MANSFIELD — Democrat Tamie Wilson, from Delaware County, who’s seeking to represent Ohio’s 4th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, spoke with Richland Source reporters Oct. 29 about her campaign.
Wilson again is running against incumbent Republican Jim Jordan, who received 69 percent of the district’s votes when the two candidates ran for the same position in 2022.
The sprawling district includes Richland and Ashland counties.
Jordan participated in the same kind of interview Oct. 16. His story was published on Monday.
The 34-minute phone interview was conducted with Richland Source City Editor Carl Hunnell and Shelby/North County reporter Hayden Gray. Below is the balance of that conversation, which has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Our discussion with Wilson touched on a variety of issues — using some of the questions developed by author and reporter Amanda Ripley as a way of cutting through conflict with questions that “complicate the narrative.”
Ripley’s work is aimed at helping reporters and editors dig beneath people’s positions and get to their motivations, to cover conflict more thoughtfully, to “revive complexity in a time of false simplicity.”
Both Wilson and Jordan previously participated in the same style of interview during fall of 2022 when each candidate stopped in Mansfield at the Richland Source newsroom.
Listen: Richland Source interview with Tamie Wilson
Read: A conversation about Wilson’s campaign for the U.S. House
Richland Source: What issues do you think divide Ohioans the most these days?
Wilson: Politics is one of the biggest issues that’s dividing Ohioans these days. I think it’s gotten really divisive with all of the rhetoric and it’s really sad.
I’ve lost family members and close friends of mine. It’s just really gotten really, really sad how divisive everything has gotten nowadays. That’s really upsetting…
Women’s rights has turned into an abortion issue, which it really isn’t about abortion it’s about bodily autonomy and I think that it’s really gotten misguided. My grandmother, she was 4 (foot) 11 (inches), she had seven children and the doctor told her ‘If you have another child you could lose your life.’
But at that time, she needed my grandfather’s permission to not have anymore children and he would not give it to her … so she almost died. It’s really about women having bodily autonomy. We ought to be able to make decisions over our own lives and our own bodies.
I mean we’ve heard a lieutenant governor in North Carolina saying that women shouldn’t have the right to vote. I’ve heard that narrative being — I feel like it’s been tested across the country to seeing if it gains any traction.
The Supreme Court, they just overturned years of the (Americans with) Disabilities Act. They just overturned the disabilities rights in a case of Cummings versus Premier Rehab (Keller PLLC).
There was a case of Cummings vs Premier Rehab where a lady, Jane Cummings, she was a deaf and blind lady and she sued this rehab facility because she asked for an ASL interpreter and they wouldn’t grant it to her. So she sued them and that case went up to Supreme Court and they denied it to her. They just overturned years of precedent with that case.
Now OSU is trying to use that case of precedent to deny the OSU case, that sexual abuse case, to turn that into contract law to say ‘Yes that we know that you were sexually abused so here’s a refund.’
So we have to pay attention to our civil liberties that are being violated and our rights that are being taken away because they’ve overturned Roe v. Wade and they’re just chipping away at our rights one by one.
And I find it interesting that the Republican party who claims to be the party of little government, they’re coming after our rights. They’re coming after the First Amendment rights with the banning of books and they came after women’s rights and they have also started talking about going after other rights as well. There are many concerns.
Richland Source: Are there any answers that you think are being suggested by national politicians or elected officials from both sides of the aisle that are oversimplified or answers that sound really good, but they’re really oversimplified?
Wilson: I think there are several things that are oversimplified or exaggerated. I think banning guns would be a good example of that. I think that’s unrealistic.
As easy as it sounds to just ban guns, it’s just not realistic. It’s not going to happen. We are Second Amendment supporters. I support the Second Amendment.
I grew up shooting guns on the farm with my family, with my cousins and uncles. That’s just something you do in rural America, you know? I believe that when it comes down to it, that we are a country that believes in having our freedoms and so, when it comes to certain things — some things just don’t make sense.
I think that although it might sound good on paper that it really, when it comes down to practicality, that it really would never happen.
