OTTAWA COUNTY, Ohio — It’s possible that no other region in Ohio will be impacted more from the Larry Householder scandal than Ottawa and Erie counties. The scandal is sure to play a big role in the upcoming District 89 Ohio House of Representatives race.
Until his arrest in July, Householder was the Republican Speaker of the House in Ohio.
He's accused of taking bribes related to House Bill 6 which was signed into law in 2019.
That bill helped bail out First Energy and Ohio's two nuclear power plants including Davis Besse in Ottawa County. House Bill 6 also lowered renewable energy standards that energy producers are required to meet.
Although bills were introduced to repeal House Bill 6 earlier in the year, it still remains the law of the land.
In the District 89 race, Republican incumbent D.J. Swearingen is running against Democratic challenger Alexis Miller.
D.J. Swearingen
Swearingen assumed the office in August 2019 after Representative Steve Arndt retired before the end of his term.
Swearingen was born in West Virginia and raised in Columbus.
He is a graduate of Bowling Green State University where he played baseball and earned his law degree from the University of Dayton School of Law.
He and his wife moved to the district after graduating.
As an attorney, he focused on real estate and business.
He also served as Chair of the Erie County Republican Party.
Swearingen is quick to distance himself from Householder, saying he didn't meet Householder until his swearing-in ceremony.
In light of the crimes Householder is accused of, Swearingen says he wants to focus on transparency issues in the legislature and campaign finance reform.
He believes the public shouldn't be in the dark especially when it comes to contributions made behind the scenes.
"I never met Larry Householder until I was literally being sworn in on the House floor. He was the speaker of the House and from the allegations, I've read in the complaint it's egregious and he's going to have to answer to those and the system is going to adjudicate his guilt or innocence and he's going to have his day in court,” said Swearingen.
D.J. Swearingen says from his time in the district he’s identified workforce development, education, and bringing jobs to the area as issues he wants to focus on.
Alexis Miller
Alexis Miller ran unopposed in the Democratic primary in April.
According to her campaign’s website, Miller was born and raised in the 89th district and owns a small business in Sandusky and has experience in nonprofits and government. Miller has been working in the statehouse since 2010, first as an intern, then as a legislative aide and finally as a senior legislative aide.
She got a Bachelors's degree in political science and a Masters of Public Administration at Ohio State University.
Miller says an attack ad piece of literature linked her to Householder and others involved in the HB6 scandal, but she says she hasn't taken any money from First Energy.
She also says the attacks are an attempt by her opponent to flip the script, accusing her of being connected to Householder when Swearingen is the one who actually has ties to Householder.
“It's not like neither of us are connected and they're just making things up. It's a deliberate attempt to distract from who in this situation actually has connections to corruption and it's been complicit and involved with all this,” said Miller.
Miller lists expanding broadband access to the area, gerrymandering, getting money out of politics, expanding and improving access to healthcare and protecting Medicaid expansion, and protecting Lake Erie as top issues. She says she wants to renew focus on working people, including by expanding union membership.
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