YOUNGSTOWN — From voting rights to job creation to empowering workers, a small bipartisan group of national, state and local elected officials have spelled out their top priorities for the Mahoning Valley this year.

“We’re building out ‘Voltage Valley,'” U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Howland, said.

Ryan was referring to the large manufacturers in Lordstown that are producing, or poised to manufacture, electric vehicles — and the additional jobs that will entail.

Continuing to push for good-paying manufacturing jobs was among the priorities Ryan outlined during Saturday’s Virtual Legislative Brunch. Hosting the one-hour online session was the League of Women Voters of Greater Youngstown, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to educating and empowering voters as well as encouraging active and informed participation in government.

Specifically, Ryan, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, touted the impact on the Valley that companies such as Foxconn Technology Group, Lordstown Motors Corp. and Fisker Inc. will have on the local job market and manufacturing sector.

Foxconn, a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer and high-tech firm, is negotiating a deal with LMC that, if approved, would likely lead to the manufacture of the Personal Electric Automotive Revolution (PEAR), a smaller electric vehicle. Fisker is the Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based manufacturer that is designing the vehicle.

Last May, Foxconn finalized an agreement with Fisker to assemble the PEAR.

Ryan also noted that the manufacturing activity in Lordstown will require additional roads, bridges and sanitary sewer connections, the combination of which will mean “potentially thousands of jobs right before us,” he said.

He also said the problem of fentanyl overdoses and deaths in the Valley must be further addressed. To that end, Ryan called for stiffer tariffs on China, saying that much of the fentanyl originates from that country before it enters the U.S.

Locally, it’s vital to continue funding police departments and ensuring enough addiction and treatment centers are set up for victims of the epidemic, Ryan continued.

He also advocated for legislation that removes intentionally placed hurdles for voting that disproportionately affect minorities and others who tend to vote democratic, along with providing tax cuts for most working people, not just the wealthiest 1 percent. Along those lines, he debunked the trickle-down economics theory, which claims that tax breaks for corporations and those at the top of the economic ladder will eventually trickle down to benefit everyone else. No evidence has shown that to be true, he said.

In addition, Ryan called for expanding Medicare, negotiating for lower pharmaceutical drug prices and having the savings benefit Social Security, and ensuring that “government is on the side of working people.”

Pat Lowry, a spokesman for Ryan, noted that nearly $93 million from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which the Ohio Department of Transportation will disburse, will go toward bridge repairs in the state, though he was unable to determine which ones after reviewing ODOT’s website.

Also, workforce-development efforts are gaining traction at Youngstown State University and throughout the Valley, which has a large “untapped labor force,” Lowry said.

State Rep. Michele Lepore Hagan, D-Youngstown, said she is sponsoring Ohio House Bills 209 and 296. HB 209 would require county boards of elections to provide secure drop boxes for ballots; HB 296 would revise voter registration and the conduct of elections while mirroring a Colorado piece of legislation that proposes to increase security and ease for voting.

Lepore Hagan also lambasted some state Republicans, saying they tried to “skirt the law” by devising a map to redraw congressional districts that unfairly favor that party and are unconstitutional because they are tantamount to gerrymandering.

Last week, the Ohio Supreme Court’s 4-3 vote against the GOP-drawn districts means the state Legislature will have up to 30 days to come up with a fairer, more representational map than that the court struck down Friday. If that fails, the seven-member Ohio Redistricting Commission would have an additional 30 days to produce such a map.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, a Republican, joined the three Democrats, Jennifer Brunner, Melody Stewart and Michael Donnelly, in the vote.

A representative for U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, said Portman will push for expanded broadband internet in the state’s urban and rural areas, and that he will continue to work toward combatting the opioid epidemic and human trafficking.

To that end, Portman supports the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act, designed to reduce the quantity of fentanyl shipped to Ohio via the U.S. Postal Service.

Portman, who also sits on the Senate Finance Committee, chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which recently released a bipartisan report on an 18-month investigation that details how drug traffickers often exploit a loophole that makes it easier to use the Postal Service to illegally ship fentanyl and other synthetic drugs into the U.S. from China.

The senator also supports early voting, but believes voting issues should be in states’ hands, his representative continued.

In addition, Portman voted in favor of an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, the representative noted.

A representative for U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, said Brown wanted people to know that the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol “is a reminder of how fragile our democracy is,” and that efforts to fight voter-suppression bills must continue. Doing so is a good way to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, Brown added.

Previously, Brown stated he was disappointed that it was necessary for the Ohio Supreme Court to vote against Republican-drawn districts. The move could have been avoided had the state GOP followed the constitutional mandate voters wanted, he said.

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