Volunteer/Community Service
Aside from my activities with the Libertarian Party of Ohio, I have been volunteering for Rank the Vote Ohio since 2023. Rank the Vote Ohio educates citizens about the benefits of replacing our current election process with ranked choice voting.
Gerrymandering has made Congress into a geometry game, not self-government; House delegations do not reflect voters' party preferences. This, and the spoiler effect enforcing a two-party system, have made incumbents, and thus government, powerful and unaccountable.
For U.S. House elections, I propose replacing single-seat plurality districts with proportional representation within each state (similar to Swiss federal elections). Voters would choose a party (or alliance), and seats would be allocated proportionally to vote share and filled from party lists (set by primaries or party officers). In this model, voters can express honest preferences precisely, and all votes matter.
Barring this, I would strongly support anti-gerrymandering laws and ranked choice voting for federal elections.
Recent decades' economic growth and innovations have not lowered the cost of living, with the gains lost to rising rent, home prices, and medical bills. Rent-income ratios top 30%; house price/median income has nearly doubled from 1980.
This stems almost entirely from laws banning high-density housing, and good use of existing homes, where demand exists. Single-family zoning, parking mandates, lot size minima, and similar block spare-room rentals, duplexes, apartment buildings, and efficient urban land use. Federal policies should incentivize repealing these anti-housing laws.
Privately funded health care (such as cosmetic procedures) has grown cheaper, yet government-subsidized care has become far more expensive. Market-based reforms can cut costs; FDA drug approval costs are an outrage.
Our current electoral system incentivizes pandering to local extremists rather than building consensus around real solutions.
By eliminating single-member districts, and thus making every voter in a Representative's state relevant to re-election, my proposed electoral reform would encourage parties to speak to every voter instead of relying on a tribalistic base. Proportional representation allows smaller parties to win representation (directly or through electoral alliances), which forces coalition-building. Parties characterized by bad behavior and abusive, hyperbolic rhetoric would alienate voters and potential partners and lose power.
Ranked choice voting for Senators would have similar benefits due to the need to appeal for lower-preference votes to assemble a majority.
Since 2001, American undeclared wars have killed millions, cost trillions, and achieved very little. This Iran conflict has no realistic path to victory, destabilizes the region, offers zero benefit to Americans, and risks escalation against nuclear-armed Russia. Israelis should fund Israeli wars.
Congress must reclaim its constitutional powers over foreign policy. Allowing Presidents to trigger armed conflicts unilaterally, including by using nuclear weapons against nuclear-armed countries, is extremely dangerous.
The USA should pursue free trade with all, unilaterally lowering tariffs and barriers, except to deter pollution. Alliances, if any, should be strictly defensive. Terrorism is a law-enforcement matter; military force against it is like using a sledgehammer as a flyswatter.
Most valid objections to immigration actually arise from problems it exacerbates from state interference with the free market. This allows private capture of the value of immigrant labor and shifts its costs to those workers and others. For example, because H1-B visas are for a specific job, they give employers coercive power absent from a free market, leading them to use H1-Bs rather than hire Americans.
All people willing & able to support themselves without government financial assistance should be welcomed. Monetary entry deposits, refundable on exit (funds which currently go to smugglers), would be a good market-based way to ensure that immigrants pay for any harm they cause. Government need not judge whether a given person is an asset to our society; the market can do it far better.
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Training and Experience
20 years as an educator, 10 years as a member of the City and Regional Planning faculty at The Ohio State University
Volunteer/Community Service
Board member, Columbus Landmarks Foundation (architectural and cultural preservation). Board member, Bikes for All People. Volunteer, Welcome Home for Life (prison ministry).
First, I will seek to reverse any draconian Voter ID laws that should pass, including the so-called "SAVE America Act" which was-as I type this-passed by the House and currently being debated in the Senate. Conversely, we need to do a better job of enfranchising eligible voters. Currently the United States lags behind most of the industrialized world in terms of voter turnout. We can fix this.
Second, I would seek to organize a national campaign to amend the U.S. Constitution to reverse the absurd ruling Citizens United and the idea that corporations are people when it comes to political participation and that money is speech. We must abandon the idea of one dollar, one vote and return to a system of one person, one vote.
Third, I would enthusiastically support ranked-choice voting.
America's living wage crisis is a scourge on our nation. As the wealthiest society in the history of humankind, it is offensive that tens of millions of working families struggle to make ends meet each month. It doesn't have to be this way. We can build an economy where one job is enough to thrive. By tackling big-ticket items that strain family finances each month, we could easily put $1,000/month back in the pockets of working families.
-Health Care: Cut the cost of private health insurance in half and offer all working families a public option.
-Double the rate of starter-home construction through federal incentives.
-Bring the cost of childcare under control so it isn't a second mortgage.
-Support those who care for young kids, aging parents, or a disabled member of the family.
The level of vitriol in American politics did not rise up by accident. A string of powerful forces have culminated in the present crisis of American democracy and our sense of unity.
First, the corporatization of our news media--driven by Wall Street mergers and deregulation that ended the FCC Fairness Doctrine-- transformed political news into a for-profit circus.
Second, pervasive gerrymandering under Democrats and Republicans has increased the incentives of politicians in political primaries to move towards the extreme.
