A leading medical group endorses Republican Vivek Ramaswamy for governor over Democrat Amy Acton, a licensed physician. What does this mean for both campaigns? And do endorsements really matter?
Steak 'n Shake is backing Sen. Jon Husted. What does that mean for his campaign?
Plus, Ohio State and three other Ohio colleges received an “F” when it comes to free speech, according to a national ranking.
We're discussing all these topics on this week's Reporter Roundtable.
Guests:
- Sarah Donaldson, reporter, Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau
- Jessie Balmert, state government and politics reporter, The Columbus Dispatch
- Megan Henry, reporter, Ohio Capital Journal
Transcript
This transcript is generated with AI. To ensure its accuracy, review the audio file.
Amy Juravich: Welcome to the All Sides Reporter Roundtable, an hour where we catch up on the political news of last week and preview the week ahead. I'm your host Amy Juravich. Joining us on the Roundtable this week is Sarah Donaldson, reporter for the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau. Welcome back, Sarah.
Sarah Donaldson: Hello, happy dreary Monday.
Amy Juravich: Oh, I know it feels extra dreary. Welcome back, Jesse Balmert, state government and politics reporter for the Columbus Dispatch. Hi, Jesse.
Jessie Balmert: Hi, thanks for having me.
Amy Juravich: And Megan Henry, reporter at the Ohio Capital Journal. Welcome back, Megan.
Jessie Balmert: Thanks, yeah, good morning.
Amy Juravich: So the outcome of the November 3rd election will chart a new course in Ohio for the next four years at least, and the U.S. Senate race could determine control of that chamber. So no one is sitting this one out. It is not a slow time right now. What does it mean when candidates land this endorsement or that endorsement? How much stock should voters really put in them? Do voters care about endorsements? Sarah, there were some raised eyebrows last week when Dr. Amy Acton, a licensed physician, did not win the endorsement of a leading medical group in the state. Tell us more about the endorsements made by a political action committee for the Ohio State Medical Association.
Sarah Donaldson: Yeah, so the OSMA is the largest association of physicians in the state, and that's their political arm. So this wasn't a vote by the members of the OSM, it was their independent pack, the board of their independent PAC coming together and determining ultimately that they were going endorse Ramaswami. You know, of course, as you mentioned, Acton is a licensed physician. So I think it raised some eyebrows among some folks that she didn't get that endorsement. But the president of the OSMA, Gary Katz, he wrote a letter to members of the Osma because there are more than 10,000 members. I think there's like 20,000 of the O-S-M-A. And says that he knows that doctors have different political perspectives and that he had conversations with Ramaswamy and also, of course, his wife, who is also a doctor. Ramasawamy's wife is a doctor, yeah. So talking about cutting red tape, cutting insurance barriers, government barriers to accessing health care, different things like that. And he thinks that's why the PAC may have gone that way.
Amy Juravich: So it wasn't just like this one director making the decision. It was like a whole board of people. It was a board. It was a board.
Donaldson: That's right. And I should note, there is a group of OSMA members who have circulated a letter. One of the women leading that is a pediatrician up in Cleveland. That's the group's doctors for Dr. Amy Acton. So they've signed a letter saying that they support Acton
Juravich: We have, yeah, we have a little bit of sound. 1,000 doctors wrote a letter opposing the endorsement. I'm going to play some audio from one of the doctors you quoted in your story, Sarah, Dr. Lauren Bean. And then you can elaborate on the opposition. Let's listen.
Dr. Lauren Bean: You know, the people who have signed our letter and myself, all believe very strongly that Dr. Amy Acton is a far better candidate for Ohio's governor. And we are concerned that election of Vivek Ramaswamy as governor would be detrimental to our patient's ability to access healthcare.
Juravich: Okay, so a thousand doctors signed that letter, but you said, did you say 10,000 or 20,000, I remember? I think it's some, so the numbers that I have, and I'll tell.
Donaldson: The numbers that I have, and I'll tell you loosely, they're, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, there are about 41,000 licensed physicians in Ohio.
Okay. That being said, how many of them are actively practicing? How many of are a member of OSMA? It's tougher to say. Okay. I think I saw numbers in the 10 to 20,000s as members of OSM, so a thousand's a number. It's not every single doctor in the state signing that letter, but certainly a sizable number. And I will say that she being pointed to her concern with comments that Rama Swami made in 2024 calling Medicaid and Medicare a mistake. So that was some of her opposition and she has been involved in other movements, specifically Physicians for Reproductive Rights. That was a group that was supportive of the issue one amendment to kind of open up abortion rights in the state that of course passed and was put in the constitution. So she's been politically vocal before and has certainly organized some of these doctors. But you know, the OSMA looks at a range of issues that affect not necessarily patients. I mean, some of it is patient outcomes, but a lot more so is what's affecting physicians and what's effecting the insurance landscape because that's a huge piece in healthcare too.
Juravich: And that's where they say Ramaswamy is going to come down in a way that they appreciate more. Is that what you mean? I mean, that's kind of, again, I- Ramasvamy's going to regulate insurance and-
Donaldson: Yeah, I looked more at what the OSMA said less what the actual PAC said about this is why we endorsed Ramaswami, but in Katz's letter that's some of what he wrote about.
Juravich: Okay, and then Megan or Jesse, did the acting campaign respond to this to say anything about a medical group not endorsing a medical doctor?
