Democrat Tamie Wilson is running against Republican Jim Jordan to represent Ohio’s 4th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district includes Richland and Ashland counties.
MANSFIELD — Democrat Tamie Wilson from Delaware, a candidate to represent Ohio’s 4th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, stopped at Idea Works for a conversation on Monday afternoon about her campaign.
The 26-minute interview was conducted with Richland Source City Editor Carl Hunnell. Below is the balance of that conversation, which has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Our discussion with Tamie Wilson, 50, the Democratic Party’s candidate to represent Ohio’s 4th District in the U.S. House, touched on a variety of issues, using some of the questions developed by author and reporter Amanda Ripley as a way of cutting through conflict with questions that “complicate the narrative.”
Ripley’s work is aimed at helping reporters and editors dig beneath people’s positions and get to their motivations, to cover conflict more thoughtfully, to “revive complexity in a time of false simplicity.”
Jim Jordan, Ripley’s opponent, has also been invited to meet with Richland Source reporters at Idea Works in downtown Mansfield.
Richland Source: What issues do you think divide residents in the 4th Congressional District the most these days?
Tamie Wilson: I would say that the 2020 election is probably at the top of the list there. I think there has been a lot of misinformation and disinformation about the election. There’s been unfair information that has led people to believe certain things that aren’t true, that are not factual. I think that hurts us as a society.
Richland Source: When we talk about these issues, such as the 2020 election, or whether we’re talking about issues from today’s campaign, where do you turn for reliable information and where do you think the average voter in the 4th District can turn for reliable information?
Tamie Wilson: I look at different sources from all over. I don’t just get my news from Fox News or certain medias. I look at world news. I look at our local news. I look at national news. I think it’s important to get different perspectives.
I would rather have more factual-based news than opinion-based. It is America (and) everyone has an opinion. But I would really like to see our news get back to the days where they were based on facts, rather than so much opinion. I think that we need to reinstate our old media laws (the FCC Fairness Doctrine) that we had back in the 1980s before they overturned them, where they had to have equal representation.
I don’t know why anyone hasn’t done that yet. I think it’s really vital, especially now.
Richland Source: Are there answers being suggested by politicians or elected officials that are being oversimplified? Answers that sound really good, but we’re oversimplifying it?
Tamie Wilson: I think we complicate too much. What I mean by that is I’m already writing three bills. Those bills are very much about common sense … putting in legislation what we need … that is actually going to create the change that we really need … rather than throwing everything in the kitchen sink in the darn thing.
The farm bill is a perfect example of that. I go to different Farm Bureau meetings and meet with different farmers around the district. A lot of them don’t support the Farm Bill and I ask why. They’re like, ‘The SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Benefits) benefits,’ because the SNAP benefits are wrapped into the farm legislation.
And I said, ‘OK, well, what do you want to see in the bill?’ They can’t answer that question because they’re so bombarded with what they should hate about it. So they don’t pass it. They can’t even give me just the nuts and bolts of what they really want to see. I find that disturbing … here’s people that are struggling, that could really use a lot of aspects of that bill. But they are turned off about it because of the SNAP benefits being wrapped up into it.
That bothers me. I think if we stuck to the nuts and bolts of the issue, of what we really need done, I think that we would pass a lot more (legislation) and improve more lives quicker. I don’t think we would have so much back and forth.
SNAP benefits should fall under something else … family enrichment or something. Keep the farm bill just about farming. We need to do more to support our farmers. Their concern is about future farmer generations coming down the line and retirement. I mean, there’s so many aspects of things that we need to do to support them right now. There’s only three seed suppliers. There’s only four meatpackers and they have such a monopoly on everything.
We’re not supposed to have monopolies on anything, but I mean, look at the cable companies, you know? So those are things that I would advocate for and fight for. The part that bothers me is the current representative, great talking head, but no solutions … there’s never anything.
This is what we need to do. You never hear that … it’s just gripe, gripe, gripe, but there’s never anything offered. I sit and think about, ‘OK, what is the core issue?’ We need to address core issues and then we can get the change that we need. Let’s fix the real issue, the real core problem. Then we can get the change that we really want and need.
And then people won’t hate the government so much. Everyone’s so frustrated because they don’t think the government works well. It doesn’t work because the people that you’re electing aren’t working for you. That’s where I do want to do … work for the people. I care about people, all people and that’s important to me.
