Hot race set in district that went blue in ’18
Two years ago, Democrat Beth Liston flipped an Ohio House district in northwestern Franklin County, cruising to a 14-point victory over her Republican challenger.
It was the first run at public office for the Worthington native, for a seat held for the previous eight years by a Republican.
Liston said her medical experience was a plus for voters and for policy deliberations at the Statehouse during her first term representing the 21st district.
“I think we need people in government that bring various perspectives on hard problems,” she said. “For me, I have that knowledge and experience on health care, what it really looks like to practice medicine.”
That experience, Liston said, is even more important heading into a new term in the legislature, with a continuing focus on the coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath.
“I bring my knowledge and perspective on health and health impacts to policy,” she said. “I think it’s the thing on everyone’s mind right now.”
But Liston is facing a tougher challenge in this year’s general election, with Republican Mehek Cooke hoping to turn the district red again.
One recent Saturday, Cooke was out knocking on doors and talking to voters as part of her campaign’s third sweep through Worthington and Dublin and areas in between.
“I am an Indian immigrant who came to this country, my dad had $30 in his pocket,” she said. “I know what hard work is. I want to fight for equal opportunities for all. And, more importantly, I think it’s extremely important for us today, during this divisive time, to continue to build unity and to show up. I will work to be bipartisan … and put people first over party politics.”
Tough Conversations
Cooke, an attorney who served in Gov. John Kasich’s administration, was seeking unaffiliated and Democratic voters while walking through a
neighborhood just southwest of downtown Worthington.
With a mask covering her mouth and nose and care to maintain 6 feet of space, she spent about half an hour at her first house of the afternoon talking to a couple with a “Black Lives Matter” sign in their front yard about race relations, the environment and gerrymandering, among other issues.
Cooke said she’s had many comparable conversations, often with Democratic-leaning households. She’s on the campaign trail frequently, trying to sway Joe Biden supporters and others who might not normally vote Republican.
“I stay until I earn their vote,” she said. “These are all my conversations. Unless they tell me they’re voting for me or slam the door, which doesn’t really happen – people have been super kind … We have to show up at doors that aren’t going to agree with us to build unity.”
It hasn’t been smooth sailing with some members of her own party, either. She’s not a fan of former Republican House Speaker Larry Householder, who’s facing felony charges in what federal prosecutors rank among the largest corruption scandals in state history.
“Householder is one of the biggest bullies that I’ve ever met in my life,” she said. “And he wasn’t for me, because he couldn’t control me. … They knew that I wasn’t going to be a straight-ticket, absolute hard ’R’ on every single issue.”
She added, “There’s a middle today that doesn’t have a voice, and that’s who I’m fighting for. … A Biden sign doesn’t bother me. You vote for who you want to on a national level. This is who I am on a state level.”
Cooke said police reform and community safety are at the top of her list of issues she’d like to tackle if elected to the House. That includes more consistent statewide policies on body camera use, background checks and other issues.
“I want to be supportive of our police officers, our chiefs,” she said. “I genuinely believe law enforcement and the security and safety of our communities is important, and we can have accountability and transparency without the defunding or reallocation.”
On health care, she said she’d push to improve affordability and choices for residents.
“You should have the ability to go to a doctor, to know what’s covered, to have your menu of options and ensure that it’s affordable today,” Cooke said. “You could be the best doctor in the world, but if we’re not fighting for affordability, access and transparency, that to me is unacceptable.”
On coming state budget deliberations, with a new two-year spending plan to be OK’D by the next General Assembly by mid-2021, Cooke said she would focus on policies that protect and support small businesses while seeking out ways to streamline or reduce governmental costs.
Addressing the Pandemic
In addition being a professor of clinical internal medicine and pediatrics at Ohio State University, Liston works as a physician at OSU’S Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
She’s had a front row seat during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, providing care for adults and children dealing with infections. COVID-19 also is a major topic of conversation when she interacts with constituents and as she seeks a second term.
Beyond the health concerns that come with the pandemic, coronavirus carries big implications for the next state budget. For Liston, controlling the spread of the disease is key for helping the greater economy recover. That means reiterating the importance of wearing masks, maintaining social distance and taking other precautions to avoid the spread.
“That is what bring back safety and consumer confidence, that’s what actually restores the tax revenues that we had as a state,” she said. “We’re really lucky to have gone into this time with a really healthy budget.
“Obviously it dipped a fair bit during coronavirus, but it’s slowly been coming back. If we can really build that consumer confidence with clear, consistent leadership and messaging about the best ways to control the spread of coronavirus … that’s the most important thing moving in the next budget season.”
On other issues, Liston said she would continue to push for passage of law changes addressing the affordability of prescription medications in general, and insulin prices in particular. Her HB 387, for example, would cap costsharing imposed by health plans for insulin at $100 per 30-day supply.
“Insulin prices have been rising astronomically,” Liston said. “People can’t afford it. Insulin, for people with Type 1 diabetes, is as necessary as water or air. People will die if they don’t have it within a day. I certainly see people who come into the hospital because they can’t afford their insulin.”
As a member of the minority party, Liston hasn’t been able to gain approval for those and other bills she’s introduced. She said she has contributed to policy deliberations and conversations about important issues.
“You can’t measure accomplishments only by laws passed,” she said. “There aren’t a lot of laws that are passed. But there’s a lot of conversations that are had, and there’s a lot of priorities that are based on the voices in the Statehouse.”
Liston did not support Householder’s selection as speaker and voted against HB 6, the controversial $1 billion nuclear bailout legislation at the center of the corruption case against the the Perry County lawmaker and four others.
“I support any bill that repeals HB 6,” she said. mkovac@dispatch.com @Ohiocapitalblog