Taxing the rich, that would be another one. I think everyone should pay their fair share in taxes of course. Elon Musk can make $33 million an hour during COVID but he paid zero taxes. That is a perfect example. Everyone should pay their fair share in taxes.
Richland Source: Policies aside, it just seems clear that Ohio voters and voters around the country are more divided than ever on just some fundamental cultural principles. So where does all this distrust come from and how do we fix that?
Wilson: I think a lot of the distrust comes from our internet. It comes from media and social media. It comes from all of the rhetoric. Our divide in our country has come from all of the rhetoric in our politics.
It comes from all of the rhetoric from our elected officials. I find that very disturbing, to have our elected officials, just like Jim Jordan, spreading all of the lies. I read the statements that he made in the article that he did with you guys and I find it extremely appalling.
Someone who is an elected official, they are supposed to be the best of us. They are supposed to lead. They are supposed to lead by example. They should be uniting the country, not dividing the country.
Our own senator in Ohio, he made divisive statements when he was talking about Haitians eating dogs and cats. I met people, I know people in Springfield. I travel throughout our district.
I was eating at a restaurant and my waitress, she’s from Springfield, and she was saying how those statements from our very own senator — it was very disruptive to her hometown. And she couldn’t believe how our former president and presidential nominee and the vice presidential nominee were saying those things and how it was just so disruptive to her hometown.
That is someone who is our own senator, saying those things about our own state. Who does that? I just cannot believe the things that are coming out of people from our own state and someone from our own district.
Jim Jordan of all people, he talks about crime in Democratic-run cities and they try to turn people against the Democrats. It’s always us versus them.
Here in Richland County, right there in Mansfield, you guys have had 24 murders of young men — young black men. (Editor’s note: According to previous Richland Source reporting, there have been five homicides in the city this year. Mansfield police investigated a record-high 12 gun-related murders in 2023.)
Where’s he been? And that’s a Republican-run city and he’s been absolutely nowhere. He’s done nothing about that. That concerns me. He doesn’t care about the issues that concern our communities and I find that very disturbing.
I think it’s very important that we address the internet. That is very concerning to me. I have a cybersecurity bill that I’ve been working on. I’ve been talking with the experts on cybersecurity and I’ve been working on things that I think are very important.
We need to get it under control, we need to stop the spread of mis- and disinformation, we need to protect seniors from financial fraud crimes and protect our children from exploitation and sextortion.
I met a mom who lost her child. He was sitting there playing video games with his friends and he was sextorted. He was sitting there talking to his friends, playing video games. Next thing you know, he just stopped — went and killed himself right in the middle of playing video games with his friends because he had exchanged pictures with someone and they said ‘If you don’t give me money right now I’m going to share it with everyone.’
It scared him so much that he just stopped everything and went and killed himself right then and there. He was just a young teenager and it’s terrifying to me of all the things that are going on with our internet. It’s really dividing our country of all the mis- and disinformation.
In the ’80’s they overturned the media integrity laws. I think that is very important.
With me being the Democrat running in our district and a lot of the media that is run by Republicans, I’ve not I feel been given a very fair representation in the media. A lot of times my statements have been skewed or misrepresented and that has not been fair to me or the people that I’m trying to represent.
A lot of people are really struggling and I’m trying to bring real solutions to the people in the district. I’m working with companies to bring jobs to the district.
Jim Jordan, he turned away over 10,000 jobs bringing $100,000 salaries. He’s voted against every single Farm Bill for the past 17 years. He voted against the PACT Act which is going to be bringing health care benefits to Afghan vets and Vietnam vets exposed to Agent Orange.
I support veterans. I’m trying to bring jobs to the district. I support seniors. He voted against affordable health care and $35 insulin that seniors need. There are a lot of people that are being denied the benefits and needs and care that they need in this district because we have a representative who votes against the people 97 percent of the time.
He has not done anything for the people in District 4 but nobody knows that because no one reports about that and I think that is really important.
