Davidson: Seek fix on immigration
Re-elected Republican: Deficit, debt progress possible in the House.
U.S. Rep. BUTLER COUNTY — Warren Davidson said one of the “toughest challenges politically” in the next congressional session will be immigration.
“We need a solution there,” said Davidson, who won re-election to a second term Tuesday night. “Border security is national security. I think that’s going to come out in this election and my hope is that we got close in June — we had 193 Republicans in the House vote for a bill — my hope is that we take the lessons learned from that and create a solution that gets us moving forward on immigration.”
But the U.S. House will be led by Democrats for the next two years, placing the Republican from Troy in the minority.
While political pundits and insiders see the potential for gridlock with a divided Congress — the U.S. Senate remains in control of Republicans — Davidson said he sees opportunity.
“It’s not incredibly different,” he said about working in the minority in the U.S. House. “You do the things that you promised people you’d do. It’s obviously harder when Democrats control the agenda, but hey, there are things that Democrats campaigned on that are bipartisan.”
Davidson said one of his biggest commitments to constituents is to not bankrupt the country, and he’s “encouraged” by the potential bipartisanship.
“I’ve been encouraged by the number of Democrats who maybe have had an appreciation for the deficit and our debt,” he said. “So maybe that has somehow shifted to a bipartisan issue, and we can get some real result there.”
Davidson was first elected to the seat in 2016 in the race to replace former House Speaker John Boehner, who represented the district for 25 years. A Republican has held the seat since redistricting moved the congressional district to Southwest Ohio and the Miami Valley in the 1970s.
Davidson’s challenger — Vanessa Enoch of West Chester Twp. — had the best showing of a Democrat candidate in the district since 2006, earning 33.2 percent of the unofficial vote. Democrat Mort Meier received 36.2 percent when he challenged Boehner in 2006.
Davidson thanked Enoch for running a “strong” campaign.
“I hope she stays engaged” in politics, he said.
Enoch congratulated Davidson on his win, but said she isn’t yet sure “what the future may hold” for her in politics. She said she and her team “couldn’t have run a stronger race.”
“Our team worked hard and left no stone unturned,” she said. “Inevitably, it came down to the voters. They made a choice, and I’m sure they are happy with their decision.”
Davidson’s 33.6-point unof- ficial victory is not a surprise as the 8th Congressional District is considered one of the most conservative counties in Ohio.
Butler County, which has 2½ registered Republicans for every one registered Democrat, is the largest in the multi-county district that stretches from the shores of Grand Lake St. Mary’s along its northern borders to just before the northern portion of the Interstate 275 loop in Greater Cincinnati.
It encompasses all of Butler, Clark, Darke, Miami and Preble counties and the southernmost portion of Mercer County. An estimated 730,445 people reside within the district.