Finally, and fundamentally, the rising income inequality that resulted from Reagan's economic reforms has provoked reasonable anger and frustration with government and democracy. Only by restoring economic hope can we rebuild trust in democratic institutions.
The United States must stop forcing democracy through the barrel of a gun. Our government should take no public position on who the rightful or legitimate government of a foreign country ought to be.
At the same time, the U.S. must vigorously defend international law, including the protection of civilians and the defense of international borders. If a country threatens the lives of civilians internally or across national borders, it is our responsibility to join the community of nations in a multi-lateral response. If one country threatens the territorial sovereignty of another, the United States must again join in an international response to restore international order.
Recent events in the Middle East, including the genocide in Gaza and the war in Iran, betray this foreign policy.
The United States is in urgent need of comprehensive immigration reform. The existence of 15 million undocumented residents undermines both the rule of law and the rights and security of the undocumented.
The barbaric, unconstitutional, and treasonous actions of federal ICE agents does not represent a path towards restoring the rule of law. These actions represent a sick and twisted attempt by the current administration to deflect attention from the real culprits of the present economic malaise--corporate monopolies, corrupt politicians distorting our tax code, and attacks on core labor rights such as collective bargaining.
Training and Experience
4-term Ohio State Representative, 29 years in the Army Reserve JAG Corps, including two combat tours in Afghanistan and former union teacher.
Volunteer/Community Service
Co-Chair of Ohio Veterans Caucus, Hilltop Kiwanis Club, and founder of Operation Legal Help Ohio.
As a veteran, I have put my life on the life to support and defend our democracy which includes the right to fair and safe elections. I support protecting early voting, increasing early vote locations, and making sure polling places are properly staffed. Ohioans have spoken loudly on gerrymandering twice and been ignored twice. I'll fight for federal standards that take redistricting out of partisan hands for good.
Costs are increasing while Ohioans work twice as hard to keep up. We need a representative who will fight for policies that lower everyday expenses such as healthcare, housing and groceries. I'll work to expand the child tax credit and fight for more resources to support our teachers and childcare workers. I’ll support programs for first time home buyers and public service employees like teachers, firefighters, and first responders. And, it's beyond time we pass the PRO Act to guarantee workers always have the right to organize.
I've sat across the table from people I disagreed with my entire career as a teacher, as a lawyer and as State Representative but I've seen what can happens when you get people to come together. Washington needs to spend less time thinking about party identification and more on how we can work together to make life better in Ohio and beyond. I've been able to work across the aisle during my time as a State Representative to get things done and I plan on bringing that same mission to Congress.
I served as a Colonel in the US Army JAG Corps for 29 years with multiple tours overseas and two deployments to Afghanistan and I've advised the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs at the Pentagon. I've seen firsthand what strong American leadership looks like, and what happens when it fails. I support our NATO alliances without hesitation and believe America is always stronger when we lead with both strength and diplomacy. But I also know the true cost of war. I'll never vote to put our men and women in harm's way without exhausting every alternative first.
Our immigration system is broken and we need to fix it. This includes passing real, bipartisan immigration reform and demanding accountability for federal immigration agents. We need a system that treats people with dignity all while keeping our community safe. I believe we can have a system that does both and I will fight in Congress to make it happen.
Training and Experience
Military, Metrology, Maintenance, Unity, 3D systems
Volunteer/Community Service
general activism, and community engagement
Make voting, and participating in elections as accessible as possible to Americans, while ensuring the integrity of both systems.
Universal Voter Registration at age 18, with annual audits of address changes, including moving into or out of state would be the easiest win
Election reform has to integrate fair voting systems, access to the ballot (Most states give far too much favor to parties vs independents races that are prohibitive with signature gathering. In many cases 50 signatures vs thousands)
Immediately address money in politics, and the heavy handed influence of foreign PAC's such as AIPAC.
Nominally, ensure that corporations are unable to integrate themselves in public facing markets, such as homeownership, utilities, and public services.
Simply: Corporations shouldn't own ANY residential property, public utilities should be owned, operated, and maintained by public entities, and ideally health care, education, and infrastructure return to the providence of the public sector
Improved ability of constituents to legally recall their elected officials, and improved access to the political domain by non-partisan, or third party candidate hopefuls
I am not an Isolationist, but we should never be SEEKING war with another country when Diplomatic options exist. National Security is involving to include: removing our dependence on fossil fuels, updating our infrastructure, and removing Private Interests from government decision making.
AI Tech giants are literally integrating with US Military systems, and murdering innocents in Iran, and we are at war with Iran despite Iran being willing (at the time) to sign a treaty that would have functionally ended its nuclear program as a whole.
War crimes, and human rights abuses are not limited to those outside of our borders. Our own leaders who commit them should be held equally accountable under the law.
Immigration has been a foundational part of our nation's building, and growth. Immigration should be streamlined, and all promises made to immigrants that were revoked by this administration should be honored, with interest.
ICE should be abolished, dismantled, and members prosecuted for crimes against humanity. Detention Centers need to be dismantled as the humanitarian crisis that they present, and all associated personnel responsible for their construction, and approval need to be prosecuted for Crimes Against Humanity.
