Two household names will appear on the ballots in Ohio’s 8th Congressional District this November.
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson, a Republican who has represented the district since 2016, is running for re-election against Democrat Vanessa Enoch. Davidson and Enoch also ran against each other in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
Early voting in Ohio begins on October 8. Here’s what you need to know about both candidates.
Who is running for Ohio’s 8th Congressional District?
Republican Representative Warren Davidson is running for re-election against the Democrat Vanessa Enoch for Ohio’s 8th congressional district.
The district includes Butler, Preble and Darke counties. It also includes neighborhoods on the west side of Hamilton County such as Cheviot, Finneytown, North College Hill, Wyoming and Forest Park.
Is the district Democrat or Republican?
Davidson won re-election in 2022 with 65% of the vote.
Who is Vanessa Enoch?
This is Enoch’s fourth time running for Congress. The 54-year-old Democrat owns a Cincinnati-based management consulting firm and has a varied career history. She previously worked as a chemical dependency counselor, paralegal supervisor, business analyst and more, according to her campaign website.
Enoch has a doctorate in public policy and social change from the private, nonprofit Union Institute & University, which, among other things, closed its Walnut Hills campus in June after years of financial troubles. She also earned degrees from The Ohio State University and Xavier University.
She is a widow, has two daughters and has lived in West Chester for twenty years.
Who is Warren Davidson?
Davidson, 54, has represented Ohio’s 8th Congressional District since 2016. He serves on the House Financial Services Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He was expelled from the Republican House Freedom Caucasus in June after supporting the chairman’s opponent for Congress.
Before becoming a Congressman, Davidson worked in the manufacturing industry, including running the family business of West Troy Tool, in Troy, Ohio. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Notre Dame
Davidson is also an Army veteran. As an officer, he led the 75th Ranger Regiment, the 101st Airborne Division and the 3d US Infantry Regiment, also known as The Old Guard.
The Ohio native has been married to his wife Lisa for almost thirty years. The couple has two children.
What congressional district am I in?
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Where do I vote?
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On the issues: Davidson and Enoch on the economics
On her campaign website, Enoch said she supports jobs that “look toward the future,” such as Intel’s factories in New Albany. She also pledged to promote quality public, higher and vocational education and reduce health care costs.
Davidson co-sponsored a bill that would exempt tips from income taxes. On his campaign website, he said he opposes cutting Social Security benefits for current recipients, but that the government must “fix” the program for future generations.
In addition to serving on the House Financial Services Committee, Davidson also helped create the Sound Money Caucus, which focuses on fiscal and monetary policy and preserving the value of the U.S. dollar.
Immigration
Enoch wants to create a path to citizenship for people who have lived in the U.S. for decades and points to immigration reform as a possible solution to the labor shortage.
Davidson supports building a border wall and denying state and federal funding to what he called “sanctuary cities.”
He also supports a new conditional three-year visa program for people who want to live, work or go to school in the United States. This program would eliminate visa holders’ eligibility for income-restricted government programs and unemployment benefits. revoked if the person has committed a crime.
Access to abortion
Davidson is against abortion. He supports the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, a House bill that would require health care providers to provide life-saving care to babies born alive after an abortion attempt.
He also co-sponsored a bill that would cut federal funding to universities that host a school-based service that provides abortion care.
Enoch pledged on its website to defend abortion care and other reproductive health care. She is also against a national abortion ban.
Education
Davidson co-sponsored a bill in 2023 to eliminate the Department of Education. He opposes class-based loan forgiveness unless funding for those loans has been requested and allocated for that purpose.
He also supported a bill that would ban schools from allowing transgender students to participate on sports teams affiliated with their organization declared gender identity.
Enoch’s positions on education include strengthening vocational education and closing the technology gap for students.
Other national, local issues
Enoch says on its website “there is no good reason for civilians to own weapons of war.” She supports gun laws that eliminate bump stocks and similar gun modifiers.
Davidson opposes red flag laws and magazine bans. The only gun-buying restrictions he supports apply to people convicted of a gun crime, deemed legally dangerous to themselves or others, or to non-U.S. citizens.
If elected, Enoch would be the first Black person and woman to represent Ohio’s 8th Congressional District. On her campaign website, she said she would bring representation and change to issues facing Black Americans, such as over-surveillance, racial profiling, denied access to loans and other inequities.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio’s 8th district: Meet Warren Davidson and Vanessa Enoch
