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photo by: Gage Vota

U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, gestures as he speaks with several local and national politicians in St. Clairsville. Also shown is Ohio Sen. Brian Chavez, R-Athens.

U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli held a roundtable discussion Monday with local and national politicians to discuss several issues on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Belmont County Sheriff Dave Lucas opened the meeting by thanking everyone for attending the event even though it was put together quickly. He then introduced Rulli, adding that Rulli, R-Ohio, has been a good friend to Belmont County by frequently being present at commission meetings.

Rulli then discussed how the meeting came about.

“The majority whip, Tom Emmer, reached out to us and said that he is hitting Ohio and Pennsylvania. These are crucial states for us,” Rulli said. “We have a good state senator, Brian (Chavez), with me today and J.P. (Dutton), a county commissioner. There’s so many things to talk about in Belmont County, and I’m just so happy that you’re all here.”

Rulli said one of the most important topics in Belmont County is energy, noting he believes the future of the country relies on energy provided by areas such as Belmont County. He added that he believes there is enough natural gas in Ohio’s 6th Congressional District to supply the world for the next 500 years.

“All of the problems with inflation, all of the Middle Eastern wars all go away. We don’t have our sons and daughters get killed in wars that we don’t care about, and we’re able to get an industry back on track,” he said.

Rulli then spoke about Ohio’s Issue 1, which according to the official language on the upcoming ballot is to create an appointed redistricting commission not elected by or subject to removal by the voters of the state. Rulli claimed Issue 1 is funded by George Soros as well as foreign money from Switzerland with the goal of going around the Ohio House of Representatives as a means to keep people out of power who don’t align with what the people in power believe.

It is important to note that campaign signs urging people to “Vote Yes” and “Vote No” both claim that casting a ballot as they suggest would amount to a vote against gerrymandering.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “Gerrymandering is the practice of dividing or arranging a territorial unit into election districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage in elections.”

Rulli added that he believes Issue 1 is such a horrible issue that even people in the Democratic Party from Michigan are campaigning against it in Ohio.

Rulli introduced U.S. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn. Rulli narrowly defeated Democrat Michael Kripchak in a special election earlier this year to complete the remainder of former Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson’s term after Johnson stepped down to become president of Youngstown State University. Rulli and Kripchak face off again Nov. 5 for a full term in the House.

Emmer said the Republican Party needs to focus on what happens after a win.

“You run to win, but then you got to govern when you win and Republicans have not,” Emmer said. “Let’s just say we’ve disappointed more than we have achieved in the last decade, and our people have had enough.”

He noted he believes former President Donald Trump will win the upcoming election, and stressed the importance of voting.

“If Donald Trump is in the White House and Republicans control the House and the Senate, you’ll get solutions to all of these problems as fast as you can imagine,” he said.