Smith, who is completing his second master’s degree, will be running on a platform that stresses environmental issues, support for education and protection for working families.
Ohio University Graduate Student Senate President Eddie Smith has turned his gaze statewide. On Monday, Smith announced his bid for the 94th District of the Ohio House of Representatives.
Smith is running as a Democrat for the representative seat held by Democrat Debbie Phillips, whose time at the Statehouse will end in December 2016 because of term limits, according to a previous Post report.
Having grown up in Martins Ferry, Smith moved to Athens in 2008 to attend OU, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology, and is now completing an additional master’s in public administration, according to his website.
During his tenure at OU, Smith has served as a leader in student government as well as on a number of university committees, where he “has consistently advocated against tuition hikes and fee increases,” according to a news release sent Monday. Smith said his college experience was a major factor in his decision to run, adding that among current candidates, he is “best qualified to represent higher education concerns.”
In the news release, Smith said he was concerned about the impact of “irresponsible oil and gas firms” on small Ohio communities.
Smith said in the release he was “especially worried” after recently seeing the Republican candidate for the seat, Abe Alassaf, supporting fracking in Wayne National Forest at an Athens community meeting.
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“My direct experiences with what irresponsible oil and gas firms can do to small communities make me especially concerned about the opportunities we are going to have to replace Debbie Phillips,” Smith said in the news release. “I don’t think Abe Alassaf and the Republican candidates are accurately capturing what people in our district care about. I don’t think people in our district want less government and less spending. I think they want the right types of government and the right types of spending.”
Neither Smith nor Alassaf have officially filed with the Athens County Board of Elections to run for the seat. The deadline is Dec. 16.
In addition to addressing issues of higher education and environmental policy, according to Smith’s website, he hopes to “create clean energy jobs, increase K-12 funding and decrease college tuition, and ensure hard working families continue to receive the rights and protections they deserve on the job.”
“Most of all, I want to get involved because I think Ohioans are growing tired of business-as-usual from their government, and Ohio could really benefit from some youthful minds and fresh perspectives in the Statehouse,” Smith said in the news release.
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