As Election Day draws near, candidates for Ohio’s 17th Senate District race talk about the economy and employment as their number one priorities.

With no incumbent, Democrat Justin Fallon and Republican David Daniels are the only candidates on the ballot for next Tuesday’s District 17 race. Daniels is currently serving his fourth term in the Ohio House of Representatives and Fallon has been a Gallia County Commissioner for four years.

The district includes the counties of Clinton, Fayette, Gallia, Highland, Jackson, Pike, Ross, Vinton and parts of Lawrence and Pickaway.

Daniels said his time in the House has given him experience to lead Ohio’s 17th Senate District.

“It gave me a lot of experience on how to get things done, how to move an agenda forward, how to bring various parties from both sides of the aisle together to reach consensus and to move forward programs and move forward ideas that will help advance Ohio’s future,” he said.

Daniels also said the message he wants to get out to voters is fiscal responsibility and the importance of job creation.

“We need to work on our tax and our regulatory structure. I think that most people would agree, if you talk to small businesses, they will tell you that workman’s comp regulatory compliance and Ohio’s tax structure has been an impediment to them creating jobs and expanding and growing their businesses,” Daniels said. “Our focus is going to be on reducing the tax burden on Ohioans. I think that we need to make sure that the regulatory environment is not stifling business and I think that we need to seriously take a look at Ohio’s workman’s comp system. We do those things and I think we’ll get investment back in this state and I think that we have an excellent opportunity to create jobs.”

Fallon said the key to economic growth in Ohio is getting the unemployed back to work.

“Everything is going to have to be looked at when we line things up item by item.

“We all know that our revenue stream and the economic growth in the state is directly tied to the families that live in this district and live in the state of Ohio. And the key to it is getting them back to work,” he said.

Fallon also talked about ideas to create jobs in the distinct if he is elected.

“We need to make sure that we’re doing the best job we can of using what resources we have,” he said. “Ohio just got awarded the solar project that’s going up there in Zanesville, hopefully we can put the plant somewhere here in Southern Ohio that will be the feeder to build the panels for that.”

“As a Gallia County Commissioner, I’ve talked to companies about the possibility of building wind turbines here in Southern Ohio. The big thing we have to do is sit down and develop a regional strategy. We need to get a direction. And we need to make sure that we’re doing things to help move our community forward.

Fallon also said he has experience and a proven track record of balancing budgets in Gallia County, which is what Ohio needs.

“For the past four years, we’ve maintained a balanced budget to the point that we have a carry-over every year in our county budget,” he said. “I don’t take it for granted that the state budget is a lot more bigger and daunting task, but there’s a lot of those same principles that can take place when ever we’re working through that budget process.

“As a proud product of Southern Ohio, I’ve been here all my live, I think for the past four years I’ve represented people to the best of my ability and that’s something that I will continue to do is represent the families, the veterans, the seniors, the children of Southern Ohio. I’m somebody that absolutely is dedicated to fight for them everyday. The way I see it, we’re all in this together. We need to come up with solutions for all of us.

Daniels, also a native of Ohio said, “I like to say that I’m like most of people in Southern Ohio. I’ve worked hard all my life. I’ve worked hard to raise a family just like most people in Southern Ohio, and I understand and care about their concerns. Hopefully they will support our candidacy of pro-business and reduced government and we can begin working on the challenges that face Ohio next year.”