DAYTON, Ohio — Ahead of Election Day, Democrat Alaina Shearer spoke exclusively with Spectrum Washington bureau reporter Taylor Popielarz about her race against Congress Troy Balderson (R, 12th Congressional District).
You can watch the full, uncut conversation above or read the full transcript below.
And you can watch the full report on the race in the 12th Congressional District by clicking here.
Taylor Popielarz: I want to start off with a pretty cliche question I’ve been asking all of the opponents who are challenging incumbents. At a time when Congress is viewed so unfavorably, why do you want this job?
Alaina Shearer: It’s a really good question. And I asked myself the same one when deciding whether or not to run. I want to change that. We all deserve better. The American people must be able to have faith that those who they elect are there for them, not special interests, not corporations. And we all have to step up however we can and change it and be the change that we wish to see. And in my life professionally, and personally, I’ve always been a truth seeker and a change maker and a change agent. And it’s something that I love doing. And the other thing I love is bringing people together, bringing people together from both sides of any kind of debate or argument, maybe because I’m one of six kids, I was in the middle, and I always had to make sure everybody got along to get us to the, you know, to the means — that it’s the means to the end. And right now it’s broken. And it’s not working for so many of us, it’s not working for my small business. It’s not working for my family and my neighbors and my community. And so we’ve all got to throw our hat in. We need more of us there to change it, and to change and shake up this system that’s obviously gone awry.
Taylor Popielarz: Since you’re a first-time candidate, what was the moment that it clicked with you that, hey, maybe I do want to run for office? Can you point to a specific moment?
Alaina Shearer: I had never considered this before. It was not in my life plan. So I had been a reporter, I went on from that into digital media after becoming a single mom. I actually taught myself digital and tech, and from there built a National Women’s Network. And I was swept up in this work from 2016 until August of 2019, when one of the women in my network messaged me and she said, h ey, you should run for Congress. And I said, no, that’s completely — no. You’re out of your mind. And she planted the seed and she kept pushing. She said, no really, you’ve got to do this, and you can win. And there’s a path to victory in District 12. And then my husband was walking by and I said, hey, honey, somebody thinks I should run for Congress. And I thought he was going say the same thing, but he came right up and he’s like, ah, yes, you have to do this. And if you don’t, I will. And he was serious. He kept calling my bluff. And it took about three weeks, the decision making process because again, I wasn’t planning on it, came out of nowhere. And when push came to shove, we sat down with the kids and we said what do you guys think? And I thought the kids were going to relieve me of this patriotic duty and say, no way, mom, we don’t want you in D.C. You know, we want — just no. It was the opposite. Their faces were filled with hope, joy. But there was this other emotion that I saw. It was relief. They were relieved. And they were also true believers that I could win, you know, because I’m their mom, they think I can do anything. But when it came down to it, I’m running because my country, this country I love so much, this state I love so much — I know Ohio. I’m born and raised here within this district and living a little bit outside of it for high school and college in Athens. But this is my home, and I’m willing to defend it, and to defend it against guys like my opponent. So at the end of the day, the click for me was, this is not okay. He does not deserve the seat. And I’ve got to fight for it. And I want to fight for my country. And that took about three weeks. It was about a three week process where it clicked and I made the decision. And I know, I believe in my heart that any of you would have done the same thing. If you had, you know, all of us — this is something we would all do because we love this country so much.
Taylor Popielarz: Back in 2018 when Congressman Balderson was a first-time candidate for Congress himself, he and Danny O’Connor had two tight races, obviously in the span of just a couple of months. I’m curious what you learned from Danny O’Connor’s race? I guess what lessons learned either good or bad?
Alaina Shearer: Hindsight is 2020. And even though Danny lost by just 1,680 votes in the special election, we were able to learn so much about that race, which has given us a strategic advantage. And we’ve learned that there were areas of this district that needed more attention. And whether that is through digital communication or through personal visits by me as the candidate. So that’s a strategy that we have been implementing for a year now. And we’ve also learned that when when you run a race with a lot of money on both sides, it doesn’t substitute for, you know, the momentum that we’re feeling right now. And one big contrast between our race and the 2018 race that we’re looking at is that 84% of our campaign contributions are coming from within Ohio. And these are mostly small dollar contributions. And we have over 5,000 unique donors now. The momentum is huge. And we hear from Republicans, moderates, Independents, and of course, our Democrats who are behind my candidacy, and you just feel that momentum. This is something born of the people and for us versus, you know, a race that is something you might see in a movie. You know, that race was something else.
