By Okon Ekpenyong

Monday, October 12, 2020, the Make American Great Again Campaign tour landed in Columbus, Ohio! Vice President Mike Pence was the guest speaker. Before coming to the stage, Ohio’s 12th congressional candidate and incumbent, Troy Balderson, introduced him.

Former Buckeye Cardale Jones, who led Ohio State University to the 2015 Sugar Bowl and College Football Playoff National Champion, received warm applause from the crowds after being mentioned by Vice President Pence.

Pence didn’t hold back throughout his speech, saying how proud he was that the Big-Ten football has resumed, and kept shouting OH-as the crowds responded with IO.

However, Jones stated on his twitter page that he “attended the event to support a local business and has no political affiliation.”

The vice president focused his attention on supporting law enforcement, promising to lead the Coronavirus response team to make Americans Healthy again.

The biggest applause he received was when he mentioned the supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.  In addition to fighting for the Senate to confirm Barrett, the vice president talked a lot about law enforcement.

He delved the need to elect judges on a local and national level that interprets the law, and by doing so, it would create a policy that will help protect the men and women in the uniform.

On the subject of race, Vice President Pence said that no other president has done more for the African American community than Trump’s.

“Since day one, President Trump has fought tirelessly for the American people, but it is now the time for the American people to fight harder to re-elect President,” Pence said.

Pence took a shot at Columbus Andrew Ginther for removing the Columbus statue, especially since Monday, October 12, was Columbus’s day.

However, one would have expected Vice President Mike Pence spoke more about reuniting the country, but sadly he didn’t. He also failed to talk about the importance of why people should wear a mask to stop the spread of the coronavirus, especially since he’s the head of the coronavirus task force.

There were several Trump/Pence supporters wearing “Cops For Trump” shirts and hats.

“The radical left, including the Democrat party, wishes to dismantle, demolish, and defund the police, but we are voting for Trump to put an end to that,” few supporters interviewed echoed.

It seems that the State of Ohio is one of the roads that lead to the Whitehouse.  Pence’s last visit to Ohio would be at the Muskingum County Fairgrounds on Wednesday, October 16, in Zanesville.

“What an incredible Columbus Day in Columbus, Ohio! Vice President Mike Pence appeared for a Make America Great Again Rally! Great weather, great friends, and appearances by some very awesome friends”, a supporter, Don Roberts said.

At least four protesters briefly interrupted Pence’s speech but were quickly removed by security personnel. Minor protesters stood outside of the Nicolas Savko and Sons corporate headquarter to protest the vice-president visit.

By Sierra Comer

The campus of John Hay High School would typically not have been a campaign ground for any candidate at this year’s elections, was it not the venue for one of the presidential debates. Even Ohio House Representative Juanita Brent got there by the mere chance of it.

Like any other ambitious electoral competitor, she welcomed this golden opportunity to discuss her hopes of reelection and plan for Ohio House District 12. This, she would gladly do, to any visitor to the Biden and Harris tent, including Journalists who had shown up in Cleveland for the much-awaited debacle.

This year, Brent’s campaign trail is different, determined to a more considerable extent by the COVID-19 pandemic. “My campaign has relied on phone banking and social media, and no-contact literature drop-off to reach out to her voters,” Representative Brent told Journalists.

“Once re-elected, I will make local businesses in the Cleveland area receive Personal Protection Equipment in a bid to protect workers from the Coronavirus, now known to be the stumbling block on our economy,” she promised.

According to the aspiring legislator, Joe Biden is the United States leader during such a crisis.

“He has demonstrated honesty, integrity, and exceptional leadership tendencies, which are clear indications that he will pull the country out of COVID-19,” Brent said confidently.

Like Representative Brent, who sees Joe Biden as the means to the end of the current health scare, Amber Miller, a syndicate worker from the steel sector, believes the Democratic candidate is the right man for the country this time.

Miller, who was in Cleveland support Biden, under the banner of Steelworkers, a labor union organization from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan, said she was in total support of the latter’s plan to ensure that all workers have access to Personal Protective Equipment.

“Our Union had asked Joe Biden and Donald Trump to complete and return their endorsements forms and return to us, but only Biden did,” she revealed. This, according to Miller, this is an added reason why they think the Democratic candidate is much more severe than his opponent.

As with other political activism outfits, this year’s activities have been different due to the COVID-19. “We have had to work with phones and written material which we drop off at a place to reach out to supporters,” Miller said further: “Our Union has demonstrated its support for the Democratic list by projecting Biden-Harris logos on buildings.”

Many other Biden campaign volunteers thronged the John Hay High School campus and could be seen serving free yard signs and T-shirts.