Dear Editor,

Serving the community I grew up in has been the honor of my lifetime.

What I’ve seen lacking in Columbus is common sense, hard workers and a love for American values — things the Ohio Valley was built on, and things I’ve focused on bringing to Columbus.

The common sense part was my first fight, and I focused on it during my first six months in office. In June 2021, it was my House Concurrent Resolution 21 which ended Ohio’s state of emergency. The concept was pretty simple. Families were struggling and far too many businesses had closed — never to be reopened. I trust Ohioans to make the right decisions for themselves and their families, and I learned that here at home. Bureaucrats in Columbus clearly did not. So I stripped that power away from them, and on June 18, 2021 Ohio’s state of emergency ended.

Hard workers are all around us in the Ohio Valley. This area built our nation. Our steelworkers and tradesmen built buildings and infrastructure with machines powered by energy we harvested in our coal mines, and our farmers worked sun up to sun down making sure the families of the Ohio Valley were well-fed. My family has worked in all those careers, and my parents are first-generation, small business owners who have created hundreds of jobs for eastern Ohio. Responding to the needs of constituents boils down to hard work, and I’m grateful to have learned that skill growing up here in the valley.

A love for American values seemed to have been forgotten in Columbus. On the first day in office, every State Representative swears an oath to uphold both the United States Constitution and the Ohio Constitution. I take that oath very seriously, and I’ve worked hard to ensure my colleagues do the same.

Defend life, liberty and property. Uphold freedom of speech, religion, press and assembly. Protect the right to petition, to bear arms and the due process of law. Those are 10 things that all Americans should agree on, and your elected officials should be fighting to guarantee them.

I’m driven every day to make our community the best it can be, and to use what I learned here in the Ohio Valley, to make the state of Ohio the best it can be. I’m doing that for my wife, my daughter and our second little girl who is due this spring. I’m also doing that for each of you and your families. The people who elected me, and those who instilled common sense and a love for American values in this hard worker from the valley.

My name is Ron Ferguson , and I’m asking for you to re-elect me for a second term as your State Representative.

Ron Ferguson

Wintersville