Latta, Swartz vie for re-drawn 5th District

Voters on Nov. 8 will decide whether Republican Bob Latta or Democrat Craig Swartz will win Ohio's 5th Congressional District. The seat, currently held by Latta of Bowling Green, is part of the recently re-drawn lines for the Ohio House. The current 5th District includes all of Mercer and Van Wert counties.

Bob Latta

Latta, 66, has served Ohio's 5th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives since 2007. The Bowling Green resident is an attorney by training in addition to serving in the House, he said.

Because of this year's re-drawn lines, the district covers all of Mercer County. When Latta first served in 2007, the districthad the northern part of the county.

"I'm really looking forward to representing the entire county in Congress," he said. "This is the greatest honor to be able to represent the people in the United States House of Representatives."

Previously, Latta served in the Ohio House of Representatives, Ohio Senate and served as a Wood County commissioner. Latta said he has a broad view of local, state and federal governments thanks to his experience.

"I'm a firm believer that you have to be on the road, and so I'm continuously in my district," Latta said. "With the new lines, they go from the Indiana line all the way to Lorraine County, about 185 miles across. I represent the largest farm income-producing district in the state of Ohio. You can't do this job unless you know what's going on in your district."

The main issue affecting Americans now is inflation, Latta said.

"We had a 1.4% inflation rate when President Biden came into office; we're at 8.2% today, and it was at 9.1% just a few months ago (and) that is caused by out-of-control federal spending," he said. "I'm a conservative. I'm a firm believer that you don't spend what you don't have. The cost of living is going up and people are suffering because their wages can't keep up with the inflation."

If re-elected, Latta believes the country should have an energy policy and he wants to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the country.

"We have to secure our southern border," he said. "When you think that 107,000 Americans died from drug overdoses and that number keeps going up, we've got to stop the flow."

Latta graduated from the University of Toledo College of Law with a Juris Doctorate and received his undergraduate degree at Bowling Green State University.

He has been married to his wife Marcia for 36 years and they have two daughters, Elizabeth and Maria.

Craig Swartz

Swartz, 64, Upper Sandusky, is running because he's concerned for the country and wants to do something about it, he said.

The Democrat is a Realtor and previously served on Upper Sandusky's City Council from 2003 to 2007, ran for mayor in 2007 and ran for state representative in 2008 but lost in the primary. He also ran for state Senate in 2020.

Swartz said he isn't afraid to call balls and strikes, meaning if he has a problem with his party or his president he will call that person out.

"But Bob Latta has failed to do so with respect to the Jan. 6 insurrection," he said. "He's yet to talk to his constituents in any meaningful way about that. His silence is real complicity. That's a real problem because then you are not really representing everyone in the district. He's never held a town hall meeting in over 5,000 days. I'm sorry but that's not representational government in my book."

If elected, Swartz wants to first focus on women's rights.

"That is the race," he said. "In one fell swoop, a handful of people decided the fate of over half the country's population and that's just not right. It's about control. Abortion is a medical procedure within the realm of reproductive rights for women. I'm really honored in be in this position right now, to be defending, protecting and restoring these rights. It's very historic."

Swartz also wants to implement his All American Tax Act, which he said would be the first tax act of its kind in the country's history.

With the act, the first $36,000 of everybody's income would be federally income tax-free, he said.

"In Mercer County and Auglaize where they're (workers) probably in manufacturing or warehousing, this is really important because they're probably making ($17-$18 an hour)," he said. "That would help them with their food, rent, energy (bills and) gas prices. You're not having to wait on that earned income tax credit once a year (or) your tax return. You're getting this benefit every month."

Additionally, Swartz wants to bring the supply chain home.
  "What the pandemic has proven is that we have outsourced our national security," he said.

"When we signed into those trade agreements all those years ago, it was just that slow suction sound that (billionaire businessman) Ross Perot predicted back in 1992. All the jobs were to go elsewhere. What I have seen in the last 20 years since moving here in northwest Ohio is exactly that," he said.

Swartz has a political science degree from Ohio State University. He has been married to his wife Camille for 37 years and they have an adult son, Connor.