Families across Ohio are hurting from the rising costs all around us. We have rising property taxes, rising healthcare expenses, childcare costs, and costs of home utilities. We need our elected officials to find creative solutions to help them make ends meet and have the opportunities to make a better life here.

And we need to do it in ways that are fiscally responsible for taxpayer dollars. We have to make sure hard earned dollars are being spent appropriately to prioritize helping working families in Ohio.

The young people in the state need to feel optimistic about the future in Ohio and have opportunities that will keep them here as adults. People in our district need to feel heard and that representatives are working on solutions to the challenges that families face. And we need to prepare for the future growth of our senior population and keep those expenses down to help keep them in their homes as long as possible.

Ohio’s legislature has repeatedly reduced the state share of funding for public K-12 education, forcing our kids, teachers, and school communities to do more with less, even as the state spends billions on private tuition vouchers. To meet budgets, school districts then must rely on increased local property taxes to fill the gap left by state cuts. Ohio’s legislature has repeatedly reduced the state share of public school funding, from a high of 47% in 1999 down to an estimated 32.2% for 2027. This reduction in state share means that property tax revenue accounts for an increasingly large portion of Ohio public school funding.

A 2025 Ohio state court ruled the universal voucher program unconstitutional for diverting public funds to private schools. We need to find solutions to fund public schools to levels needed to be successful, and make our voucher program accountable.

The quality of the public education experience should not depend on one’s zip code. We need fair, fully-funded, and safe public schools for all.

The number of Americans reaching age 65 and older will more than double over the next 40 years, reaching 80 million by 2040. And those age 85 and over will be four times the size it is now in the same period of time. Ohioans age 60 and older now make up 25% of the state’s total population and that will continue to grow. We need to ensure Ohio is prepared to support our seniors for this future growth.

Bringing down property taxes and costs of home utilities helps keep seniors in their homes, but we also need to work on transportation and care options and protect Medicaid in Ohio for seniors, as well as for our children. Right now, two out of every three nursing home residents in Ohio rely on Medicaid to pay for their nursing home care.

We need to protect democracy and the rights of all Ohioans – from voting rights and access, to a woman’s right to make decisions on her own healthcare and reproductive rights, and protect rights for the LGBTQ+ community, minorities and immigrants here in our state. 

We need legislators that are making it easier for Ohio citizens to vote, not harder. When Senate Bill 293 was signed into law in 2025, it eliminated the grace period for mail-in ballots to be counted in Ohio. This new law could eliminate thousands of votes sent by people and postmarked before Election Day this coming November.  

We need legislators in our Statehouse who are working to protect rights and help Ohio families, not spending time working to pass laws that are not needed and make it harder for Ohio citizens to vote, or erode our rights.