Accessible.
It's something Tara Samples, candidate for lieutenant governor of Ohio, has always tried to be.
And on Wednesday, the sitting Akron City Councilwoman was exactly that.
In the midst of a two day swing through west central Ohio, Samples, who is on the ticket with former mayor of Cleveland and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, stopped in Wapakoneta for a brief tour of the county seat, and held an open forum with some of the city's brightest and most politically minded students.
It's atypical for a Democratic candidate to stop in a county that is one of the reddest in the state. So atypical, in fact, that Judie Presar, who served as Samples' tour guide on Wednesday, couldn't recall the last time a Democratic candidate for Governor or Lt. Governor stopped in Wapakoneta.
But she was more than happy to welcome Samples to her hometown, and to help bring a different voice to the area.
"I'm very excited that [Samples] is coming by to see something I truly believe in, which is our community," Presar said. "To succeed, as we have done in our community, is based on working together, having each other's backs, supporting each other, blending our politics, not fussing. I feel that we're better together than always standing apart."
Wednesday’s visit had that goal in mind.
Samples’ tour included a brief exploration of the Armstrong Air and Space Museum and a quick buzz through downtown, followed by a trip to the High School, where she met with...
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