Enoch has run against Davidson four times for the 8th Congressional District seat.
The 8th Congressional District in southwest Ohio borders Indiana, and includes all of Butler, Darke and Preble counties, western Hamilton County and southwestern Miami County. The district has been in southwest Ohio since the early 1970s following the decennial redistricting, and has always been held by a Republican.
Enoch, a public policy and business consultant, is a mother of two adult children and has lived in West Chester Twp. for 20 years. She has a Ph.D in Public Police and Social Change from Union Institute and University, according to her campaign website.
She has been a small business owner and her business, Cultural Impact, specializes in providing management consulting services to help ensure business growth and expansion.
Davidson, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, has been married to his wife, Lisa, for 25 years and has two adult children and lives in Troy. He is an Army veteran and spent 15 years owning and operating manufacturing companies. He graduated from West Point and earned an MBA at the University of Notre Dame,
A top legislative item for Davidson, which he called “the most essential thing” is to secure the border.
“I mean we’ve got an administration getting us into more wars in more places,” said the four-term lawmaker. “We need to secure our own border first and foremost. That focus just hasn’t been there with our foreign policy.”
A bipartisan-backed border security bill negotiated by Republicans and Democrats failed in the U.S. Senate earlier this spring, a bill former President Donald Trump opposed and was not a guarantee to pass in the U.S. House.
Border security is also a top priority of Enoch, as well as the immigration system in the country.
“People have expressed a desire to fix the immigration system and shore up the crisis at the border,” she said, and added voters have also told her the economy and inflation need to be addressed.
She said there needs to be an effort at the state level to help create the environment to attract “good-paying jobs” to the district, increase affordable housing, and work on lowering the costs of goods and services, like groceries and child care.
“Voters want to see those kinds of things fixed,” she said.
Davidson said he also wants to address the economy and “get it on sound financial footing,” and it starts with reducing the “massive overspending” and reigning in some of the Federal Reserve’s policies. He was also critical of the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut rates by a half-point “right before the election.”
Enoch said voters want to see the abortion issue addressed, and added she’ll push “to codify the rights and protections they hold dear.” That includes what she calls “fundamental freedoms” like bodily autonomy, abortion, IVF and birth control.
“People are concerned they’re going to lose those freedoms,” she said. “They’ve also indicated they’ve lost so many freedoms through this current Supreme Court.”
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade and increased judicial oversight as it reduced policy authority of federal agencies.
Political rhetoric indicates Republicans would be pushing for a national abortion ban, mainly highlighted in Project 2025. Davidson called the Democrats’ claim that there will be a national abortion ban “a boogeyman made up by Democrats to scare people. Anything on the subject of abortion only divides Republicans because Democrats are united in saying ‘We want abortion from conception to delivery.’”
Abortion in Ohio is only legal until fetal viability, which is defined in state code as “the point in a pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s treating physician, the fetus has a significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus with reasonable measures. This is determined on a case-by-case basis.”
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe vs. Wade, allows states to decide abortion laws. Davidson said Ohio’s passage of Issue 1 in 2023 “restored the status quo” because “change is hard and I think people feared the unknown.”
Enoch said voters she’s spoken with “are concerned with a national abortion ban” and does not believe Republicans in office when they say one would not happen. GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance said Trump would veto a national ban, and said in 2022 he would support an abortion ban after 15 weeks.
“People are concerned that they will have those rights and freedoms taken away from them. Birth control, IVF and abortion,” Enoch said. “I think when it comes to those things, Davidson would advocate for a national ban if it’s put in front of him. I think we need to be real about it and it’s a real possibility if we get a Republican Congress and Senate this time.”
Early voting in Ohio is underway, and the last day to vote at the county board of elections is Sunday, Nov. 3. Any vote-by-mail ballots returned by the post office must be in the mail prior to Election Day. Any vote-by mail ballot may be returned in person on Election Day to the board of elections office prior to the end of voting that day.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5 and polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Any voter in line when polls close will be permitted to vote.
VOTER TRAFFIC CHANGE
In the final weeks and days of early voting in Butler County, the traffic pattern to the Butler County Board of Elections, 1802 Princeton Road, has changed.
Traffic wanting to turn north onto Hampshire Drive will be detoured. In order to get to the elections office, voters are being rerouted to Bypass Ohio 4 to Princeton Road. Those exiting the elections office may access Hampshire Drive to Ohio 129.
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