Ross County woman vies for Ohio's 2nd District seat
CHILLICOTHE― This election season Ohio's 2nd congressional district seat is being contested once again.
Incumbent Brad Wenstrup (R) is running against Samantha Meadows (D) to represent southern Ohio. The district, which is geographically the largest in the state, covers Clermont, Brown, Clinton, Highland, Adams, Scioto, Pike, Pickaway, Lawrence, Jackson, Vinton, Gallia, Meigs and Ross counties.
Whoever is elected will serve in the U.S. House of Representatives bringing to Washington D.C the ideals and values the people they represent have. This is something important to Meadows who said she will make sure Southern Ohio is not forgotten and that citizens are fairly represented.
"I want us to be taken care of," said Meadows of Southern Ohio. "I want us to be hard on a national level because our voice has been quieted for so long."
Meadows is a resident of Ross County running for office for the first time in her life. She was born and raised in Scioto County on a farm and said she feels she knows and understands the struggles southern Ohio faces. Meadows graduated from Shawnee State University and previously worked as an EMT in Portsmouth when the pill mills opened.
Seeing the impact of these pills on a community had "haunted" Meadows who said she originally decided to run for office to help the impacted families. She said instead of continuing to ask others to do something and help she decided to do it herself.
Since running she has learned about many other issues the community faces such as veteran and miner issues. Meadows said she was very active in the community work to keep the VA medical center open recently and while the facility is open for now she wants to make sure it stays open. By listening and showing she wants to learn Meadows gained the endorsement of The American Federation of Government Employees union, which is the largest federal employee union.
“After getting to know more about Samantha and her campaign, we know that she will fight to protect the VA, Social Security, and union rights,” said AFGE District 6 National Vice President Arnold Scott.
She said going to all the little towns and villages she hopes to represent has also shown her that a lot since many bigger politicians do not visit them as often and hear what they have to say. Meadows promises each place that she will continue to show up and represent them no matter their size.
"I believe deeply that you can't represent people if you don't know people," said Meadows.
Meadows hopes that voters will remember her at the polls and know that wants to make a difference for an area that is often left behind and forgotten about in nationwide politics.
"That is my number one thing, bring attention to the area," said Meadows. "Get the respect that we need, bring the jobs back."
Shelby Reeves is a reporter for the Chillicothe Gazette. You can email her at SReeves@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter @Shelby_Reeves_
This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Local woman vies for Ohio's 2nd District seat