Megan Henry: Yeah, I mean, the Acton campaign says that they would still be the better approach for like medical access in the state of Ohio, as you would expect. I think this endorsement kind of caught a lot of people's eyes because Acton is a doctor. This is the largest group of physicians in this state. It's the political action committee of this group, as Sarah like very well laid out. And so. It's one of those things that comes up a lot. You saw like the Firefighters Association endorsing Acton, whereas some individual firefighters would prefer Ramaswami. You see at the national level, labor unions have typically sided with Democrats, but maybe union membership is more split 50-50. And so whenever you have an organization endorsing, there's going to be members who disagree with that.
Juravich: And I mean, this question can be for anyone. Does an endorsement matter? Does the average voter care what the Ohio Medical Association thinks or a labor union thinks? Do endorsements matter?
Donaldson: I don't know if you're gonna bring up a story that I think you might bring up that I did last week But if you don't I just want to talk about steak and shake. I guess
Juravich: I mean, we can hold off on it, but no, it's fine. Let's pivot. Yeah. This is the Senate campaign. Yeah. And steak and shake.
Donaldson: I spent a lot of time writing about endorsements last week, which I think as- because I read my lovely colleagues work I think they've been writing about some endorsements too. It's a burger-
Juravich: Why are they entering the U.S. Senate race? Why are they endorsing John Hustead? And does John Husted need steak and shake?
Donaldson: So this is a really good question. And I talked to a political scientist about this. And first, I'll say broadly, I talked with Christopher Devine. He is an associate professor at the University of Dayton. And he contends, as other political science professors who I've talked to, that endorsements matter less and less in the 21st century. It's sometimes a big endorsement, like Taylor Swift. Maybe he does matter to some voters. She's an Ohioan now. I know, but.
Juravich: I wonder if she registered to vote here.
Donaldson: That's a good thing to check. But yeah, so I talked to Divine about this stake and shake endorsement because I was really fascinated. So just to catch listeners up, when Senator Houston and Derek Marion, he's running to unseat Representative Marcy Capter up in Toledo, they were out at the, or I should say down at the Republican convention in Dallas, the midterm convention. And they filmed these videos with Steak and Shake touting an endorsement from the burger chain. Not Ohio. I thought it was Ohio based. It's not even, it's based in Indiana. But basically, Steak& Shake has really embraced the Make America Healthy Again movement, which, you know, maybe you're thinking, okay, they sell burgers. How can they be healthy? However- And milkshakes. And milkshakes, which I do, I will endorse their milkshaves, because I love them.
Juravich: That's the shake part of the shake and shake, but continue.
Donaldson: But they have been cooking their fries in beef tallow instead of seed oil since 2025. I'm not gonna explain to you what the issue is with seed oils, but I know some folks in the Maha movement don't like seed oils. I don't personally have the science behind that.
Juravich: We like beefy french fries, alright.
Donaldson: Yeah, so, you know, they filmed a video with RFK Jr. And, you know, we're clearly like really signing on to the Maha agenda and the Trump administration. But this is certainly a step even further because it is really pretty rare for a corporate company to endorse a candidate like this. You might see small mom and pop businesses in more liberal areas or more conservative areas endorsing candidates. But for a national corporation to wade into politics like this, Divine tells me that, you know, it's- to a point of business calculation, because you run the risk of voters who are maybe liberal, who also like Steak and Shake saying, well, wait a minute, most corporations aren't looking at their customers as Republican or Democrat, they're looking at them as customers. But Steak& Shake has clearly waded into politics, they've really embraced the right. And I think it's a question of, are they bringing more folks on the right in the door? And can kind of do away with the folks on the left who they may who may decide not to go. And again, it's not unheard of. And it's also corporate companies and typically their CEOs donate money to candidates and political parties all the time. That part's not on heard of, but for the brand to be making an endorsement like this, really pretty rare.
Juravich: So, Megan, what do you think? Does the average voter care that steak and shake wants U.S. Senator John Huston in office?
Jessie Balmert: I mean, it's definitely attention grabbing, like seeing it on social media. I think it's got a lot of folks talking and this has attracted even more, uh, interest into an already highly competitive U S Senate race. Um, so as far as do people care, I think kind of interesting, but I don't know, uh if someone is going to decide who they vote on based on this endorsement and to Sarah's point, I saw in your story, how back in 2018, I think, it was Patagonia, the clothing brand endorsed democratic candidates, uh in the Senate race as well.
Donaldson: That was one of the only examples I could find of a big brand like this wading into a political race. Obviously, they fell on the left. Patagonia is outdoorsy and advocates for different climate change issues. It's not a total surprise, but again, it's one thing for a company to advocate for policies on one side or the other. It is another for them to tie themselves to a candidate or a political party.
Henry: I will say the only thing I'd add is it depends on the endorsement. Certainly President Donald Trump's early endorsement of Vivek Ramaswamy cleared that field, was tremendously influential in the Republican GOP race. Endorsements that come with a lot of money, it's going to be an expensive race for both the governor's race and the Senate race. So if you're putting a lot of cash behind it, those endorsements might matter more. But is the average voter like looking up to see if their professional association weighed in one way or the other like probably not
Juravich: Yeah. Well, does the Trump endorsement still matter now? I know it does to some voters. I mean, some voters will just do what Donald Trump says and they will vote the way President Trump tells them to. But are we expecting, you know, come October, is Donald Trump going to be in Ohio, you know a campaigning for a vague Ramaswami or John Husted?
