By Okon Ekpenyong

Ohio U.S Senate Race is one of the hottest races in Ohio and the country this election season. U.S Congress Tim Ryan is favored to advance in the Democratic primary, but that’s genuinely up to the voters. J.D Vance and Josh Mandel battle it out for a chance to move on from the Republican primary. Senator Rob Portman, who declined to run again in 2022, will be succeeded by these candidates. 

Ohio Senate hopeful J.D Vance drew big crowds while Governor hopeful Renacci made his case at (Wesleyan University) at a Townhall event hosted by Republican Network Newsmax. There is no escaping that running a campaign requires boots on the ground, including election day. The primary ballot for May 3rd will include races for Governor, attorney general, auditor of state, secretary of state, treasurer of state, Ohio Supreme Court, congressional races for U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, and judicial and municipal candidates.

Former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, who is running for Governor, and Cheryl Stephens, running for lieutenant governor (Cuyahoga Council Vice President Cheryl), are making their final push in Ohio’s most populous county, Franklin County. The Bandit Pizza and Pairings by Rockmill in Columbus was one of many stops for the lieutenant governor hopeful.

J.D Vance & Jim Renacci (Townhall at Wesleyan University)

On Tuesday, April 19th, at the Chappelear Theater Center located on the Ohio Wesleyan University campus in downtown Delaware, Newsmax host, and town hall moderator Rob Schmitt, interviewed Ohio Republican Governor hopeful Jim Renacci. And on the following day, April 20th, President Trump endorsed U.S Senator candidate J.D Vance also spoke to the Newsmax host about his plans for Ohio.

The New Americans Magazine caught up with Jim Renacci to ask about his plans to reach out to the New American community and minority community.

Jim Renacci

“We are a nation of immigrants in a state, and we welcome the immigrant community. I plan to make sure that we provide that opportunity where people can come here and feel part of a community regardless of their birth country,” Renacci said. 

Renacci formerly served in Congress, representing Ohio’s 16 districts, covering the Cleveland area, mainly Wayne County, part of Greater Akron, and Stark County.

As part of his plans to work with African American leaders, the governor hopeful said that we need to increase mentoring programs in those communities. “I worked with a group of African American leaders in Cleveland while in Congress, putting a mentoring program together. We showed young African Americans all of the resources out there and asked whether they were interested in a career in public service or other sectors”.

“We don’t have enough mentoring programs, and it didn’t cost anything. So, we need to create and bring more non-profits together to work together to provide these mentoring resources to all Ohioans youth,” Renacci said.

On the subject of George Floyd, how he would have reunited the state during a nationwide protest. “We need people to realize that police are there to protect us, the government is there to provide certain things, but they’re not to be overburdening.,” Jenacci once again stresses the importance of funding more mentoring programs that would help build a better relationship with law enforcement and the community as a way to cope with some of the distress during the George Floyd global protest. Instead of answering the question, he concluded that blaming the entire department for one officer’s mistakes is not fair.

When I asked about his plans for Ohio, “I can set it on a path; after that, it will have to be done by putting principles and policies in place and get enacted by the legislature,” Renacci added. 

J.D Vance

President Trump visited Delaware County Fairgrounds on April 23rd and publicly threw in his support for Vance when he brought out the senate hopeful on stage. Vance is a self-proclaimed conservative outsider and New York times bestselling author of Hillbilly Elegy.” Imagine Entertainment eventually turned the book into a movie; an American Director, Ron Howard, directed it, which is now on Netflix.

According to Vance’s explanation of the book, mainstream media often forgets about the war on drugs despite our political differences. An example would be the increased coverage of the Ukraine crisis but less coverage of the situation on the U.S Border. Vance blames the Biden Administration for increasing beef prices and gas when it comes to inflation.

But according to a report by Global Edge, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, labor and supply-chain issues, and when the world was locked down, people were not going to the gas station much. It is merely a vast portion of why gas prices increased globally because gasoline supply is not meeting the current demand.

An eighteen-year-old first-time voter from Delaware asked Vance how he differed from other senate candidates? “Other candidates got invited to participate in this forum with Newsmax, but they declined. Other candidates often read pre-approved scripts prepared by their campaign team, but I do not do that. Vance said it is disrespectful to the voters not to engage with potential voters, and that’s not how I’ve run this campaign,” Vance said. 

In his relationship with Trump, at first, Vance stated that during 2016, he was not a supporter of soon to be president. However, since President Trump kept on his campaign promises and delivered, things quickly changed. Trump told Vance that not many people were on board with his campaign initially, but those converts who defended his campaign vision and saw that it was effective are why he keeps on fighting for the nation.

JD Vance plans to promote more manufacturing jobs in Ohio and work on preventing companies from moving to other states or countries. “It is essential for young fathers and mothers; the children need to see their parents go off to do a job instead of staying home and drawing government checks. We used to be a proud country that made stuff; we’ve got to back there again,” he said.

Crowds for Vance outnumbered the ones for Renacci, but overall, both candidates said enough to impress the conservatives’ voters. Early voting is already underway, and the primary on May 3rd is likely to be rescheduled due to the rejection by the the Ohio State Supreme Court of the submission of the Redistricting Commission.

Voters hoping to catch the entire interview with both candidates of the Ohio Town Hall show with host Rob Schmitt can watch the rebroadcast on Newsmax this weekend.

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