The Chagrin Valley Times
Matt Dolan, currently a state senator, announced his bid for the U.S. Senate last week. After going on a statewide listening tour this summer, state Sen. Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls, determined that he could win the U.S. Senate race. His experience and positive results resonated with the residents of Ohio, he said, and Republicans are looking for someone who can get things done.
U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, will not seek re-election when his term ends in December of 2022. Other Republican challengers include Josh Mandel, Jane Timken, Bernie Moreno, J.D. Vance and Mike Gibbons. The Democrats running for the seat are U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, of District 13, and Morgan Harper, former senior adviser at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
“People want someone who understands how the government can provide an environment for businesses to grow and for people to get back to work. We’ve got to feel secure not just on our southern border but in our neighborhoods,” Sen. Dolan, 56, said. “At the end of the day, I think they saw me as a problem solver and not a rock thrower.”
The top two issues that constituents brought up during the summer listening tour were the economy and security. Employers want to know that there will be a workforce ready and willing to fill their vacancies, rather than having a federal government that pays people to stay home, Sen. Dolan said.
As chairman of the Finance Committee in the state senate, Sen. Dolan worked on budgets. In his budgets, he said he created avenues for students to succeed at a four-year university or receive a trade certification for welders, electricians and healthcare professionals. To ensure that Americans have jobs, Sen. Dolan said he would incentivize making sure that trade deals are good for American workers.
“We’ve got to stand up to China,” he said. “I would look to be creating new markets outside of China in Vietnam, Indonesia [and] India. A lot of what China offers can be offered in those countries and we can create new trade partners with them, which would hurt China.”
Sen. Dolan said that the border with Mexico is a concern for his constituents. There was a plan under former President Donald Trump’s administration, he said, but the Republicans in office could not pass it into law, then the plan disappeared under President Joseph Biden’s administration. Evidence shows that the deadly drug fentanyl comes over the southern border, Sen. Dolan said.
“It’s been a disaster and people feel unsafe,” he said. “We don’t know who’s coming into our country and what they’re bringing into our country.”
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