5th District candidates square off

Incumbent U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, will face off against Nick Rubando, D-Bowling Green, for the 5th Congressional District.

The 5th District includes Celina, Mendon and Rockford in Mercer County, as well as sections of Defiance, Hancock, Hardin, Fulton, Henry, Lucas, Ottawa, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert, Williams, Wood and Wyandot counties.

Bob Latta

Latta, 64, has served the 5th District since 2007. He had previously served as a state representative from 2001-2007, a state senator from 1997-2000 and as Wood County commissioner from 1991-1996.

An attorney by trade, Latta earned degrees from Bowling Green State University and the University of Toledo's College of Law.

He and his wife, Marcia, have been married for 34 years and have two adult daughters.

"Not too many people can say they've served at all three different levels of government from local, state and federal. That gives you a great perspective of what you're dealing with," Latta replied when asked what experience qualifies him to continue serving in Congress.

Since taking office in 2007, Latta said he's held 1,200 meetings in the district with constituents, including those representing businesses, schools, factories, farms and hospitals.

To legislate effectively he must hear directly from the people, he added.

"We have a lot more to get done," he said of his decision to seek another two-year term.

Latta said he's proud the national unemployment rate recently improved to 7.9%. When the nation was facing unemployment rates of 16% amid the COVID-19 pandemic, naysayers were projecting even higher levels to come, he said.

"We acted in Congress to make sure that we passed four major pieces of legislation (to provide COVID-relief)," he said.

The legislation in question provided for testing and diagnostics, the Paycheck Protection Program to keep businesses afloat and financial assistance to schools and universities, hospitals and individuals and families, Latta noted.

"Those are the things that you really can look on and say, 'Yes, we got something done,'" he said.

However, Republican lawmakers are trying to secure 218 signatures among their fellow representatives on a discharge petition that would make available to small businesses $138 billion in unspent Paycheck Protection Program funds, Latta said.

He also touted other legislation he had a hand in getting passed, such as the Over-The-Counter Drug Monograph Process. The law streamlines the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's process of approving over-the-counter drugs to market faster, ultimately providing less expensive products to consumers, Latta said.

It took four times to get the legislation passed through the House.

"That was legislation I worked on and it took multiple Congresses but we got it done," he said.

Pivoting to the issue of national debt, Latta spoke to the importance of getting spending under control. This year alone, one indelibly marked by a pandemic, the federal government tacked on $3 trillion in debt.

"We're going to be paying $664 billion just to pay interest on the national debt by 2030," he warned.

Still, Latta opposes the type of tax hikes proposed by Democrats.

"The reason we saw the explosion in growth in this country and the explosion in jobs across the country was getting the tax rates down so businesses could reinvest in hiring more people, expanding their shop, buying more equipment," he said. "I want to help every American citizen obtain that American dream."

Nick Rubando

Nick Rubando, 32, is a cultural programmer at Metro Parks Toledo. He first dove into politics when he joined the Barack Obama campaign while obtaining his bachelor's degree in journalism at Indiana University.

Rubando, who is single, said he also worked as a field organizer for a congressional candidate in California, helping turn the seat from red to blue.

He shares the experience of everyday working people, qualifying him for office to give voice to their concerns, Rubando said.

"I know what it's like to struggle to find affordable health care coverage, and I know what it's like to work an hourly wage job," he said. "I think that we need more individuals in Congress who know what it's like to live a normal life and to know what everyday regular people struggle with and the obstacles that they have to overcome to ensure that they can be successful."

Too many times people look to millionaires, career politicians or lawyers to make rules and regulations on how people should live rather than the everyday people whose experiences and struggles fuel their potential to be great leaders, Rubando argued.

The impetus behind Rubando's interest in politics was witnessing his single mother struggle to find an affordable individual insurance plan in 2008.

"I saw the struggle she had to afford a health care plan and how hard that was for her and my family," he recalled. "I got involved with the Barack Obama campaign in '08 because I knew that he was pushing for expanded health care coverage."

His work advocating for Obama and registering students at Indiana University paid off, helping flip Indiana from red to blue for the first time in nearly 50 years, Rubando said.

His small actions played a part in helping millions of lives, among them his mother, who found an affordable health care plan and started her own business, he said.

"I recognized that we all have the power to make changes in our world, and we all have the ability to get involved and to step up and that's what motivated me to get into politics and that's what motivated me to run."

The 5th District is represented by a representative who takes hundreds of thousands of dollars from corporate PAC donations, Rubando said.

"And they're the exact companies that he's supposed to be regulating in Congress, and I think that's wrong," he said. "I think that we should have representatives that are accountable to the people and not their big-dollar donors."

If elected to office, Rubando said he would fight to ensure that health care is treated as a human right.

"The Affordable Health Care Act is important to me," he said. "To see Republicans and Donald Trump want to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act in the middle of a pandemic, which would kick millions of people off their insurance, my mom included, is something I think is just criminal, in all honesty."

Rubando said caring for the environment is another cornerstone of his platform, whether that be protecting Lake Erie or bringing good jobs to Ohio by investing in alternative energy.

"Some of the fastest-growing jobs are in the solar panel industry and the wind turbine industry and we can bring those kinds of jobs to Ohio to ensure that we are paving the way for an economic future but also that we're leading the way in being champions for environmental justice," he said.

Protecting Social Security and taking big money out of politics are some of Rubando's other top priorities.