Donaldson: Um, I think that there is a real likelihood that Trump is going to be campaigning for Houston. I don't think that um, it's I don't know that the federal government really cares who's governor in what state. I mean maybe a little bit But Trump has endorsed rama swami and rama Swami i'm sure will be there if trump comes to ohio But this senate race and I don't like I don i don't like polls I really try to avoid polls, but by all metrics, this Senate race seems to be.
Juravich: Very close.
You're listening to All Sides in the Weekly Reporter Roundtable on 89.7 NPR News. Our guests are Sarah Donaldson with the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau, Jesse Ballmerch with the Columbus Dispatch, and Megan Henry with the The Ohio Capitol Journal. Political ads are ramping up big time in the U.S. Senate race between John Husted, Senator, current Senator, and former Senator Sherrod Brown. Is looking to break some records. Jesse, the ad buys current and future will cost more than $200 million, according to a story by your colleague, Haley B. Miller. Jesse, are the ads of any kind considered an effective way to reach voters still?
Henry: Yes, I mean, I don't think they'd be spending, I think Haley said it could get up past 300 million. You don't spend that amount of money when you think it's not gonna work, especially when people are watching, you know, Ohio State, Steelers football, every other sport that's happening this fall. Oh, thanks for the Steelers shout out, look at you, yeah. I'm here to be inclusive of the panel. So yeah, I'm even on like streaming services. I'm being barraged by them right now, which maybe I should. Pay for the addition to get out of that situation. But yeah, I mean, they're trying to define who their opponents are right now trying to drive up the negatives, particularly John Husted and his supporters are trying to remind people of all the ads they saw against Sherrod Brown in 2024. And that kind of information that was already baked in that, you know, led to his defeat. Obviously, a different political environment, but because it was not that long ago, you can just kind of refresh people's memory about what they saw.
Juravich: Mm-hmm, and in the governor's race Rama Swami has far outspent Amy Acton so far much of his advertising is tailored to cast His opponent in a negative light Acton has a smaller budget and is working to try to define herself in ads She has had a couple negative ads more recently Who would you say is winning the ad war in the Governor's race?
Henry: It's hard to say. Ramos-Holmi has had more money from the beginning because he has personal wealth that he can invest. He can loan, I believe it's up to like $30 million at this point to his campaign. But the Acton folks have really waited to spend the bulk of their money and they've had pretty successful fundraising calls in some cases out raising him on like individual contributions. And so they have money to spend in these final months. Is it a problem that they weren't up earlier? I guess we'll see what the results.
Juravich: Wanted to pivot back to this endorsement thing just for one more minute. Last week we did a show about local control and we had the head of the Ohio Municipal League and the head of the ohio township association on and both groups said they met with both candidates but neither group endorses in races. They just underscored the importance of trying to explain the issues to the two candidates and they're two candidates who have never held elective office before. So but is that interesting? I mean maybe from a perspective of an average voter. It matters probably more what your township or your city or your village thinks for who is governor than it does who at stake can shake things or what even the Ohio Medical Association thinks. So it's interesting to me that you have a municipal league and the Ohio Township Association, maybe I guess because they're nonprofit organizations or something, they met with both candidates, explained their issues, but didn't endorse. So any thoughts on that?
Donaldson: Well, I think both of those organizations recognize that either of these people could be governor in whatever circumstances November happens. And one of the first things that this governor will do, one of first consequential things, is put a budget proposal out there because we head into budget season in January and February. So this person's going to take off as having, whether it's Acton, whether it's Rameswamy, having never really served in elected office and they're going to have to put a budget proposal out there that affects townships and cities. So I think that is, you know, setting that groundwork with both of them, knowing that one of them is going to end up in the governor's office. So just.
Juravich: Is important to have the ear of both candidates but not pick one?
Henry: Yeah, I think there's a real risk and reward to endorsements. If you pick the winner, then you are the person who is there from the beginning. You are there all along. They're going to listen to you perhaps more than they would have edgewise. But if you pick, the loser, you know, are you on the wrong side of the new governor who has the purse strings at least to start the conversation on the budget?
Juravich: Well, I mean, I don't I don t know when the last time was we had a governor who didn't rise up through the elected ranks and never held an elected office before. Do we know? Do you know? I'm not good at remembering things off the top of my head like that. You know, I should have...
Henry: I should have looked it up, but it's been quite a long time. Obviously, we're coming off of Governor Mike DeWine, who has perhaps the longest. He's held every office. So it'll be a tremendous change one way or the other.
Juravich: So he, I mean, DeWine knows how to put a budget together. He knows how the hire the right people to put the budget together, but neither Ramaswami nor Acton would, right, I guess.
Henry: Not in that same way. I mean, I think Ramaswamy would say, he's led businesses, businesses have budgets, et cetera. You also have to hire the right people. Amy Acton was a part of Mike DeWine's administration and so would have had to participate at least in the budgeting process for the Department of Health. Yeah, both of them will have a bit of a learning curve.
Donaldson: And I should note too, Ramaswami's Lieutenant Governor is the current Senate President, Rob McCauley, who has extensive legislative experience and who has certainly gone through the budgeting process.
