncing Trump and Vance for stating them as fact.

Columbus Representative Latina Humphrey wrote a post on X directed at Vance.

Your remarks are clearly a part of the same old playbook that we've seen for hundreds of years in Ohio being rolled out to divide and create hate and quote.

House Minority Leader Allison Russo also wrote of the parents of 11 year old Aiden Clark, again quoting, it is absolutely unforgivable.

These parents have to stand up in public and beg elected officials and candidates to stop using the tragedy of their dead child as a trope for hate, fear and political score, making this family Aiden's memory, and the entire Springfield community deserve better.

And quote.

And Representative Casey Weinstein on a story about a bomb threat, prompting police response in Springfield on Thursday, wrote, quote, these racist lies have consequences, end quote.

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.org or find us online by searching the State of Ohio show.

You can also hear more from the Bureau on our podcast, The Ohio State House scoop.

Look for it every Monday morning wherever you get your podcasts.

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

We leave you this week with images from the State House's annual observance of the 9/11 anniversary, a display of 2977 flags set up entirely by volunteers.

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

More at porterwright.com.

Porter Wright inspired Every day in 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.