Richland Source: Is there any common ground to be found today between Republicans and Democrats? What is it going to take to get back to a time in Congress when political opposites could be friends and even work together?
Wilson: I am more than willing to work with Republicans. You guys have a great new mayor there (Mansfield). I’ve met her. I went to your City Council meeting. I worked to help bring that sexual predator to justice.
I’m very excited to work with Republicans. We’re all people. My goal is to help people live a better life. I am not someone who is a divisive person. I’m a very common sense, very practical person. I come from a family with very common sense, very practical fiscal responsibility and social responsibility as well.
I am very much for working in a very bipartisan manner. I don’t like the divisiveness of our country, let alone our politics. I think we need to unite our country, which is why I disagree with everything that Jordan stands for because he does nothing but sow chaos and divisiveness in the country and people are sick of it.
People are just exhausted. People are tired of being angry and hating their neighbor all the time. It’s time to unite our country. We need to come together and work together.
Richland Source: What would you want Republicans in the district to know about you that they may not know today?
Wilson: My goal is to bring us all together. My goal is to have a new vision for District 4. I want to bring our district into a thriving new era like it used to be. We’ve had six factories shutdown in the district over the years and we have another one being shutdown next year.
That’s a lot of job loss. I want to bring jobs back to the district. Jordan hasn’t done anything for this district. He has not brought any jobs, he has not brought any money — he’s not done anything for the people in District 4.
I’ve met with the hospital administrators (and) the executives in the hospital(s). We have health care deserts in District 4. That is a concern, especially for women that are pregnant that are trying to get the health care that they need when it’s time to give birth to their baby. That is a concern.
My aunt, in her elderly years, their dream was to build their house in the country. But she had health issues and when it came down to it, she ended up dying in their dream home because they couldn’t get the health care that they needed quick enough because they were too far away from the access to the health care that they needed. They could not get there fast enough. That is a concern for me.
I take everything very seriously. I care about everybody — every single person. We have food deserts in the district. I know there on the north end they have health care, food deserts as well.
My goal is to bring jobs to the district so people don’t have to drive an hour to and from work. When you’re a parent and you work that far away from your child, that is so terrifying when you work that far away from your child when they’re in school.
If something were to happen and you have to rely on someone else, it’s nerve-wracking. It is so scary, especially in this day and age when there are so many school shootings or anything that could happen — just if they fall or something.
Supporting families, supporting small business, bringing jobs to the district, supporting our farmers, we need someone who is going to support our farmers. Jordan hasn’t done anything to support our farmers in the 17 years that he’s held office.
I grew up spending my summers and weekends on the farm. I understand that our farmers are being challenged with the meat packers and our suppliers with the monopolies that they have. It is not fair all of the challenges that they are experiencing in the farming industry. They are the heartland of America and we need to support them to bring the economic growth that we need and the security that we need.
I think it is extremely important to support them so they can have the generational support that they need to secure their families as well. I know that a lot of farmers, their families are losing that generational farming because their children don’t want to be farmers. They’re moving out of the area. I know a lot of farmers are having to lease their land because like I said, their children don’t even want to get into the family business anymore. It’s very sad.
I think it’s important for people to know that I want to support them. I want to represent them. I also believe in supporting our unions. We have a lot of unions. We have a lot of factory workers in the area.
They will go to Washington, D.C. They will go to meet Jordan and he will either; cancel the meeting at the last minute, he will pawn them off on some 20-year-old intern who doesn’t know anything, doesn’t care about anything, or he will meet with some other big corporate funder of his or he will duck out the back door.
It is extremely rude and disrespectful of him to not meet with people who leave Ohio to go to D.C., make the expense to take the time off of work and he doesn’t even take the time to meet with them. I think that is so rude and disrespectful.
I want people to know that I will listen to you, we will find win-win solutions, we will work together and I will do what is needed to represent them and we will get things done for them.
Richland Source: Are there any issues where you and Jim Jordan see eye-to-eye? Is there anything you think he gets right?