Juravich: So Rob McCauley knows about budgets. Does David Pepper, Amy Acton's running mate, know about budgets too?
Donaldson: He knows about political budgets, because I mean, I think that was where he was an asset in this race, but less so in elected office, I'd venture to guess.
Juravich: One more thing before we completely pivot to the break, we need to take a break, but there's a libertarian candidate in this race too, Don Kisick, and he wants to do a debate. We talked last week and the week before about Vivek Ramaswamy wanting to do debates, Amy Acton's campaign says they're not going to debate. Sarah, your colleague, Jo Ingles, talked with Kisik about that and what role he could play as a third party candidate. A potential spoiler, maybe taking votes away from either Ramasawamy or Acton. Let's listen.
Jo Ingles: As far as playing spoiler goes, honestly, the whole notion of a stolen vote or a spoiler, I can't steal what neither of those candidates have earned. And they have not earned a lot of people's votes.
Juravich: So what do you make of that, Sarah? I mean, I know your colleague interviewed him, Joe Ingalls did, but can he be a spoiler? Are Libertarian candidates in Ohio election spoilers?
Donaldson: Well, and I think it's a really, really interesting point because he's, I mean, you know, it's tough to say whether the folks who do ultimately end up voting for him, whether they would have voted for Ramaswami or Acton or just not voted. But I will say, typically, libertarian candidates do siphon votes from Republican candidates when there is a libertarian candidate on the ballot, and it's often a question of, A, turnout, and B, you how. Big the margin is. So, if Ramaswamy ultimately does much better than Amy Acton, I don't know that it's a spoiler role, but you know, if it's really close race and Ramasvamy's right on the edge, it could certainly impact the race. I mean, it's, you know. There's a candidate on the ballot with an L by their name who otherwise, like, if he wasn't there, the votes wouldn't go So I mean I'm not explaining it super well, but he does have a point in that he's likely going to earn votes that neither other candidate would have earned. There are.
Juravich: He's not calling himself a spoiler. He's calling him a vote earner. Yeah, so do you Jesse? Do you think that there will be a debate between Ramaswamy and Kissick?
Henry: You know, I'd be very surprised, but Kissick is making his point that if Ramaswamy really wants to debate, there's a candidate there to debate him. And, and on the other side of Amy Acton doesn't like the way Ramasvamy has run his campaign. There's a candidates who has not attacked her really in any meaningful way. So you got an option there. The other thing that's kind of interesting about libertarians generally is to stay on the ballot, to have their names on the ballot, they need to hit a certain threshold of statewide votes. So. The statewide candidates are running certainly to give voters a choice, but they're also running so that their candidates for city council and county commissioner can have their names on the ballot.
Juravich: Okay, so if he doesn't get a certain percentage, libertarians wouldn't be a party or something like that?
Henry: They could potentially lose minor party status. This goes all the way back to like John Kasich in the 2014 elections, but there's an interesting history there.
Donaldson: Well, and on the flip side, you've got a candidate who's running as an independent in the US Senate race, but he brands himself as a democratic socialist. But they're not on the ballot. So he's on the ballots as an Independent. Greg Levy is the candidate.
Juravich: Oh, okay. Is he listed as an independent or does he have to be written in?
Donaldson: He's listed as an independent. No, he doesn't have to be written in. He's on the ballot, to my understanding, but he's not registered with a party like the Libertarian Party, which is a party in Ohio.
Juravich: Coming up, we're going to talk about education issues. Why Ohio State and three other universities earned the grade of an F for free speech. Plus, the candidates for governor have a lot to say on education policy. That is when the Reporter Roundtable from All Sides continues on 89.7 NPR News.
Juravich:
You're listening to All Sides in the Weekly Reporter Roundtable, an hour where we talk all things Ohio politics. I'm your host, Amy Juravich. Still with us, we have Jesse Balmert, state government and politics reporter for the Columbus Dispatch, Megan Henry, reporter for The Ohio Capital Journal, and Sarah Donaldson, reporter for the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau. To continue our conversation about the governor's race, this time we'll turn to education. And Megan, I was struck by your story about where the candidates stand on education issues because neither major party candidate responded to your questions. Democratic candidate Amy Acton sent a statement. Tell me what that said and then did you hear from Ramaswami's campaign at all? Did you? Yeah.
Jessie Balmert: I did not hear from Ramasamy's campaign, but I was able to look at what his website says as far as his policy and look at previous interviews he's done with other news outlets. But Amy Acton's campaign basically, they did not answer my specific questions when I asked her questions about her education policy that she has put out on her website as well. But she basically said how, quote, growing up in Youngstown, public schools and libraries save Dr. Acton life. Dr. Acton knows firsthand how important it is to invest in Ohio's public education system to ensure that all our kids get a great education. Fully funding and protecting Ohio's public schools benefit all of us.
Juravich: Okay, so to write your story, you use that statement, you use things from her website, and then for Rama Swamy's campaign, you had some clarifying questions, but they didn't respond. Is that what happened? Correct. Yes. Okay. And then libertarian candidate for Governor Don Kisick's running mate replied to your email. Is that right? His name is James Mills.
Jessie Balmert: Yes. Yes. He gave he answered. Yeah, I will say he answered all of our questions with lots of information for each point.
