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STEUBENVILLE -- The three men vying for the 96th District seat in Ohio's House of Representatives share the same goal, but it's the way each would achieve it that sets them apart.
Democrat Richard Olivito, Libertarian Oscar Herrera and Republican Ron Ferguson are vying for the seat. State Rep. Jack Cera, D-Bellaire, was prohibited from seeking reelection because of term limits.
The district includes all of Jefferson and Monroe counties and a portion of Belmont County. House terms are for two years.
∫ Ferguson, 34, is a small business owner who's been active politically, though not as a candidate.
He's worked in several capacities -- most recently as director of staff training -- with Americans for Prosperity, a grassroots organization he said works to spur awareness and "helps pass policies that are good for the American people and good for Ohioans."
As director of staff training, he said he traveled across the country, visiting 36 states, working on things like improving health care for veterans and criminal justice reform -- measures that enjoyed major bi-partisan support.
Legislators "exist to pass good policies," Ferguson said. "I have a good, solid record of helping pass good policies -- the same policies I've worked on passing are the same policies I would have voted for if I were in office. Those are the same kinds of policies you can expect me to be behind if I'm elected -- that's the only reason I worked for passage of them, because I believed in them. I believe they will make this valley a better place."
Ferguson said if he's elected, "When it's important to just stand up for principles and be solid in your foundations, I'm going to fight for what is right."
He said job creation and health care are weighing heavily on the electorate in 2020.
While lawmakers don't create jobs, they do shape policies that can spur economic growth. Ferguson said one of the most important things they can do is streamline bureaucratic red tape.
He also insists too many industries around the state are "being subsidized and propped up" by the citizens of the 96th District.
Ferguson, a Jefferson County native and 2008 Ohio State graduate, lives in Wintersville.
∫ Herrera, 24, sees "a general dissatisfaction" with the Republican and Democratic parties.
"People aren't satisfied with the direction those parties are headed," Herrera said. "As a Libertarian, I'm in neither party but I can represent the best part of the other two parties -- from Republicans, that would be their fiscal response and from Democrats, the social awareness aspects of their policies. Doing so, I'm able to reach out to voters across all spectrums."
As a Libertarian candidate, Herrera has "no Republican base and no Democratic base I can lean on for support." The key, he said, is to "find people willing to listen to what I have to say and convince them to vote."
"There were only 20,000 people who voted for state representative out of 80,000 eligible voters in the district," he pointed out. "Quite a number of them didn't vote, and if you talk to those 60,000 voters I think you'll find they really aren't happy with how Ohio politics is going."
Herrera said the 96th District needs policies that encourage entrepreneurs and organizations to invest in the Ohio Valley. He said he'd like to see tech companies, even green energy and farming.
Herrera said his biggest concern is public apathy.
"People just keep voting for the same type of people in office," he said. "We seem so tied down into our 'tribes' -- Republican or Democrat -- and there's no conversation between the two.
"We need to be united for a better tomorrow. In our small towns, people have more in common -- a strong sense of community and helping one another. We may not have the biggest city in Ohio, but we have a strong sense of community and helping one another and we should be working together, not against each other, for the common good. It's kind of a naive idealism, but I'd rather work toward that than settle for what we have."
Born and raised in San Diego, Herrera moved to Jefferson County about seven years ago and resides in Wintersville.
∫ Olivito, 61, has been consulting on oil and gas issues for the past eight years. He practiced law for 17 years before that with a background in labor law, plus had a three-year stint in the Ohio Department of Labor as in-house counsel for the wage and hour divisions.
"I have the knowledge and an understanding of government," he said. "I have the experience, plain and simple, of dealing with the state Legislature. I didn't just lobby for laws, I literally wrote three laws, (including) the state of Ohio's first minimum wage law in 1988."
He also wrote the proposal for Ohio's teen curfew, "and put it before the labor committee and testified about the need. It took building coalitions to get it enacted."
He said his work on minimum wage and prevailing wages "brought us in contact with small to large corporations. It's a real education to understand not just labor laws, but the importance of labor laws and prevailing wages."
He concedes his legal status is currently not in good standing, but he said he's working on getting it reinstated. He said the disciplinary action stemmed from a bankruptcy case more than a decade ago when a clerk noticed his client had failed to sign in one of five places where a signature is required and suggested he sign in the client's place, so he did, pointing out the document was passed by the bankruptcy judge.
Olivito said the biggest challenge facing the 96th District is jobs.
He said the COVID pandemic has been a major concern across the district, pointing out public health policies and front-line workers have done a good job.
Small businesses are reeling, however, and he said the state needs to make it easier for workers to claim their unemployment due to COVID.
Olivito graduated with honors from Oral Roberts University in 1981, majoring in history and international relations, then enrolled at Ohio Northern University Law School, earning his law degree in 1984.
He lives in Steubenville.