Ohio State Rep. Stoltzfus speaks about his campaign for Congress

State Rep. Reggie Stoltzfus spoke with Washington County Commissioners Wednesday about his campaign for the Ohio 6th Congressional District and his plans for the nation, Ohio, and the local area.

Stoltzfus is the State Representative for Ohio House District 50, which includes portions of Stark County. He is a Republican from southeastern Stark County, and is running for the seat that will be left empty by Rep. Bill Johnson's resignation to become president of Youngstown State University.

Johnson originally announced he would resign in February or early March. On Tuesday he submitted a letter of resignation to Gov. Mike DeWine and House Speaker Mike Johnson stating he will resign Jan. 21.

Stoltzfus said he has just shy of $300,000 in his campaign fund so far. He decided to run for Congress based on issues he has seen at the national level.

"The things I see at the national level happening are rising debt. I just heard today that it's surpassed $34 trillion. We don't have a balanced budget at the national level and we as citizens are all expected to have a balanced bank account, right? We're supposed to pay our taxes. We're supposed to have our houses in order, but yet our federal government does not," he said.

Right now U.S. mandatory spending and debt are more than what the country brings in in taxes. Stoltzfus thinks the way to solve the national debt issue is to reform mandatory spending so that the country can have a balanced budget.

Stoltzfus never thought he would run for Congress.

"When Bill Johnson announced his retirement, that piqued my interest. And then, to be quite frank, when another opponent got into the race, who is very liberal, that sealed the deal for me that I need to be the next Congressman if nobody else is going to step up that's conservative," he said about his decision to run.

So far five candidates have filed for the Ohio 6th Congressional District seat. The three Republican candidates are second-term State Sen. Michael Rulli of Salem, first-time candidate and chiropractor Rick Tsai of East Palestine, and three-term state senator Stoltzfus.The two Democratic candidates are failed 2022 Democratic primary candidate Michael L. Kripchak of Youngstown and marijuana dispensary owner Rylan Z. Finzer of Bedford Heights.

Stoltzfus said of his opponents, "There's a gentleman who is not currently an elected official, I don't know if he's going to run much of a race. And then there's another gentleman from the Youngstown area, his name's Michael Rulli. He's a state senator. When it comes to voting records I'm much more conservative than he is. When it comes to social issues he's a flaming liberal and I'm a conservative."

According to Stultzfus, the people of the 6th District want a conservative and his voting record shows that he is a conservative.

"They don't want to deal with the nonsense of having men in women's restrooms, in their locker rooms, on their sports teams, in their domestic violence shelters. It just doesn't fly with the people of the 6th District," he said.

If he wins, Stoltzfus is looking forward to working with the Washington County Commissioners and working through any issues they have and helping them get funds for projects they want to complete.

Some of the projects he would like to help with are getting a sewer line and natural gas line for the county to help with industry.

The sewer line Stoltzfus is referring to is the sewer line for Ohio 7 South. That area is the industrial corridor that includes Eramet and other businesses, according to Commissioner James Booth. None of the businesses have a sewer. Instead they have to put in their own package plant, Booth said.

According to the EPA, a package plant is a pre-manufactured treatment facility used to treat wastewater in small communities or on individual properties.

Booth said businesses look at a checklist of things when they want to come to an area, including centralized sewer, natural gas, broadband, etc.

"Centralized sewer for industry is key," he said.

Stoltzfus believes Ohio and the U.S. need to be energy independent. In order to do this, he wants to eliminate as many barriers as he can for getting natural gas and oil out of the ground, he said.

U.S. manufacturers have left because of the country's lack of energy.

"If we are energy independent manufacturers will come back to Ohio, to the U.S.," he said.

"We're gonna have jobs for everybody. Our communities will be stronger. We're gonna have better schools," Stoltzfus said about bringing manufacturers back.

The barrier to all of this is permitting. If he wins, he wants to work with his colleagues in Congress to pass legislation to streamline permitting, Stoltzfus said.

Commissioner Charlie Schilling said he wants a candidate in the Congressional seat that the commission will be able to work with.

"We have a multitude of projects that we're seeking funding for. I think when you look at Washington County as a whole we have a lot of opportunity here considering we have the most Ohio River frontage within the state. We have sites that can be ready for manufacturing and we have some real robust technology right here within our current workforce in our current industry, so you know there's an abundance of opportunities," Schilling said.