Juravich: Okay, so I mean have you found and other reporters maybe at your outlet have you found that campaigns are generally responsive or are they picking and choosing who they answer? I mean tell me about you know the fact that you were trying to write the story and you didn't hear back.
Jessie Balmert: Yeah, I will say my outlet, The Ohio Capital Journal, we usually have a hard time hearing back from Republicans, so I was not necessarily surprised that Ramoswami's campaign did not get back to me. I know that I see, in Jesse's story of the Columbus Dispatch, I see sometimes that they do indeed get back you, so that's kind of interesting.
Juravich: Jesse, have you had trouble from both campaigns responding to media questions? I mean, what are you hearing from colleagues?
Henry: You know, I mean, it depends on the day and it depends on the candidate and so forth. It depends on question. And it depends on the question. I do think it's, you know, always they have a variety of events throughout the state. And so when in person, like Rama Swami took a few questions at the fair, Amy Acton took a few questions at a recent endorsement with like the Ohio Patrolman's Benevolence Association and so fourth. That is helpful to be able to ask those kind of like, unprompted, unscripted, not-going-through-the-press folks.
Juravich: Sarah, I know that your colleague Karen Kastler did get sit down interviews with both Acton and Ramaswami. Oh, bless you. Okay. I'm so sorry. That's okay. So, I mean, so that's, I don't know if you've tried to reach out to them or is it better to find them in these little gaggle situations after an event?
Donaldson: Well, they obviously both sat for an interview with Karen, which I was grateful for and glad for because neither of these candidates are going to debate, it sounds like. And so that is another opportunity for voters to hear unscripted questions asked of them or their unscripting answers to the questions that are asked of. You know, it just kind of like they said, it depends. I mean, neither of the candidates as much. I only really have experience covering one governor, and that's Governor Mike DeWine, who makes himself very available to the media. And that has been the case. These candidates both answer a couple of questions from the press, and then they move on. They don't answer every question that every reporter in a gaggle asks of them. Sometimes they have events, and they do not answer any questions. It's just tough to say, and it's not necessarily representative of what either of them we'll be like. When they are in office and in front of the press because it's different stakes, but neither, it's not like either candidate is running to be in front of the media.
Juravich: Yeah.
Donaldson: At the time.
Juravich: So I guess Megan if you would have went to an event and like shouted an education question at them Do you think they would have answered?
Jessie Balmert: Probably. Okay. And I will say Ramaswamy, I believe, is doing the Columbus Metropolitan Club next month as well. So, yeah, another opportunity for him to be in front of the media.
Juravich: Well, your story highlights a few education items. We don't have time to go through them all, but is there any, like, contrasting issues between the two candidates, Ramaswami and Acton, that you'd like to highlight, where they really do differ on an education topic?
Jessie Balmert: Yeah, I'd say unsurprisingly, private school vouchers is an issue that they very much have different differing opinions on. Ramaswamy, Ohio has nearly universal school voucher at this point and Ramasawamy is in favor of even expanding that even more so. He went to a private high school, he went to public school beforehand, but private high school in Ohio down near Cincinnati, Amy Acton, she's not saying that she would like do away with them, but she said that she'd want to bring reform, what that would like. Remains to be seen if she gets elected, but it sounds like she would want to do something potentially with school vouchers.
Juravich: And also both of them have commented on the fair school funding plan. I believe Acton said she would try to fully implement the plan, right?
Jessie Balmert: Correct, yes, that's what she has said since that plan was not fully funded during the most recent budget cycle.
Juravich: Okay. And then I believe it's a newish ad. I saw an ad basically attacking Ramaswamy for his comments he's made about teachers unions. Did you write about that too? Their teacher pet? No? Okay.
Jessie Balmert: Do not worry about that, but I will say that Amy Acton was endorsed by both teachers unions in Ohio.
Juravich: In your investigation of, of ads, did you see, but Jesse, did you see that one? I think it's a new ad. I saw it for the first time over the weekend.
Henry: I know even going back to Ramaswamy's presidential run back in 2023 and early 2024, he was not as favorable of teachers unions saying effectively that he could go around them or so forth. I forget the exact quote, so I don't want to misquote him, but the kind of back and forth between Ramasawamy and teachers unions goes back to his presidential bid. So I'm not surprised that the unions in Ohio endorsed.
Juravich: His opponent. Yeah, maybe I don't know who made the attack ad because I didn't pay attention closely enough to the small print at the bottom of the ad, but it was basically just like a bunch of statements he's made negative about teachers unions all put together in like a little montage, you know, as you do in an attack ad. Right.
Henry: Go ahead. Yeah. Oh, and one other thing that I've written about Rameshwamy's proposal that he had been talking about even from the beginning was like merit based pay for teachers, which is something that Ohio has tried. It was part of Senate Bill five, which voters rejected. It Was also like a smaller effort was made in Cleveland, which had a lot of like bipartisan support, but still kind of crumbled. And so that'll be really interesting if that becomes if he's elected, if that become part of his first budget.
Juravich: And Megan, did you also touch on higher education in your story, or did you stick with K-12 education?
Jessie Balmert: Yeah, I touched on higher ed a little bit because that's been a big part of what Ramaswamy has been talking about. Basically it goes back to comments he made earlier this year saying how initially he was saying how he wants to consolidate Ohio colleges and then kind of reverse course later on and clarified that he doesn't want to consolidate colleges, but wants to take a look at programs in colleges. And so it's just kind of raised some alarm bells among higher ed in Ohio of, you know, what was going to happen if he is elected, like...
