Ohio Politics Explained: Honda's $3.5 billion news, divorce records and debates

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced an October surprise this week when Honda revealed plans to build a $3.5 billion plant in Fayette County that will manufacture batteries for electric vehicles. The candidates for U.S. Senate hurled accusations during their debate, and the state board of education delayed a vote on a resolution impacting LGBTQ students.

We break down what it all means on this week's episode of Ohio Politics Explained.

It's a podcast from the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau where we catch you up on the state's political news in 15 minutes or less. This week, host Anna Staver was joined by statehouse bureau chief Anthony Shoemaker.

1) Ohio drives a Honda

Honda is partnering with battery maker LG Energy Solution to build a new plant here in Ohio and revamp three existing Honda plants that will support the growing electric vehicle industry.

The company said it picked the location southwest of Columbus for several reasons, including proximity to those existing plants, access to resources and availability of labor.

When asked by reporters about the timing of this announcement, DeWine said, "The timing of this was entirely up to Honda. They made the decision. We're always anxious to get announcements out there."

2) Vance vs Ryan

Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Ryan met on stage in Cleveland this week and made their cases to be Ohio's next U.S. senator.

Vance argued that Ryan's support for federal spending bills has helped drive up inflation and grocery store costs while Ryan said the infrastructure package and CHIPS Act are already bringing jobs to Ohio.

The two also tousled over abortion Ryan says he supports the standard set by Roe v. Wade while Vance would back a "minimum national standard" for how many weeks a person could be and still terminate a pregnancy.

3) State Board of Education and LGBTQ resolution

Ohio's State Board of Education didn't vote on a resolution opposing federal changes being made to Title IX that would expand its discrimination protections to include LGBTQ students and athletes.

Instead, the board voted 12-7 to send the controversial resolution to a committee for further discussion.

Conservatives on the board, including the resolution's author Brendan Shea, accused fellow members of trying to "make this go away."

But the Democratic members said they had concerns about the legality of certain aspects of the resolution like recommending that local school boards potentially violate federal law.

4) Release the records

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled this week that an Ashland County judge improperly sealed the divorce records of former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel.

Mandel, who ran for U.S. Senate earlier this year, divorced Ilana Shafran Mandel in April 2020. The couple filed a divorce document in Ashland County even though they lived in Cuyahoga County. The judge, a Republican, sealed the records.

The Cincinnati Enquirer sued to make the records public. Ohio's highest court ruled in favor of the Enquirer, writing that a judge must make records public unless there is clear and convincing evidence that other factors (like threats to someone's safety) would have an impact.

Listen to "Ohio Politics Explained" on Spotify, Apple, Google Podcasts and TuneIn Radio. The episode is also available by clicking the link in this article.

The USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau serves The Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Explained: Honda's $3.5 billion news and the U.S. Senate debate