LIMA, Ohio (WLIO) — The candidates on Ohio’s Democratic ticket for governor say they are hearing directly from residents about the rising cost of living across the state.
Lieutenant governor candidate David Pepper stopped by Hometown Stations to discuss what he and gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton have learned from voters about the issues impacting them most.
Pepper said Ohioans are concerned about rising energy costs, property taxes, and the price of gas and food. He added that increasing health care costs are also a major concern, affecting people in both rural and urban areas.
Pepper said there are steps states can take to help residents manage medical debt and reduce prescription drug costs. However, he said the biggest disagreement he and Acton have with Republican front-runner Vivek Ramaswamy centers on Medicaid and Medicare.
“We also are very worried about a candidate who has said publicly, only months before running for this office governor, that he thinks Medicaid and Medicare mistakes, and that's a direct threat to the health care of millions of Ohioans. We're talking about a whole a whole lot of the kids born in Ohio. It's through Medicaid. We're talking about services that deal with everything from addiction to keeping seniors in their homes, so we have entire systems that would go down if you didn't have Medicaid. You know, 11 rural hospitals are on a watch list because of the cuts to Medicaid coming out of Washington,” says Pepper.
Another concern for Pepper is public education funding in Ohio.
“You know the State gave $600 million for a Browns deal, and then underfunded schools. When you underfund schools, you know, we there's so many consequences to that. We are seeing in some parts of the state schools talking about only being four days a week. We're seeing in other parts of the state questions about whether even they'll have busses for kids to go to high school,” adds Pepper.
Acton and Pepper will face the winner of the May 5 primary in the November general election.