Juravich: Well, maybe a continuation of Senate Bill 1. Senate Bill 1 addresses higher education programs as well. So, yeah, I mean, it wouldn't be shocking to me if Ramaswami continued the efforts of Senate bill 1.
Jessie Balmert: I will say on that note that Ohio Senator Jerry Serino, who is the author behind Senate Bill 1, has kind of questioned how much Ramaswami knows about higher ed in Ohio. And so it sounds like they have not talked necessarily about higher Ed when Serino has been asked about that.
Juravich: Interesting. OK. This is the Weekly Reporter Roundtable on 89.7 NPR News. And our guests are Megan Henry with the Ohio Capital Journal, Jesse Balmer with the Columbus Dispatch, and Sarah Donaldson with the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau. I wanted to talk about the US Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision rejected President Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting. So when it comes to mail- in voting, nothing has changed in Ohio, right? We're at like whatever, it's just. How we've been doing mail-in voting is happening.
Donaldson: Is that right? That is correct. Largely, but I don't want to go too... The legislature did pass a bill changing the cure period for mail-in ballots.
Juravich: Yes, they will. Yeah, the grace period. The grace period is gone. Yeah. Yeah the grace
Donaldson: Yeah, the grace period's gone. And I will, I only bring that up because some of the reason that Governor Mike DeWine signed that bill into law was because he felt that the Supreme Court was going to rule in favor of getting rid of grace periods and then the Supreme Court went the other way. So kind of interesting that we do, regardless, again, the Grace period is gone. But yes, there's no based on the Supreme Court ruling, like nothing is changing in Ohio elections but should note that the legislature did make changes to elections in anticipation of the Supreme Court ruling that ultimately went the other way.
Juravich: Right. And did Ohio Secretary of State Franklin Rose have anything to say about mail-in voting, or I don't know if anyone has covered that.
Donaldson: I know my colleague, Karen, talked to him. I don't off the top of my head know exactly what he talked about. Our elections are fucked.
Juravich: Well, he said our elections are fair and safe and he does a good job, right? Yeah, I mean, I think, you know.
Donaldson: You know, the Secretary of State's office continues to obviously defend that Ohio's elections are the gold standard, so I imagine it was something to that effect.
Juravich: Yeah, so key deadlines are approaching. The last day to register to vote is October 5th, and then early in-person voting starts on October 6th, and then election day is November 3rd. So we, I mean, we've been in this for a while now where it's basically like voting month instead of voting day, right? I mean does that change the way campaigns campaign, you know, that when they know that like I don't, I think it's roughly like a third of people vote early. So they have to like. Get people to know who they're voting for by October 6th instead of November 3rd. Is that right, Jesse?
Henry: Yeah, I mean, and I think you've seen that reflected in a lot of the ads have been going up early. I mean some of the candidates started over the summer, trying to define their opponents and certainly, you know, I've seen people out canvassing and so, yeah, both parties, both sides of these fights and all of the candidate's know that they have to...
Juravich: Name out earlier. This is the Reporter Roundtable on 89.7 NPR News. We're talking with Jesse Balmert from the Columbus Dispatch, Megan Henry from the Ohio Capital Journal, and Sarah Donaldson with the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau. I wanted to move back to higher education for a minute, Megan, because you wrote about a national ranking that came out last week that graded colleges and universities regarding their free speech on campus. Ohio State and then three other Ohio schools got an F. Tell Tell me why.
Jessie Balmert: Yeah, so this is an annual report that the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, also known as FIRE, they do this annual report about free speeches on college campuses and they survey students earlier in the year and then put this all together. And so Ohio State University, Kent State University and Oberlin College and Dayton, also they all received F's on these report cards. And so basically they took a look at lots of different parts to come up with a score. There's really 12 parts. There's comfort expressing ideas, self-censorship, administrative support, political tolerance, a handful of things. And so basically students were asked some questions of like how comfortable do you feel talking about President Trump on campus? And this is nationally, but nationally less than half said that they felt comfortable talking about the current president or about half said that they did not feel comfortable talking about the Israel, Palestine. And that was difficult to discuss openly on campus. And so those are some, so I'm not saying that's, you know, why these Ohio universities got an F, but that was reflected nationally in this data.
Juravich: So, I mean, Ohio State, a lot has been made regarding Senate Bill 1 with Ohio colleges and universities, with the removal of DEI programs, and then also former Ohio State President Ted Carter did away with chalking, which is like writing things on the sidewalks in chalk. And a lot of students were upset about that, whether they were going to write about a party or a gathering happening, or they were gonna write about politics. Either way, no chalk. So is that a part of the F grade, do you think?
Jessie Balmert: I think so. Yeah, the report didn't really go into every university, more than 200 some universities were included in the survey. So it didn't get into the nitty-gritty of every university. But I think it's safe to say that all probably contributed to Ohio State, especially since Ohio State is the only university that has banned chalking as a result of Senate Bill 1. That's something that they set as a reason for the banning of chalking. But that has received and continues to receive tons of blowback even a year later after that policy took effect at Ohio State.