Taylor Popielarz: Yeah. When you’re introducing yourself to voters, be it virtually or in-person, what are the top two or three legislative priorities you try to sell them on? You say these will be kind of my top to-do list if I were to get elected.
Alaina Shearer: The first and foremost thing that we will be working on in January is a COVID containment strategy. We have to contain the virus in order to see an economic recovery. And until we have that contained, we cannot move forward and save and rescue our small businesses, which are struggling. In Delaware, in my hometown, 20 at last count — and this was a month and a half ago, so we’ll have to keep track of it — but 20% of small businesses were closed permanently. 20%. The other thing that we’re seeing is for our hardworking Ohio families, an immense amount of financial burden on them as they try to get through this financially, and their debts are growing. So we need relief. And until we have a containment strategy, the federal government — if you’re not going to give us a containment strategy, you’ve got to give us a relief package. And we bought that runway in the spring. We all did. I’m a mom, I’ve got four kids. We hunkered down, kept them home from school, it affected my business tremendously. We all did our part. And the federal government, our leaders in Washington, completely blew that runway to contain it. So COVID-19 containment. The second thing is obviously health care, and it’s all wrapped up in COVID, as millions of Americans are losing their health care coverage when they’re losing their jobs. So the health care crisis is now front and center. We’ve been avoiding it now for four years. We need to get back to work on restoring and expanding the Affordable Care Act and perfecting it because it’s not perfect. And then the third thing is equality and justice for all. So I spent the past four years fighting for women’s equality within one particular industry. But what I learned in that experience is that we have the tools we need as a society to make sure that we have checks within every system to fight against racism and sexism and classism and ageism. And these isms exist, there’s no denying that. We all experience it. So that’s something that I want to get to work on immediately. Above all of that, though, my experience as a reporter for seven years of my life at the beginning of my career, and then later, a digital communications expert, have shown me and put me in a unique position to recognize the threat to our democracy right now due to disinformation and social media profiting off of this misinformation. Profiting — Facebook just now saying that they’re going to cut political ads after this election. They’re waiting until November 3. Just now this week banning QAnon forums from their platform. That should have been done years ago. So you know, everyone deserves free speech, but companies cannot profit off of hate. So I’d really love to get into that.
Taylor Popielarz: I’ve read that when it comes to health care, you’re not calling for Medicare for All, you’re saying let’s put a public option in and build on the Affordable Care Act. As you go throughout this district, I’m curious because it is a district that has elected a Republican for so long, are you having to explain to people like listen, I’m a moderate, you know, I’m not crazy, crazy left wing? Or are you going out there and saying, this is who I am, kind of embrace me whether you like it or not?
Alaina Shearer: Well, it’s an interesting situation because, you know, we’re home most of the time. I get to meet friends on the weekend when we have campaign events. But what we’re hearing online and our comments on social is that attack of, you know, there’s why aren’t you for Medicare for All? And then there are, from the right, you’re socialist. You’re a Democrat, so you’re a socialist. And nothing could be further from the truth on both ends. So first of all, I am for health care for all, for all of us. My father was a physician and he taught me that everyone deserves the basic dignity of being able to see a doctor and not have those bills afterwards that you can’t cover. Not have to be worried about that over their own health and their own health care. And what we have got to do as a nation is make sure that every single person has health care they can afford, and that every single one of us has an option we prefer. And in the Affordable Care Act, with rapid expansion of Medicare and Medicaid, we can do that. And again, it’s not perfect, but going straight to Medicare for All, which I am against just because of the pragmatism of — we need a solution yesterday. We have been through so much as a country, I cannot imagine a world in which we could immediately pass Medicare for All and see that come to fruition in a practical way for people. We’re too divided, we’re too fragile, so let’s work with what we have and build upon it. And we can never say never to new ideas, though. We have to innovate and we have to innovate within the health care industry. To those who call me a socialist on the far right, as soon as they meet me, as soon as they read my website, as soon as they see my family ties to this district which go way back, you know, they come around. And nothing warms my heart more than hearing from Republicans who are excited to vote for me. Because, you know what, we agree on more than we disagree on. We do. And Ohioans are so good at compromise in order to get to, you know, that end goal that we have, but we don’t compromise on our values. And that’s why Ohioans have always, you know, we choose the president, we’re the populist state, and it would be my job as a representative of such a diverse district to represent all of those voices, not just one far right extreme as my opponent is doing currently.
