43
Congressional candidates explain their differences
YOUNGSTOWN
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-13th, faces a challenge from Republican Chris DePizzo while U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-6th, meets Democrat Shawna Roberts in the Nov. 6 general election.
Ryan of Howland, 45, is seeking his ninth two-year term in Congress.
DePizzo of Cuyahoga Falls, 31, grew up in Youngstown and left his job as an attorney to challenge Ryan. This is DePizzo’s first time running for elected political office.
Ryan said he’s proven himself to be an effective congressman bringing back more than $200 million in federal funding to the district.
“I have always supported federal investments in Northeast Ohio that would improve the education of our children and provide economic incentives to expand job creation in our region,” he said. “I have also worked to ensure a level playing field for American workers by supporting currency reform and opposing trade agreements that take away good-paying jobs.”
But DePizzo said during Ryan’s nearly 16 years in Congress, “our population has declined and our workers’ wages and benefits have stagnated – all the while the rest of the state and the country have seen economic improvements and an uptick in jobs. While Tim Ryan has voted time and again with the Washington establishment – against the best interests of the folks in this district and against the best interests of the manufacturing and small business sectors – I will be a voice for this district.”
Ryan said he has worked in a bipartisan manner, and compliments President Donald Trump, a Republican, when he does a good job, such as his work to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
If DePizzo is elected, Ryan said, he would be “a back bencher” who wouldn’t be positioned to help the district.
Ryan said he’s on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, and has helped position the area to “create high-quality, good-paying jobs in additive manufacturing and other technologies. But we need to close the skills gap and ensure that our workforce has the tools and training they need to be able to do the jobs of the future.”
DePizzo said, “Government’s role is to create the environment that allows small and medium businesses to grow and succeed. Far too often, we have seen government do just the opposite by creating a complicated tax code, high taxes, unclear and burdensome regulations, and uncertainty of government-mandated programs.”
DePizzo said Ryan is “completely out of step with the district and he’s more in line with national Democrats.” DePizzo said Ryan votes about 95 percent of the time with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Ryan said, however, he was the only Democrat to step up and challenge Pelosi two years ago for the Democratic House leadership position, and is considering doing it again later this year. The only reason, Ryan said, his voting record is similar to Pelosi’s is because “we’re in very polarizing times” and “I don’t agree with a lot of the Republican agenda and neither does she.”
The two will debate at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 1 at LaBrae High School in Leavittsburg.
The five-county 13th District includes most of Mahoning and Trumbull.
In the 6th District, Johnson of Marietta, 63, is seeking his fifth term in Congress. He’s facing Roberts of Belmont, 54, a stay-at-home mother seeking elected office for the first time.
“I’m running for office to help protect and expand on the positive changes that this Congress and President Trump have made to improve the lives of those in the Mahoning Valley and across America,” Johnson said. “I believe I’ve been an effective advocate for the people of eastern and southeastern Ohio in the U.S. House.”
Johnson said “high taxes and Washington red tape were holding back businesses of all sizes. We’re fixing that by passing the Tax Reform and Jobs Act and common-sense regulatory reform.”
Johnson said his 26-plus years in the Air Force and then about a decade in the private sector before he was elected to the U.S. House in 2010 serve him well in Congress.
“Those real-life experiences, that outside-the-beltway perspective, is not common in Washington, and that is unfortunate,” he said.
But Roberts said, “We need somebody who cares about the region and the district. The current representative is more interested in what the people in charge of the Republicans in Washington tell him what to do than the people in the district.”
The unemployment rate and poverty level in the 6th District are higher than the rest of the nation, she said, and the focus should be on developing small businesses through broadband internet, particularly in rural areas.
Johnson, who serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said he has “the platform to effectively influence energy, health care and telecommunication policy, among others, that are so critically important to our part of Ohio.” He also serves on the House Budget Committee.
The 18-county 6th District includes all of Columbiana County and the southern part of Mahoning County.