Juravich: I guess you could argue that like all public universities in Ohio could have ended up on that list because of Senate Bill 1 in some way, shape, or form. Is that true? Like, I mean, Senate Bill one did eliminate DEI programs, which a lot of students or in faculty feel was a free speech situation. And also it says a lot about like what professors can teach and their syllabus and if a student can report to professor and all of that. That's all in this bill. So.
Jessie Balmert: Correct, yeah, and I will say that other Ohio universities that were included in this report, they did not receive glowing remarks either. There are lots of Ds and some Cs, but primarily Ds like Ohio University, University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University. So yeah, not glowing remarks.
Juravich: And coming up, we are going to talk about immigration and flock cameras, and we will also discuss state report cards for K-12 schools. That's when the Reporter Roundtable from All Sides continues on 89.7 NPR News. You're listening to All Sides in the Weekly Reporter Roundtable. I'm your host, Amy Juravich. Still with us, we have Megan Henry, reporter for the Ohio Capital Journal, Jesse Balmert, state government and politics reporter for the Columbus Dispatch, and Sarah Donaldson, reporter for The Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau. WOSU's Ali Vugrinzic did a story last Friday on a report that came out from the Ohio Immigrant Alliance that found a steep rise in Haitians booked into four Ohio jails since temporary protected status ended. It gave us a glimpse into how the immigration process is playing out. The report noted a 140% increase in Haitian detentions. The jails are Butler County Jail, Mahoning County Justice Center, and the Seneca County Jail and Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio. So it did not include information from two other jails that hold ICE detainees. Megan, what else can you tell us about this report? Is it, so the Ohio Immigrant Alliance is just finding that there's a steep rise in specifically Haitians, right?
Jessie Balmert: Correct. Yeah. And this is all coming after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled at the end of June that temporary protected status for Haitians in the United States can end. And so legally protected status, for Haitian in the U S ended on July 7th. And so this data just basically shows that since that ended at the end of July, the amount of Haitians being detained at these ICE centers in Ohio, which has quite quite a large Haitian population, has just increased, as you were saying, substantially.
Juravich: Yeah, but that's not shocking because this is, you know, the Trump administration made a move to specifically end this temporary protective status. Lynn Tremonti, executive director of the Ohio Immigrant Alliance, told WOSU that the data collected in the report is significant because the government is not giving accurate information. So she said, you have to understand that we're putting people in jail who aren't being charged with crimes into a criminal jail. And she says she thinks that's wrong. So what do you know about that? So they're in a jail, but what's their crime?
Jessie Balmert: Exactly, yeah, so there's this group called Springfield Ice Watch and they said in the report how only 8% of Haitians who have been detained, at least in Springfield, Ohio, have had removal orders and so it just seems to perpetuate this narrative that a lot of people have had that ICE is just picking up Haitian, people who are Haitian or people who look like Haitian and just detaining them, not really having any other reason to do So.
Juravich: Governor DeWine has repeatedly spoken out against the ending of TPS. I've spoken out against sending Haitians back to Haiti where he says it's not safe. I mean, does the state have a role here if jails are filling up, if there's lots of immigration cases? Sarah or Jesse, can the state really do anything?
Donaldson: Not really, because immigration is federal policy and it's the federal government's decision to set an immigration policy and enforce immigration policy. So, you know, Ohio has very small roles it can play, but a lot of these contracts with jails are with the federal governments.
Juravich: Well, while we're on the topic of immigration, Sarah, you had a story that Ohio's US senators, Bernie Moreno and John Husted are joining forces to get the federal government to do something about states that issue driver's license to immigrants. So do they want to stop issuing driver's licenses to immigrants? What do they wanna do?
Donaldson: Well, so to be clear, driver's licenses are issued on a state-by-state basis. So some states have what's called a drive-only driver's license. So these driver's licenses are issued to typically undocumented immigrants who states often left-leaning, who may be sanctuary states. Maybe they have sanctuary cities, and they have large immigrant populations. They argue that these folks are going to be driving anyway, so we might as well get them licensed. So they know the rules of the road, and they are paying for insurance, et cetera, et cetera. But Ohio's US senators have really taken issue with these drive-only driver's licenses because of several accidents that they cite, fatal accidents in Ohio, one of which they say the person who caused the accident and has been charged with, you know. I don't want to say traffic violations because it's a little bit more than that. I think it's like a manslaughter charge or something along those lines. This immigrant was driving with a drive-only driver's license from Connecticut, which is one of the states that issues these. So they've kind of increased their calls for this in other states. Again, they don't wanted Ohio to do anything because Ohio doesn't issue these drive- only driver's licenses. They want other states to stop issuing these drive only driver's licenses. So, you know, they... Wrote letters to like the governor of Connecticut and also the Department of Homeland Security and the Department Of Transportation, and now they've escalated it. I think they've introduced a bill that they essentially want to pull like some federal government funding from states that issue these, but of course, it's just an introduction. It's an election year. So oftentimes these bills do get more attention in an election, but they've certainly been calling attention to this issue because there have just been several high profile fatal crashes. On Ohio highways that have involved an immigrant.
Juravich: You're listening to the Weekly Reporter Roundtable, and our guests are Sarah Donaldson from the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau, Jesse Balmert from Columbus Dispatch, and Megan Henry with the Ohio Capital Journal. Megan, I wanted to pivot back to education for one more story. The state report cards came out recently for K-12 schools, and they showed improvement. The state's largest school district, Columbus City Schools, and several other Central Ohio school districts did see improvement. What were some of the main takeaways in your reporting on these report cards.