Taylor Popielarz: So do you describe yourself in general as a moderate Democrat? Or would you say you’re more progressive?
Alaina Shearer: You know, one of my campaign friends who I’ve met along the way read my website and described me as a progressive capitalist, which I really liked.
Taylor Popielarz: That’s interesting.
Alaina Shearer: That is interesting. It was new to me. I hadn’t heard that before. But that seems to be the thing that fits. Labels — I am not a person who tolerates labels much. You know, for all of us, we have Democrats, Republicans, and we have everything in between. But yes, I’m definitely — if you’re going put a label on me, I would say moderate, but progressive on the social issues.
Taylor Popielarz: This district, as we we’re talking about, has had a Republican in office for a long time. Last time a Democrat was in was in the early 80s. I’m curious as you’re interacting with voters, how you’re approaching situations where somebody says, well listen, we’ve had Republicans, we’ve been fairly satisfied with them, John Kasich had this seat and he was in office for a long time. Pat Tiberi. So I guess, how are you approaching it and saying, now is the time for change and to kind of stray from what this area has known for so long?
Alaina Shearer: You’re right. There have been eight men named John representing this district, but not one woman yet. And we haven’t had a Democrat in the seat for 37 years. When I hear that — I actually hear more, how can you win? When he couldn’t — when Danny couldn’t last time. How can you do this? And now what I’m hearing more is, oh my gosh you’re going to win. It looks like you’re going to win. And I think the reason for that is, is that the Republican Party has evolved and the Republican Party today, the Republican Party that Troy Balderson is adamantly representing — he votes with Trump 95% of the time — that’s not the Republican Party of John Kasich. That’s not the Republican Party of Ronald Reagan. And the voters in this district recognize that and they see that our country is changing, and their minds are changing along with it.
Taylor Popielarz: Do you think it’s helped that Kasich is backing Biden? Has that helped your race in particular, just because he was representing this district for so long?
Alaina Shearer: That’s a really good question. I don’t know if it’s helped us directly, but I think it does tell you a lot about District 12. District 12 had Kasich in office for what how many terms, four or something —
Taylor Popielarz: I think it was like 19 years.
Alaina Shearer: It was a long time. And you know, and then Tiberi was also, you know, following in Kasich’s footsteps. And then now we have Balderson, who’s as far right as they can come. That doesn’t work in this district, so I think that’s the takeaway for us, is look at this district, look at the past, look at who has represented this district and towed that moderate line for the sake of the people here, because of how diverse they are. And then look at what Troy Balderson is doing. And it doesn’t fit here. It doesn’t work here. And he’s not representing a majority of us.
Taylor Popielarz: Balderson will argue, when I’ve spoken with him, especially based off his committee assignments in Congress, he’s on what are more traditionally the bipartisan committees in the House like Small Business, Infrastructure, Agriculture, which is obviously important to parts of this district. And he will say through the work I’m doing with that, I’m able to kind of be that moderate voice to represent all aspects of the district, from the small business owners to the farmers and beyond. What do you say to that?
Alaina Shearer: I say he’s completely out of touch with his constituents in this district. And you can see that in the fact that he does not show up for the people of this district when called upon for a number of issues. So those issues that he’s pointing to are natural, bipartisan issues, and when it comes though to the issues that have divided us and left us in this state of hating our own neighbors, which is a place no one wants to be, he takes those divisive stances. So whether it is joining the call to the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, whether it is voting against equal pay for women, you can go down the list and his voting record is not reflective of what people want here. So he can say that he’s working across and in the middle, but those are logical middle areas when it comes to the part where we really truly do have to see reforms. Universal background checks, that’s something that he has voted against, even though a majority of Ohioans, 84%, 85% of us support that. And as a gun owner myself, I support that. So that’s just one example of places where he takes the extreme — those issues that are leaving us in the state that we’re in right now.
Taylor Popielarz: How do you think President Trump has done in his first term in office?
