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The Republican and Democrat in the 6th Congressional District race say they are bipartisan
YOUNGSTOWN
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, a Republican, and Jennifer Garrison, his Democratic opponent, say they are bipartisan while accusing the other of falsely claiming to work well with those across the political aisle.
The two are squaring off in the race for the 6th Congressional District seat that Johnson, of Marietta, has represented for the past four years. Also in the race is Dennis Lambert of Pedro, a Green Party candidate.
The 18-county district includes all of Columbiana County and portions of Mahoning County.
Garrison, of Marietta, said that when she served six years in the state Legislature, “I worked across party lines to achieve results,” and that she has “a history of bringing people together. I think that people should compromise.”
Discussing Johnson, Garrison said voters “do not want a candidate who reinvents himself on a 30-second television commercial every two years. They want to see results.”
Johnson said he often works with Democrats in the U.S. House, and each of the five pieces of legislation he’s sponsored that have been signed into law had strong bipartisan support.
“I work well across the aisle with a number of Democrats,” he said.
The two-term congressman added: “My philosophy is everybody gets a seat at the table.”
Johnson touts his membership in the No Labels Problem Solvers Coalition that brings together Democrats and Republicans as evidence of his bipartisanship. Garrison said that group doesn’t have a “litmus test,” and anyone can join and call themselves bipartisan.
Johnson said he’s opposed his party multiple times in Congress, such as obtaining money for workforce development for the district and funding for the Appalachian Regional Commission even though the GOP has opposed earmarks.
“I’ve got one of the lowest party-line voting records in the Republican delegation — it’s around 94, 95 percent,” Johnson said. “It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I vote for Republican principles of smaller government, repealing the health care law. [But] when common sense demands I oppose my party, I do.”
However, OpenCongress, a website that monitors congressional voting, lists Johnson as voting with the Republican line 96.3 percent of the time since 2013. That places him 16th out of 229 Republicans in the U.S. House voting with his or her party.
As for Garrison, Johnson said she overwhelmingly voted with her party while in the Ohio House.
“She says she’s bipartisan,” he said. “That’s not what her voting record says.”
The most recent campaign finance reports show Johnson has raised $1.77 million to $571,064 for Garrison with 24 percent of the money she’s collected coming from contributions she’s made compared with Johnson’s giving about a half of 1 percent of the money his campaign raised out of his pocket in this election cycle.
Also, the Rothenberg Political Report, a well-respected Washington, D.C., congressional handicapping website, had this district competitive a year ago but no longer considers it to be that.
Johnson and Garrison don’t support Obamacare, but the Republican has voted numerous times to repeal it while the Democrat doesn’t support a repeal.
Garrison opposes Obamacare because it cuts Medicare, but wants Democrats and Republicans to work together to improve the law.
Johnson wants it to be repealed and to replace it with “patient-centered solutions” and input from physicians in rewriting the bill.
Garrison’s top priorities, if elected, include encouraging American companies to keep their headquarters and jobs in this country, and working with local leaders on infrastructure projects.
Garrison served three two-year terms in the Ohio House, the last term ending in 2010. After that, Garrison, an attorney, formed the Southeastern Ohio Landowners Association and negotiated 14 oil and gas group transactions on more than 80,000 acres in eastern Ohio, bringing in about $300 million to landowners.
Johnson is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, with 26 years in that branch of the military, and later served as chief information officer for Stoneridge Inc., a global manufacturer of electronic components for the transportation industry, based in Warren. In 2010, Johnson, running for elected office for the first time, defeated two-term U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson, a Democrat, and beat Wilson, who has since died, in a 2012 rematch.
Johnson’s top priorities, if re-elected, are to get the federal government to live within a budget and continue to advocate against the “war on coal.”
The platform for Lambert, who works for a military veterans resource center, includes employment for every willing American at wages to support their families, improving benefits for military veterans and protecting the environment.