Roemer, Darrow vie for northern, western Summit votes in 31st House District race

Summit County voters will choose between a current Ohio state House representative and a current Summit County Council member as their representative for Ohio's 31st House District.

After the lengthy redistricting process, the new 31st district includes the northern and western parts of Summit County.

Under the new district map, Summit County is split up among the 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 34th and 35th (which also includes portions of Portage and Geauga counties) house districts.

The two-year term for the 31st District seat starts Jan. 1. According to the popular redistricting website Dave's Redistricting App, the 31st District is expected to lean Democratic.

Ohioans are picking new state lawmakers using maps that the Ohio Supreme Court rejected as unconstitutional, saying they unfairly favor Republicans. Federal judges picked the maps that barely passed the Ohio Redistricting Commission, which will need to craft different maps for 2024. Ohioans' voting preferences amount to 54% for Republican candidates and 46% for Democratic ones.

Bill Roemer

Republican Bill Roemer currently represents Ohio's 38th House District, which includes the western strips of Summit and Stark counties. After the redistricting process, he's now running for the 31st district.

According to his biography, Roemer, who is currently serving his second term in the Ohio House, serves on the Commerce and Labor, Finance, Health and Human Services (chair of the Finance Subcommittee), Financial Institutions and Ways and Means committees

Roemer was previously on Summit County Council and was vice president of the Summit Educational Service Center Board of Governors. He also works as a substitute teacher in the Revere school district and was previously an instructor of finance at Myers University, an AT&T sales director and a certified public accountant working in regulatory accounting.

He received a bachelor's degree in accounting from Case Western Reserve University and a master's degree in business administration degree from the Weatherhead School of Management of Case Western Reserve University. Roemer lives in Richfield with his family, which has owned a farm in Summit County for more than 80 years.

Roemer said accomplishments of his time in the Ohio Statehouse include legislation to cut the state's personal income tax, which he said was "the largest reduction in the personal income tax in Ohio in history" and will save Ohio residents $2.1 billion a year.

Roemer said he's running again because he has "a lot of unfinished business that I want to accomplish," including further reducing the state's income tax to "where we have a low or no personal income tax and people really move here and they say, boy, Ohio is very friendly to entrepreneurs and to families."

He also highlighted a current bill related to donating insulin and other prescriptions to charitable pharmacies and another current bill he's sponsoring that would expand Ohio's Medicaid component known as the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, or PACE.

Roemer said the bill, which he said would save the state $30 million a year, would allow "families to keep their loved ones at home, while at the same time getting outstanding service."

"You have a family member that needs a lot of help on a daily basis, the PACE center will come pick them up, bring them in, give them a hot meal or to have some activities for them," he said. "It's really a win win win. It's a win for the families, because their loved one is being taken care of. It's a win for the individual because they get to stay home and get outstanding care. And it's a win for the state because the state saves $30 million a year."

On education, Roemer said on his campaign website that he would work to cut unfunded state mandates.

Roemer said he's never accepted health benefits from his government jobs and visits each community in his district at least on an annual basis, which are promises he's said he's made.

"I make my commitments, and I keep my commitments," he said.

Rita Darrow

Democrat Rita Darrow is the office manager for Milstein Properties, a property management company, and previously worked as a freight broker in the transportation industry.

Darrow was on Macedonia City Council from 2012 to 2015, serving as council president in 2015, which she said in her County Council biography gave her experience in infrastructure and economic development, parks and recreation, union negotiations and state and federal grant funding.

She's represented County Council's District 1, in the northern part of the county, since January 2021 after being elected in November 2020. She chairs council's long-term planning committee.

Darrow's lived in Summit County for more than two decades and lives in Macedonia with her partner. She’s a member of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Macedonia and the Federated Women of Summit County, serving as third vice president. She has two adult children.

Darrow said she decided to run after the state's lengthy redistricting process, which ended with unconstitutional maps that favor Republicans.

"The Republicans have [a] supermajority over the state of Ohio and the statehouse," she said. “I don't believe in the stuff that they’re voting on. I think the stuff they're voting on is hurting us.”

Darrow's campaign website says she's pro-choice and an advocate for gun safety and violence prevention who comes from a family of gun owners and doesn't believe in "taking guns away from law-abiding citizens who can pass commonsense gun safety and background checks."

She also said she believes schools should have professionally trained safety forces, and that there shouldn't be "excessive government oversight" in education. She also said she would vote against efforts to divert public school funding to private schools.

Darrow said she supports workers’ rights to unionize and living wages, as well as social programs for low-wage workers to afford housing, food and health care.

Darrow said she would want to be part of creating a program that would provide job opportunities, free health care and support for veterans with PTSD and substance use disorder. She also said Ohio should put a higher priority on reducing its dependence on oil and coal, with clean air legislation put in place.

“I was born and raised a Democrat, union home. I'm a proud union home now. I just believe in the middle class. I think that we support our businesses and all the businesses that support unions," she said. "And I don't like empty buildings, put it that way. I think it's important that we get those buildings built, so economic development to help our communities to grow stronger. That's me. And I like helping people...and I’ve always supported our safety forces and gave them what they needed.”

Darrow said her partner, David, is a Republican. They've been together since 2007 and living together since 2010, so she said she knows how to compromise.

“I have a 26-year-old daughter, I have a 23-year-old son, and I'm worried," she said. "I'm worried about their generation and generations to come.”

Beacon Journal Voter Guide 2022:Six races for Statehouse seats on Summit County ballots

Beacon Journal Voter Guide 2022:Who to vote for? Summit County Voter Guide has candidate information in their own words

Contact Beacon Journal reporter Emily Mills at emills@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter @EmilyMills818.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Roemer, Darrow running for Ohio's 31st state house district