Alaina Shearer: I think that there’s probably a lot of room for improvement when it comes to Mr. Trump’s leadership, especially during a crisis like this. I think that he, in March and February and early January when he first learned COVID, should have stepped up and said what he told a reporter, you know that this is a dangerous, dangerous virus. And we could lose so many of our neighbors. And instead, he hid it from us, he did not create a plan to address it. And so you can say that you have built businesses and sat in a boardroom, but what we have seen clearly from this president is that he does not know how to lead, how to put a team together to address a crisis. So I think there’s a tremendous amount of room for improvement. If he does win a second term, give me a call and I could give him some advice. Although I’m sure he wouldn’t take it.
Taylor Popielarz: Had you been in the House when impeachment was going on, would you have voted to impeach him?
Alaina Shearer: Yes, I would have. I would have.
Taylor Popielarz: Also sticking kind of in House conversation, Nancy Pelosi has been the leader of your party in the House for a long, long time. If you get elected, will you support her staying in the speakership?
Alaina Shearer: You know, I don’t envy Nancy Pelosi one bit. Her job seems like the hardest job in the whole world and in the whole House. And I think there’s so much that has to happen between now and January that could happen. We’ll see what happens when we get there. At this point, I’m really disappointed in both her and Mitch McConnell. I say all the time, somebody needs to lock them both in a closet, preferably a very uncomfortable one, until they come out with a plan. And with that said, if a majority of Democrats are behind Nancy Pelosi, and you know, what good would a no vote do? I don’t know. That’ll be a new world for me. I think one thing that I am good at is working with anyone on both sides of the aisle. And I see areas where Nancy Pelosi and others who are entrenched in the Democratic Party, who have been there for decades, they absolutely have to make way for new leadership, new ideas, and innovation. And if she will sit down with me and listen to my ideas, and be open to them, and help us all to find compromise and meet that middle and get work done, then I would happily vote for her. But we’ll see what happens after I win. I’ll give her a call and see if she’ll sit down with me and and win my vote.
Taylor Popielarz: What do you say to a voter in this district who, especially if they’ve been invested in politics for years, they say we’re used to having a representative who’s been in office for at least several cycles. And Congressman Balderson has been in office for only one. Maybe we should give him a chance for another cycle or two. What’s your argument against that?
Alaina Shearer: Well, he’s actually been in — this is his first seat, but he has been in Ohio politics for years, right? And he was part of the statehouse when he drew the lines in this district that have us standing so divided right now, so he created this. He also took an insane amount of money from First Energy all the way up until stepping out to run for Washington. So I think his record is very clear for people and they’ve seen, you know, he’s had enough time and the fact that in his first two years he has managed to colossally avoid his constituents to the point where the one thing we hear consistently about Troy Balderson is he does not show up. I have a high school teacher who has told me there is an extra credit project in her class for any student who can reach Troy Balderson or get a response from his office. Not one student has ever won that extra credit in two years. I hear from families who have lost their their mom or their grandparents to COVID, not being able to be with them in that nursing home for the last four months of their lives, reaching out to Troy Balderson’s office and not hearing back. And that is his record. And it is unacceptable, because it is not in our nature here in Ohio to treat our neighbors like that. Especially when in a position of power like he has.
Taylor Popielarz: Last question for you. What’s been the most surprising thing about this campaign so far?
Alaina Shearer: Oh my gosh, the most surprising thing? I have been surprised by the unity that it’s created. I expected it, but it’s different when you see it and when you feel it. I have been surprised again by so many people who, you know, are former Republicans or Republicans voting for me — but just that unity and that optimism that I have. You would think that running would make you — and win or lose, this can’t be taken away, right — that running might make you more cynical or more pessimistic because it’s a mountain to climb to flip this district. This will be an upset that no one is expecting, very few, other than my campaign manager who’s more brilliant than any of the pollsters we’ve been looking at. But you know, that to me is the biggest surprise, the optimism that I now feel for the future of our country.
Taylor Popielarz: Anything else you want to add?
Alaina Shearer: No, thank you. And thanks to everyone who watched this interview and got to the end. Join us. Go to alaina2020.com and sign up to help us out. It’s a really exciting, fun way to take that frustration and sense of powerlessness you might feel with today’s political system and the antidote is action. So join us. We’d love to have you.
Taylor Popielarz: Thanks again for the time.