Richland Source: You’re running as a Democrat in a district that’s seemingly been designed by Republicans for Republicans. Is there any common ground, are there any areas or positions that are taken by the Republican Party that make sense to you?
Tamie Wilson: I am a U.S. citizen. I’m an American. I was reading the Pledge of Allegiance that came to mind it says ‘indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.’ We are so divided now more than ever.
They just took away liberty from women and we all know that the justice system isn’t just for all people. So one of my goals is to be as bipartisan as possible and just be for all people. I want to represent everyone.
I support the police. I support the 2nd Amendment. I am extremely fiscally conservative. I beat my primary opponent (Jeffrey Sites) with less than $5,000. He raised a million dollars. He had a team of experts. He had three or four other candidates who had ran against Jim Jordan, helping him out.
I had me, myself and I … and a part-time volunteer that quit a month before (the primary) because he had a personal health crisis. But I am resourceful and strategic and I think we need more people like that.
I think our government wasted so much money with COVID relief. I think the money should have gone to people that really needed it. I’m a small-business owner. I had to shut my business down when COVID hit and I didn’t get any money back because I didn’t fall under their parameters for all the financial help.
I’m like, if I — a single mom, a small business owner, if they can’t help me — then who the hell are they helping?
So it might look good on paper, but you need to understand the divide here … how it actually resonates to the people, to the public. That’s really what kind of launched my whole reason for running. I just think they’re too far divided.
I’ve had to think about, ‘So today I need to go here, here and here.’ So let me strategize how I’m gonna drive there and gas and food for the week. So I can relate to everyone’s struggles personally and professionally. Someone whose net worth is $21 million now … I don’t think that they can really relate to that.
Richland Source: If you win, there is a chance your party could be in the minority in the House. If that happens, how do you plan to work across the aisle?
Tamie Wilson: We need representatives that are going to be bipartisan. We’re not always gonna have control of the House and Senate and presidents come and go. But you still need someone in there that’s gonna fight for you no matter who’s in office.
That’s where I believe my personal and professional skills come into play. I have personable skills to relate to people on a human level and professional level. I have the sales experience and persuasion to help swing people over to different opinions that they may not have considered before. I think that’s really advantageous, rather than just being so chaotic and divisive. That gets no one nowhere.
We need to get back to where people can work from both sides. It’s really important.
Richland Source: When Republicans go to the polls on Nov. 8, what would you want them to know about you that perhaps they don’t know now?
Tamie Wilson: I love my country, our country. I am extremely patriotic. My grandpa served in World War II. I was married to a Marine. I’ve got two uncles named after presidents.
I think character and democracy matter. I think that’s the biggest thing. I think we need to get back to the United States, not the divided states, and democracy and liberty and justice for all … all these things matter. And they’re really lost right now.
There’s a saying in business … get back to basics … and we need to get back to basics and reunite the country. I hate how divided it is. That’s another thing that got me into running is that it’s just so divided. There’s so much hate and rhetoric and chaos.
I’m a very cool, calm, collected, get-it-done, girl. And I went to serve the people. Those are the main things that I think are really important.
Richland Source: Are there any issues in which you and Jim Jordan see eye to eye? What do you think he gets right?
Tamie Wilson: I don’t think he gets anything right. He’s always voting against Ohio. He voted against the CHIPS Act, which would bring 10,000 jobs, (and) $20 billion to Ohio. He voted against that. How can he vote against that? No, we do not agree.
He covered for sexual abuse (as an assistant wrestling coach at The Ohio State University). I can’t get past that. If you cannot be on the right side of sexual abuse, of all things, then you have no character, you have no backbone to be able to stick up for the Constitution.
Richland Source: What’s the one question thus far in your campaign that nobody’s asked you that you really wish they would?
Tamie Wilson: That I don’t have a chance. I think that would be the biggest one. There’s the experts that have their predictions and I just think it’s pretty humorous. I think people are underestimating women. They’re underestimating me. I think it will bite them in the end and I cannot wait to see that happen.
Richland Source: What are the primary or earliest kind of life events that help to shape your views as an adult?
I’m biracial. So I’ve experienced racism from Blacks and Whites. That has been the most influential aspect of my early life. I could not understand how people could hate someone just because of the color of their skin on both sides. I’m not Black enough for Black people or White enough for White people.