Jessie Balmert: Yeah, the main takeaway is that there has been improvement overall when it comes to literacy and math, but we're still, Ohio is still short of like pre-pandemic levels. And so there's, uh, we can celebrate the, you know, all the work that teachers have done, but there's still like so much work to, to be done in getting students back to where they need to be essentially, but the Columbus city schools, as you were mentioning, the state largest district going from two stars, that's what Ohio does is a five-star rating system made it away with the A through F years ago. Ohio or Columbus going from two stars to 2.5 stars is quite an accomplishment for it for that district.
Juravich: For a big district with graduation rate problems and literacy rate problems, they'll take that half-star, right? Yeah, absolutely.
Jessie Balmert: Yeah, absenteeism issues. So yeah, Cleveland also has 2.5 stars and Cincinnati has three stars on the report card. So those are the three biggest districts. So Columbus City Schools is kind of in line now.
Juravich: Right. And the fourth biggest school district, Olentangy, out in the lead with five stars, I think. Yes. Yes, yes. Did the literacy rates under the state mandated science of reading, do you have any like, did the report card show anything about that? Or is it too soon to tell how the science of writing is impacting the literacy rate?
Jessie Balmert: Yeah, I mean, folks were quick to jump on that. Like, Governor DeWine, who was champion in the science of reading, was quick to say how, you know, this is showing that progress is being made. And so the report itself doesn't really detail, like, that the science of reading necessarily is what is causing this, but there's lots of- It'll show-
Juravich: It'll show increases in reading. Yes, and they've been using the science of reading, so therefore.
Jessie Balmert: Yeah, so therefore, lots of folks are jumping on that and showing how this is, it's taking a long time and it will continue to take a long to see the full effects of the science of reading, but people are saying that this is trending in the right direction now.
Juravich: Before we run out of time, I wanted to pivot to Flock cameras because Republican lawmakers last week introduced four bills related to Flock cameras and other automated license plate reading cameras. And that prompted a strong response from Attorney General Andy Wilson. And here's some audio from the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau.
Attorney General Andy Wilson: They just knee-jerk, get rid of these cameras and this tool, and then you're gonna have a kid get killed, you're going to have a could get kidnapped, you're to have some kind of tragedy in that community that could have been prevented or interdicted by these cameras, then the pendulum's gonna swing the other way, and everybody's gonna be yelling at law enforcement for their failure to adequately protect the community.
Juravich: So Sarah, what do we make of his comments? I mean, does he wants the cameras up and running? Did he agree that there needs to be some regulation or does he just, he thinks the cameras are a good thing for law enforcement?
Donaldson: Yeah, I mean, I think he's been vocal, as has Governor Mike DeWine has been vocal. And of course, they're not running for office, like many of the people who are introducing these bills or running for governor, et cetera, et cetera. But the two of them have been vocal about the fact that while there are clear concerns with some of the usage of these flock cameras, or maybe some of misuse of these block cameras, the two with them feel strongly that they are a tool for law enforcement. And law enforcement should be showing the good cases of where these flock cameras have helped to solve crimes. So that being said, there is clearly bipartisan concern about these cameras, about how these cameras are being used for different reasons. Folks on the right have said, I think it's general concern about turning into, which in some ways I feel we already are, a surveillance state, that people don't want to be on video 24-7. You know, the Democrats have talked about. Concerns about an abortion registry or other issues. Republicans have talked about concerns about a gun registry. So there's like all these issues floating around in an election year and a lot of concern about these cameras just generally as people become very adverse to artificial intelligence and changing technology. But there are folks who feel strongly that this is an important tool that could be taken away from law enforcement.
Juravich: I mean, Jesse, four bills on on one issue. That sounds like a lot of bills to me. I don't do well. They take them up in the lame duck session after the election.
Henry: You know, it's hard. We have a lot of election time pressure on this issue right now. And will that maintain afterwards? But people are pretty frustrated and upset. You've seen a number of cities around Columbus, Reynoldsburg, et cetera. Hamilton County has put a pause on these flock cameras. So you have seen a lot. Of momentum to at least take a step back and see what this technology is all about. Andy Wilson also called for stronger penalties for misuse of flock. Online with like if you were misusing the police database so that could make that a felony that would be certainly more of a penalty than we have.
Juravich: With each individual community, like Columbus City Council is working on legislation related to flock cameras. So does the state need to be doing something or is this a city by city situation?
Henry: Uh, the old home rule chestnut that we come back to every time. I mean, if you would like a statewide solution, it would have to be done by state lawmakers, but obviously cities have the autonomy to do this, uh, individual by individual.
Juravich: Any anything else to add in 20? We have 20 more seconds. No, that's not very many seconds. All right I want to say thank you. Thank you. Jesse Balmert state government and politics reporter for the Columbus Dispatch. Thanks for being here Jesse, thanks so much. Sarah Donaldson reporter for The Ohio Public Radio State House News Bureau. Thank you for joining us Sarah.
Donaldson: Thanks, happy Monday.
Juravich: And Megan Henry, reporter for the Ohio Capital Journal. Thanks, Megan. Thanks for having me. And this has been the Reporter Roundtable from All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. I'm Amy Juravich.