Wilson: No. I don’t even know what he stands for. I mean he votes against the people 97 percent of the time. The only thing that I’ve seen him do is these sham investigations to advocate for Trump. He hasn’t done anything for the people.
He voted against the Violence Against Women Act … every single Farm Bill … against the police. He voted against funding the police. I volunteer for the police. I have fundraised for the police.
He voted against the Border Security Bill … against unions … against affordable healthcare … against jobs. Like I said, he voted against farmers … against seniors … he voted against our veterans. He always says, ‘Oh, well you know this was in that bill.’ I looked in that Veteran Bill, there was nothing in that bill that he could possibly say that he didn’t agree with.
He’s always full of excuses and if that was the case why didn’t he write another bill? He’s not passed one bill, he’s not authored a bill that has passed in the 17 years he’s been in office.
We have paid that man $3 million, he has not authored a bill that has passed in the 17 years that he has been in office. I am writing 10 bills right now. I’ve already been to Washington. I’ve already met with House members and senators to get my first bill passed, the Comprehensive Sexual Abuse Prevention and Accountability Act, which I drafted after talking with the OSU sexual abuse survivors which he turned his back on.
When he was the assistant coach at OSU and his own recruits and wrestlers were sexually abused and they went to him for help he turned his back on them too, and ran the other way. After talking with them, I did a three-hour podcast with those guys and from that I found out that one in four boys are sexually abused in athletics, but they don’t even come forward until like they’re in their 50s. That is a statistical fact.
None of these schools and most of these Big Ten schools, they all have lawsuits, but they haven’t done anything to change their policies, so my bill will help protect our children. It will protect our students and our athletes from being sexually abused in all of these educational institutions.
It will require, I have a whole list of things that it will require, but it will protect our children from being sexually abused in schools. I think that is so important. He didn’t do anything to protect those kids. He ran the other way and he still hasn’t done anything. He has never once called to check on them to see if they’re okay. They were his own recruits. He hasn’t done anything for them. I wrote a bill to protect our children. My son’s out of school now, but I wrote the bill to protect other children from being sexually abused in schools. I’m already doing the work to protect our children from any further sexual abuse.
He hasn’t done anything, so I don’t know what we could agree on because he doesn’t stand for anything.
Richland Source: What’s one thing that nobody’s asked you about or something that needs to be addressed that needs more light?
Wilson: I think it’s really unfair how (Jordan) gets so much media attention and I don’t get any. I think that’s really unfair. It’s really sad and interesting to me, but I really care about people. I really do.
I mean, there’s 799,000 people in the district and I’m not kidding, I mean I have literally cried myself to sleep at night thinking about people and how people are suffering and it’s just so upsetting. People will call me, they will email me and they’ll say ‘Tamie, will you please do something about prescription costs? I had to choose between buying food and prescriptions because I cannot afford it.’
And I say, ‘Yes I will absolutely do something to help fight to lower prescription costs.’ I mean, I’ve had people from Mansfield, they will call and say ‘Tamie, will you please do something to get jobs closer to here? I don’t want to have to drive two and three hours for a good job with benefits,’ and I said yes. I mean the median income in Mansfield is $24,000 a year. You can’t live on $24,000 a year, let alone raise a family on $24,000 a year. That’s ridiculous. No one can live on that. Nobody can live on that. (Editor’s Note: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median income in Mansfield during 2018-2022 was $40,996. The per capita income during that same period was $24,483.)
I mean it is so sad just driving around Mansfield. It’s just depressed. It’s in a depressed area and I want to bring it back to a thriving time. I mean that is just so important. There’s just too much suffering and it doesn’t need to be that way. People have a choice and I hope they choose different. He’s been there 17 years. It is time for change. Just give me a chance and I will work my butt off to make your life better.
Richland Source: What are kind of the primary or early life events for you that helped to shape your views today?
Wilson: Probably racism. I’m a biracial person and when I was little, I didn’t realize I was different until I was about 8 years old. I had a friend over and, you know, we were playing and it wasn’t until I went to school the next day that I found out I was different.
