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Voters on Nov. 5 will decide whether Republican Bob Latta or Democrat Keith Mundy will represent Ohio's 5th Congressional District, which includes all of Mercer and Van Wert counties.
Latta, 68, has served Ohio's 5th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2007. The Bowling Green resident is also a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, chair of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology and a member of the Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security and the Subcommittee on Health.
Previously, Latta served in the Ohio House of Representatives and Ohio Senate and as a Wood County commissioner. Thanks to his experience, Latta said he has a broad view of local, state and federal governments.
He said he's running again because he thinks there is more work to do.
"We got to get work done," he said. "It's up to every one of us to do our job and make sure we work to pass this county off better than we found it."
The main issues affecting Americans now are the economy and the border, Latta said.
He said the country is in debt and the increased inflation rate since President Biden's administration hasn't helped.
"We have to pay over a trillion dollars to pay interest on the debt and we don't have $1 trillion laying around to do that," he said. "I'm a fiscal conservative. You shouldn't be spending what you don't have, so that's really important to me."
He said that when Biden came into office, the country had a 1.4% inflation rate. The highest it's been in his term has been 9.1%. He said that even though the rate has decreased slightly, Americans are still feeling the effects of inflation through high grocery costs and gas prices.
Another issue Latta wants to address if reelected is the border, namely the amount of people and illegal substances coming across it.
"When they mention the border, we have to have an orderly process for people to come to this country legally," he said. "When you think about all these unaccompanied minors (who) have come here, the government right now can't account for 300,000 kids and we don't know where they are. This is horrendous because we don't know if the cartels are using them in sweatshops. They might be forced into the sex trade. We don't know where these kids are, so we should listen to what the border patrol said years ago."
He said by increasing border security, the government can stop the amount of fentanyl being smuggled across the border.
"We had over 74,000 Americans die about a year and a half ago from fentanyl poisoning and this has to stop," he said. "The way to do it is to secure the border."
Latta attained his undergraduate degree at Bowling Green State University and his juris doctorate at the University of Toledo College of Law.
He and his wife, Marcia, have been married for 35 years. They have two daughters, Elizabeth and Maria.
Mundy, 74, is a Parma resident who said he is running because no one else would.
"The reason why I'm running is because we had nobody running," he said. "We needed to fill that vacancy. I don't even live in the district, but I have traveled to every county at least a couple or three times. It (the 5th District) starts in Lorraine County which is only 10 miles from my house and then it goes all the way to the Indiana border."
Mundy also said he's running because he believes he must stand up to the "fascist ways of the Republican Party" and former President Donald Trump.
"Somebody has to stand up to these people," he said. "Right now, it's tough to find individuals who want to run for office. It takes up a lot of time and energy and the chances of you winning in gerrymandered districts are slim to none, so it's really tough to find people who will take the time to run and put those ideas out there that need to be talked about….You have to take a look at what these people are not doing and what they are doing. I'm not going to allow a fascist in the White House. It's just not who we are. We can't allow this to happen in this country."
Mundy said he's managed the campaigns of Jeff Sites against U.S. Rep Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, and Craig Swartz against Latta while also organizing a grassroots effort for former Democratic presidential nominee Bernie Sanders.
He also ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016, losing to former Rep. Jim Renacci in the 16th District.
"I'd have to say that pretty much anybody could run for office today because the Republicans sure as hell aren't doing anything," he said.
Mundy said he is running for the people, rather than the nation. By not being funded by large corporations, he said he understands Americans.
"I looked at his voting records so I call him 'a-Latta-nothing,'" Mundy said about his opponent. "He's wholly owned by the oil industry and he's a four-percenter when it comes to the environment."
If elected, Mundy said he wants to address climate change, take money out of politics, stop funding the wars in Israel and Ukraine and restore reproductive rights.
In order to take the money out of politics, Mundy said he wants all federal offices to be paid for and financed by the government, "meaning that everybody only gets so much money."
"No outside money, no dark money," Mundy said. "These ads are toxic. If I am able to limit the money, the dark money, that goes into politics, we'd be able to get rid of all these TV ads and we can get back to enjoying TV again."
He also believes in a woman's right to choose and make medical decisions regarding her body.
"I don't think men should be allowed to vote on women's rights," he said. "I don't. Unless you can get pregnant, have a miscarriage or any of this other stuff that goes along with women's health, then why should you be allowed to vote on whether or not a woman can protect herself health-wise?"
Mundy graduated from the University of Akron where he majored in education. He used to own courtdelivery.com, a now defunct business that did legal research and retrieved and delivered court documents, retiring in 2018. He also published the newsletter for the National Labor Relations Board for 15 years.
He and his wife, Agnes, had two children. His son died at 31.
Mundy said he understands his chances of winning are slim, but he wanted to make sure his voice was heard.
"This isn't about my resume, this is more about my obituary," he said. "I want to make sure that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren know that their grandfather was on the right side of history."
