Republicans should back Manning

Republicans who want to hold the competitive 13th District in the Ohio Senate would do well to stick with a name voters know: Nathan Manning. Manning, R-North Ridgeville, has represented most of the district in its current incarnation, which includes all of Huron and Lorain counties. Under the maps drawn in the state's disastrous redistricting process, the seat he's running for would include all of Lorain County along with portions of Erie and Huron counties. He previously spent four years in the Ohio House in the seat now held by his mother, state Rep. Gayle Manning, R-North Ridgeville. An examination by the website Dave's Redistricting found the district tilted slightly Republican, although Manning, 40, told us during an endorsement interview that he believed it slightly favored Democrats. Regardless, the district is a toss-up. Manning's name recognition, coupled with his pragmatic voting record, makes him the ideal candidate to keep it in Republican hands. Not so his primary opponent, state Board of Education member Kirsten Hill. During her time in that position, she has shown herself to be a hard-right conservative, including through her opposition to critical race theory, which isn't even taught in Ohio's public schools. Hill, 58, told us in an endorsement interview she believed former President Donald Trump's false claims that he lost the 2020 election because of widespread fraud. (Manning has accepted that Joe Biden is the legitimately elected president.) Hill also attended Trump's speech on Jan. 6, 2021, although she said she didn't participate in the attack on the Capitol. She repeatedly rebuffed the well-documented evidence that Trump supporters were responsible for the carnage that day. That might play well with some Republicans in the primary, but it would be a liability in a general election. Voters in the 13th District need someone who will tackle the real problems facing Ohio, not spread debunked conspiracy theories. Hill spent the early part of her career working as a certified public accountant before joining her husband in running Penton's Farm Market. The couple retired in 2018. She previously served on the Board of Zoning Appeals in Amherst Township, where she lives. She's also known for her work in local Republican politics as a leader of the Totally Engaged Americans, a local conservative organization that sprang out of the tea party movement more than a decade ago. She also served a stint as secretary of the Lorain County Republican Party's Central Committee. Although Manning has something of a moderate reputation, he took pains to stress his conservative bona fides, including his A rating from the National Rifle Association, which has endorsed him. "I'm more pragmatic," he said, "more willing to work with people and work to get things done." We haven't always agreed with Manning, but he has displayed a willingness to work across the aisle on issues important to his constituents. For instance, he was instrumental in including a way in the most recent state budget for academically distressed school districts, including Lorain Schools, to escape state control. He also worked hard to get money included in the state's capital budget to help fund construction of the proposed Lorain County Crisis Center, which would help those struggling with drug addiction. Although he is pro-life, he supports exceptions in abortion laws for rape, incest and danger to the life of the mother. That puts him far closer to the political mainstream than Hill, who favors only limited medical exceptions. The two Republicans both said they favored phasing out Ohio's state income tax over the next decade. It's an idea we're deeply skeptical of — it could decimate state services — but at least Manning is better positioned by virtue of serving on the Senate's Finance Committee to help manage such a shift if it comes about. He also chairs the Judiciary Committee. It's a perch Manning, a lawyer and former prosecutor, has used to tackle the tough subject of criminal justice reform in a sprawling bill still making its way through the legislature. Among other things, it would help prepare prisoners for release. Manning also has shown the capacity to buck his party's leadership, as he did when he opposed the passage of House Bill 6, which was designed to subsidize Ohio's two nuclear power plants. The bill's passage led to the largest political bribery scandal in Ohio history, including the indictment of then-House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford. The winner of the Aug. 2 primary will face Democrat Anthony Eliopoulos of Lorain in the fall. He is unopposed in his party's primary. Republicans' better hope is Manning.