Daniel Gordon, the Democratic candidate for state representative serving Bowling Green, announced this evening that he will withdraw from the race. In a letter sent out tonight, Gordon stated: “As of this writing, on advice from my doctor, I am ending my campaign for State Representative. Given the current condition of my health, I am not able to continue to campaign effectively, and I will not run unless I can give it my all.”
Gordon’s letter continued, “While I must withdraw from the race, I will never stop advocating for our community. I will continue serving on Bowling Green City Council and doing my best to strengthen our quality of life locally. Part of that service necessarily involves continuing to speak out about how Ohio’s state government has made bad choices that have damaged our quality of life here at home.”
The letter continues to note Ohio’s status in the following areas:
– 1st in highest number of opioid-related deaths
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3rd in highest number of reported hate crimes
– 1st in amount of student tuition debt
– 50th in funding of children’s services (we are literally the worst)
–
45th in college affordability
– 40th in quality of life
– 34th in median household income
– 22nd in education
– 22nd in education
“This is on top of stagnant wages, a weak job record, severe cuts to local government funding, and one of the worst state economies around. There’s no excuse for any of this, and we deserve better,” Gordon wrote. “Our leaders must demand that all of us have access to living wage-paying jobs, quality and affordable education and health care, an end to the opioid epidemic, and adequate state support for education, renewable energy, and children’s and elder services.
“They must prefer cutting corporate welfare instead of cutting financial protections for the working poor. And they must demonstrate good stewardship of taxpayer dollars by finally stopping the annual cuts to local government funding, restoring those funds, and expanding those funds. Because that’s our money.
“So I encourage our next State Representative, whoever that may be in 2019, to use their influence to make things better — to rein in Columbus and stop state government from failing us in Wood County year after year.”
