One sure sign that the COVID-19 pandemic is practically behind us is the return of statewide politicians to the Mahoning Valley.

Except for political fundraisers, the only statewide elected official to have news conferences in the area for about a year was Gov. Mike DeWine, and the topic of conversation was the pandemic.

Life in the political world went in a different way. We had a presidential election during it, using Zoom meetings and conference calls to keep abreast of what was happening.

But there’s something refreshing about seeing someone face to face and having a conversation, however quick it may be, after more than a year.

Still, I didn’t expect three of them in a seven-day span.

It all started with Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who came June 23 to Youngstown, first to discuss broadband with local business officials at the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments and then to tour M7 Technologies.

Eastgate gave a presentation on a proposed $12 million broadband internet expansion program for Mahoning, Trumbull and Ashtabula counties, which could reach $15 million if Columbiana County is included.

Husted also said he was confident the Ohio Senate would restore all $250 million in broadband internet grant funding to the state budget that he and Gov. Mike DeWine requested. This was a significant statement as the Senate’s budget had no money for broadband.

The Ohio House had cut the administration’s request to $190 million in its version of the budget.

While the Legislature is controlled by Republicans and DeWine and Husted are also Republicans, there’s been a somewhat cool relationship between the two branches of government, largely stemming from how the pandemic was handled.

But Husted said the Legislature was “very receptive to these changes (for full funding). Gov. DeWine and I have expressed those concerns so I think there’s a growing level of understanding of the need.”

He went even further, saying if the cuts weren’t fully restored, “it would make Ohio a backwards-looking state” and “failure is not an option on this one.”

When the House and Senate voted late Monday on the reconciliation budget, sure enough, the $250 million for broadband was in there. Such an impressive accomplishment shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Then, this week U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, made a couple of stops Monday in Youngstown. A day later, U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, was at a New Middletown business and then the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna.

Brown had previously visited Youngstown’s Covelli Centre on May 6 when it was a COVID-19 vaccination clinic. That was the only time since the start of the pandemic that he came to the Valley before Monday.

For Portman, Tuesday’s local stops were the first in almost a year and a half.

Brown highlighted manufacturing while Portman visited Personal Protected, a New Middletown company that changed its business model and sells high-volume, high-traffic public hand-washing stations after about 50 years of exclusively making concession trailers.

But the big issue facing the Senate now is a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill and a larger, Democratic proposal and what will happen to them.

The two senators had very different thoughts on the proposals.

Brown was confident both would be approved by the Senate. He also called the bipartisan bill “a modest step,” and the nation wants the bigger bill — estimated to cost between $3 trillion and $6 trillion — to be approved.

Portman, who was the lead Republican negotiator on the bipartisan bill, said that proposal is “core infrastructure” and would signal real progress. While saying the bill will pass, he acknowledged it would be challenging “because nothing bipartisan is easy these days.”

As for the bigger Democratic proposal, Portman said he “just can’t see” it “getting through” the Senate.

We’ll have to see who has the best read on their colleagues on these proposals.

Skolnick covers politics for The Vindicator and the Tribune Chronicle.

dskolnick@vindy.com