I said, ‘Oh hi’ and he said, ‘Well, I can’t play with you anymore’ and I said, ‘Well, why not?’ He said, ‘Well, you’re a (racial expletive) lover.’ I was like, what? So I had to go home and find out what that word meant and then my mom, she explained to me that, you know, my dad was black and, you know, what that meant and I couldn’t understand why people hated people because of the color of their skin.
And I mean, my dad is like Jesus. He is just the nicest man. I mean, he would do anything for anybody. He would do anything for anybody. That’s where I get my compassion for people, is from my dad and so I couldn’t understand why people would hate people because of the color of their skin.
Just watching our country with the rise in racism after President Obama’s win and with Trump, and then with all of the hate that he spews, that just really disturbed me.
Then watching George Floyd die on TV, that really disturbed me and I know that as Americans we’re better than that. I feel like our leaders, especially people in our government, they should bring out the best in people and I just don’t see that and that’s really what got me into running for office because we deserve better.
We deserve people that are going to advocate for us, that understand us. I’ve worked in a lot of different industries. My dad is 84 years old. He still goes to work every day and I have his work ethic. I have not had a day off. I work on my campaign and in my business every single day because I care that much about everybody. I work every single day to figure out what can I do to help make everyone’s life better?
I mean, I’m constantly trying to figure out what can I do to help make everyone’s life better? That’s all I do. That’s all I think about and these are the things that really matter. And so I think my parents influence on me and my grandma, she was a real spitfire. She had seven kids. We would have Christmas at my grandma’s … we would have 50 presents under the tree and like 50 people in the house and I would help my grandma cook you know, so I learned how to cook from her. It was just that fellowship and that sense of family and family traditions and that country living, country cooking and everything.
That’s just what I grew up experiencing and that’s probably why I like Mansfield so much, is the country roads. It’s so much like down home to me. My family hails from Gallipolis, Ohio, so it’s very similar to Mansfield.
Richland Source: What do you think the (national) media does wrong when it labels candidates ultra conservative or ultra liberal?
Wilson: I just hate the national media, period. It’s really sad. I mean, I hold them responsible for dividing our country too. I miss the days when it just reported the facts. Period.
It’s too opinionated. We shouldn’t have news on 24 hours a day. It shouldn’t be so opinionated. It should just report the facts because I don’t want anyone pigeonholing me. I mean I’m very independently minded. I wouldn’t want someone to say that I’m super left-wing because I’m not. I’m very right down the middle with a lot of things.
Anyone that meets me, I’m a very practical person. I have a lot of Republican friends. I have a lot of “lefty” liberal friends, but I’m very independently minded. I don’t think that that’s fair to label people like that and it’s very divisive. I think they just need to get to the facts of things. I just hate how the media, I think that the way that they speak nowadays is really just for their almighty dollar rather than talking about what is really going on and being just factual-based.
It’s smart for like clickbait nowadays, which is a real shame … I’ve tried to contact the national media about me and my race and the things that I stand for and how I want to represent the people in the district and why I think it’s important. But I cannot get any coverage because it’s just not sexy enough for them, but Jordan is because he’s so divisive so he’s more clickbait so they’ll put him on.
Richland Source: In this age of misinformation and disinformation, how do you decide which information to trust?
Wilson: That goes back to why I feel like cybersecurity is so important. We have all of these foreign countries infiltrating our airways and they’re flooding our airways and internet with so much mis- and disinformation.
When that happens, based on your algorithms, you’re going to get confirmation bias. And so based off of what you’re looking at on the internet, you’re going to keep seeing the things that are going to keep affirming what you already think and see what you’re looking up on the internet.
For me, I try to look up several different sources. I think that’s very important so that’s what I do. I have different things that I look up, different sources and different news sources that I know that are credible, that aren’t just new to the scene, so to speak, that have a long history of being credible news sources, I think are very important. Not just like these new news outlets that have just surfaced here in the past few years. I think that’s important to have something that has been around for quite a while, that has a good reputation. I think that’s really important as well. Also, looking at the reporter and their history I think is really important too.