Nathaniel Adams
for State House Representative
Nathaniel’s Goals
Infrastructure:
Ohio has not funded infrastructure properly for years. Our roads are crumbling, our bridges are old and in disrepair and we have multiple abandoned buildings in need of repair/replacement so new business can grow. Despite these needs, the legislature continues to insist that we cannot afford to upgrade or repair infrastructure. At the same time, they hand over money to big donors and wasted millions on attempting to overturn the will of Ohio voters in a special election. Your communities deserve to have your tax dollars invested in repairing the roads, bridges, and utilities you depend on.
Infrastructure is Safety. It is the quality of the water at your children’s schools. It is reliability of your electricity in bad weather. It is the condition of the roads you drive to work.
Infrastructure is the Life Blood of Communities. It is crucial to the growth of small, local businesses; poorly maintained infrastructure raises overhead costs for business and undercuts their success. Our towns thrive when main street prospers.
Infrastructure is Employment. Cuts to funding the public agencies that sustain our infrastructure is the reason for poor maintenance. These agencies must be able to hire employees to do the work—good, stable jobs for people in our local communities.
Your tax dollars do not belong to the hands of big donors and corporations funding this legislature's decisions. They belong to the communities whose hard work earned those dollars. As your representative, I will fight to put your money to work for you.
Education:
High quality public education for all is one of the forces that made America a worldwide economic powerhouse. Yet our Ohio law makers seem to want to take that away from us: they undercut educators and redirect funds to those who want to make a profit. The Ohio legislature has been pushing policies that include attempts to end teachers’ unions, call for school vouchers that would take funds from public schools, and implement an outrageous and racist overhaul of Ohio education in Senate Bill 83. I will never support any bill that undermines our state’s public education system. We must restore faith and trust in our state education by: 1) increasing funding for both PreK-12 and higher education, 2) supporting educators to use their training and expertise to innovate within the system, and 3) reducing the financial burden of education for students and families. But this funding cannot come from tax increases for working people. It needs to come from ending the billion-dollar corporate giveaways, and making sure the wealthy pay their fair share to educate their own workforce.
Government:
Our state government has failed us. They continually seek to distract from their failures to address the basic needs of Ohioans by manufacturing crises around social issues. They fail to hear the issues important to Ohio voters, they fail to do anything about these issues and even try to overturn the will of their voters on these issues. This is what the supermajority rule under this legislature has been like and will continue unless we bring change to Columbus. We do not need any more voices spouting ideology to create more chaos and dysfunction. We need a new voice, a younger voice, the right voice, to bring the change, highlight the real issues and stop the chaos in the legislature. I want to be that person, standing for my constituents and against the chaos.
Environment:
The truth is fact: climate change is real, and it is affecting our lives almost daily. This legislature continues to deny it because most of them are in the pockets of their fossil fuel industry donors. They sell out our environment and the health of Ohioans with dirty coal-burning power plants and damaging oil extraction in our public lands. They actively prevent the development of cleaner, safer renewable energy sources in our state. And none of this has brought any benefit to our local communities. As State Representative, I will fight to fight against any more blank checks or legislative gifts to the fossil fuel industry. I will also promote the restoration and preservation of our state and national parks, to protect their beauty and the wildlife that lives within them. And finally, I will push for new green energy industry in Ohio and Portage County, bringing the jobs of the future to our workforce.
Ohio Issue 1:
The state should not be legislating decisions that should be made between a woman and her doctor. I firmly believe that the right to make personal medical decisions should never be taken away. Ohio voters made that more than clear in November 2023, yet we have members of the State Congress who continue to try and undermine the people's choice. Once again, our congress shows how chaos, ideology, and sound bites are more important to them than the will of the people they supposedly represent. As State Representative, I will fight to protect Issue 1 and the right to choose.
Gun Violence:
In recent years we have seen some of the worst Gun Violence our state and our country has ever known. I do believe we have the right to defend ourselves and protect our families, and hunting and other rifle sports are legitimate reasons for owning sporting firearms. But the problems with existing gun laws are not about these issues. The current permissive laws and loopholes come at the cost of innocent lives in our schools, churches and workplaces. I strongly support passing limits on the sale of military grade weapons and banning sale of high-capacity magazines to civilians. The Ohio Division of Wildlife says you can only use a three-shot capacity rifle for hunting. If this state is willing to protect our deer from military grade weapons and high-capacity magazines, we should be doing the same for the children in our schools.
Voter Rights:
The people's right to vote is beyond important, it is the foundation of our democracy. Voting is how people have a voice in their government, and without full access for all citizens, that voice is lost. Right now, the Ohio legislature has been anything and everything to suppress our voices and limit our right to vote. In Ohio, instead of voters choosing our representatives, politicians have been able to pick the people who vote from them through outrageously gerrymandered maps. With their ill-gotten power, legislators seek to severely limit the ability to vote early or by mail. Our state is still a swing state, but after disempowering half the voters, our state government no longer represents all Ohioans. A single party state rapidly descends into extremism and chaos and stops listening to the will of the people. We must end gerrymandering and expand voting access, so all voters have their opportunity to express their opinion in elections.
Paid for by Committee to Elect Nathaniel Adams