I’ve had Christians tell me, ‘You shouldn’t have been born.’ I was born out of sin, ‘but I guess it’s not your fault.’ How do you speak to a child like that? I mean, it’s just cruel.
My grandma, God love her, she would scrub my knee. ‘Why is your knee so dirty?’ she would ask. I’m like, ‘They’re not dirty, grandma.’ And she goes, ‘Well, why are they so dark? And I said, ‘Well, my mommy says that’s my daddy’s blood.’
So I’ve got the redneck, hillbilly Trump supporters on one side of my family and then I’ve got, you know, ghetto fabulous on the other.
Fast-forward 20 years and they’re playing cards together until 2, 3, and 4 in the morning on the weekends. All of them — my grandma, my aunt, my uncle, my mom and dad. So I’ve seen the divide in my own family.
That’s why I feel I’m the perfect candidate for right now, given the climate of our country. I can relate to everyone. Literally. I understand how they think and feel. I’ve seen it in my own family. I know people are frustrated.
Richland Source: It seems clear that Ohio voters are now more divided than ever on some fundamental cultural principles. What does all this distrust come from?
Tamie Wilson: I think a lot of it has to do with the internet and in the media, on both sides. Part of my platform is the social engineering … cyber security. I think that the internet, although wonderful, it’s like the monster that grew out of control.
Just like we have some guidelines on TV of things that you can say or cannot say, we need to have some guidelines for the internet. We just have to … it is dividing and ruining our country.
I’m really concerned about that. There are children and seniors at risk for predators. There’s so much that we can do. I’ve actually met with cybersecurity experts that are kind of guiding me. I’m writing a bill about that.
The media … there’s things that we need to do with the media. Get away from all the opinions and let’s get back to factual news. But I think part of the problem is you have too much news. We don’t need 24/7 news. You know what I mean? That’s where you have issues … they have got to fill the airways.
Richland Source: Speaking of the media, what does it get wrong when it labels candidates either ultraliberal or ultra conservative?
Tamie Wilson: That’s what I think is unfair. The way they’re talking about (Jordan), they don’t even address me. I will write op-eds or I will write press releases. They’ll say everything in it, but they don’t give me credit for it. But then they have Jim Jordan on every single day. It’s so aggravating.
I think it is toxic for them to pigeonhole people. Again, that’s divisive language. Why do that to that candidate or to the country? Use their name and report about what they’re talking about, what’s important to them. What is on their platform? It’s up to us as a country to unite and stop all of the divisiveness and rhetoric that’s going on across the board.
Richland Source: Speaking of divisiveness, if Jim Jordan was sitting here with us now, what could you two say to each other that would maybe broker that divide?
Tamie Wilson: I would say that everyone loves their family. You would hope anyway, and everyone hopefully loves our country. I think that it’s important for us to unite our country. He probably wouldn’t agree with that part, but the love of family and country, I think that everyone can get behind.
Richland Source: Tell us about your background. Have you run for office before?
Tamie Wilson: No, I am not a politician.
I was born in Columbus and grew up in Westerville. I went to Otterbein University and studied psychology and marketing. I want to go to law school.
I’ve always wanted to help people. Even at an early age, my parents would call me the child advocate. I used to volunteer at that time to help (other students). I want to help people live happier, healthier lives. That is just who I am at the core of my being.
I don’t know if that comes from me being biracial. I was bullied as a child. I was called names and had just cruel, cruel things said to me, But I’ve always had to look past it to see that only someone hurting or someone ignorant would be so cruel, you know? So I would always think, ‘Well, what could be done to help them?’ That’s who I am.
I want to represent women, we make up over 50 percent of the population, (but) 24 percent in the Senate and 26 percent in the House. And typically only 30 percent at the local and state government level.
We need more women in office. We need to be at the table where decisions are being made about our lives. My aunt was murdered from domestic violence. I’m a survivor of domestic violence. Women still are not paid what they deserve.
There’s so many issues, but they’re not addressed because there’s no one really fighting for them. It’s a bunch of men up there. They don’t really care. Not that they don’t care, but that’s not their driving factor that they’re like, ‘I’m getting up and fighting for women’s rights every day.’
That’s not what they think about, That is what I think about … women, children, minorities, seniors, LGBTQ. I care about all people. There’s so many people that are underrepresented that feel lost and forgotten and it’s not right.
Justice for all. Liberty for all. It’s not just certain people. And I think we need to get back to that.
