The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Voters to choose between Gibbs, Harbaugh for District 7 seat
Voters in Ohio’s 7th House District will choose between Republican Bob Gibbs, an incumbent, and challenger Ken Harbaugh.
The 7th House District includes the eastern and southern areas of Lorain County. Communities in that district include Avon, North Ridgeville, LaGrange, Wellington and the townships of Eaton, Columbia, Grafton, LaGrange, Penfield, Wellington, Huntington, Rochester and Brighton.
Along with Lorain County, the 7th House District includes parts of Medina, Huron, Richland, Ashland, Knox, Holmes, Coshocton, Tuscarawas and Stark counties.
Congressional representatives serve two-year terms and earn salaries of $174,000 a year.
The general election is on Nov. 6.
Gibbs, of Lakeville, is the owner and operator of Hidden Hollow Farms, a livestock farm in Holmes County. He earned his degree from Ohio State University’s Agricultural Technical Institute.
He was elected to Congress in 2010, according to his campaign website.
Gibbs and his wife, Jody, have three grown children.
Gibbs did not return a Morning Journal election questionnaire.
A Navy veteran, Harbaugh, of Avon, is an advocate for military veterans, according to his campaign website. Most recently he has served as president of Team Rubicon Global, an aid organization that has trained more than 45,000 military veterans to deploy to natural disasters in the U.S. and around the world.
Harbaugh said he has three priorities in Congress, starting with ensuring access to high-quality healthcare.
“My daughter needed 4 surgeries before she was 4 years old,” Harbaugh said. “No family should have to wonder, like ours did, whether they will be able to pay for the critical care a child needs.”
Rural hospitals should not be shut down to fund tax cuts for the wealthy,
Harbaugh said. He said he will fund health care exchanges, allow a Medicare Buy-in, promote generics, and create competition in the markets by allowing healthcare to be purchased across state lines.
Elected officials should put their country over party, Harbaugh said.
“Too often, our representatives in Washington forget why they’re in D.C. — to help their constituents,” he said. “I’ll bring a problem-solving mindset to Congress and work with members on both sides of the aisle to get Washington working for us again.”
Harbaugh said voters should consider him because he will fight for constituents in Washington, not be beholden to corporate political action committees.
“On one of my Navy missions off the coast of North Korea, my plane lost an engine,” Harbaugh said. “During that emergency, I didn’t ask whether my copilot was a Republican or a Democrat. We worked together to finish the mission and land the plane safely.”
Ohioans work together at their jobs, Harbaugh said, but Washington doesn’t.
“Instead, Congress lets political arguments get in the way of solving real problems,” Harbaugh said. “It’s time for a new generation of leadership.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 1 p.m. Oct. 16 to reflect that Ken Harbaugh returned a Morning Journal questionnaire in advance of the deadline.