Landsman, a Democrat, was a Cincinnati city councilman when he defeated longtime Republican incumbent Steve Chabot two years ago.
Sonza, a Republican, sought the 9th District Ohio Senate seat in Hamilton County that year, losing to Cincinnati Democrat Catherine Ingram, a three-term Ohio House member, for an open seat.
Credit: Gerri Hernandez;Photographer
Credit: Gerri Hernandez;Photographer
Landsman, 47, is a former public school teacher. He was director of Faith Based and Community Initiatives, leading Ohio’s efforts to help churches and synagogues provide education and food programs, according to his website.
Landsman also helped run the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center before working as executive director of the StrivePartnership, an education advocacy group.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Ohio University and a master’s degree from Harvard’s Divinity School. Landsman touts his work on the Preschool Promise initiative and was elected to city council in 2017.
“I’m going to be part of a new generation of leaders that get us back to normal in our politics, where we stand up to the extremes” and where “pragmatism and bipartisanship are what dominate our politics.”
Credit: Amy Burke
Credit: Amy Burke
Sonza, 33, is an attorney and the Hamilton County Veterans Service Commission’s executive director. He earned a bachelor’s degree at the United States Military Academy at West Point, a master’s degree in taxation from the University of Cincinnati and a law degree from Georgetown University.
Sonza served as a U.S. Army infantry officer and finance officer with the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Ga.
He also was a Certified Public Accountant at Ernst & Young and interned at the U.S. Department of Justice, working in the criminal and taxation divisions, according to his website.
“My professional and personal background … give me insight and ideas that can help improve the lives of those that I would serve and represent in Congress,” Sonza said.
Differing stands
In interviews with this news organization, both candidates said economic and immigration issues are prime concerns but have offered vastly different approaches in addressing them.
Landsman wants to rewrite the tax code, saying that change is long overdue because it favors the rich. Sonza supports cutting government’s size and spending and renewing tax cuts Congress approved in 2017.
Landsman favors an immigration bill that failed several months ago due to insufficient bi-partisan support. Sonza, a Philippines native whose father is a naturalized U.S. citizen, said the proposal is too far too lenient.
They both talk about “common sense” gun rights reform. Landsman said he wants universal background checks. Sonza said he favors strong 2nd Amendment rights for “law-abiding citizens.”
But Landsman and Sonza are on opposing sides with abortion. The procedure was legalized nationally 51 years ago when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of it. The current High Court overturned that decision, ruling abortion should be decided state by state.
Landsman said he wants to codify Roe vs. Wade, the landmark 1973 case. Sonza said he favors states having jurisdiction and is “pro-life,” but supports exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.
Landsman’s priorities
Landsman said his top legislative issues include fixing “the parts of the economy that are broken,” including the tax code.
“Right now, the tax code is — and this has been decades in the making — is rigged for the super wealthy billionaires and big corporations,” he said.
It needs overhauled “so that it is working, first and foremost, for working people in the middle class,” Landsman added.
He favors expanding the child tax credit, relief for small businesses and increasing housing options. Landsman said he supported an unsuccessful bill to give “serious tax relief to working folks” and called the child tax credit “very successful in producing child poverty almost in half.”
Congress can help struggling families and businesses, but it will “have to show a lot more courage and take on these companies and start to penalize companies for price gouging,” Landsman said.
Federal legislators must “start to look at places where there’s not a sufficient level of competitiveness or capitalism isn’t as healthy as it needs to be,” he added.
Landsman also said he would work to end “voter suppression around the country,” and focus on “restoring freedom, reproductive freedom” and stopping “all kinds of other really un-American things that have hurt a lot of people. A lot of women have died.”
Landsman said he would vote for legislation to allow abortions nationwide because “politicians need to get out of the business of telling people what they can and can’t do with their bodies.”
Most people “don’t like when government comes and tells us what to do, especially when it becomes deadly, which they have,” he said. “And it’s and it’s not up to state politicians. It’s not up to federal politicians. It’s up to women and their doctors, period.”
Bi-partisan immigration legislation “will dramatically increase the number of border agents. It’ll dramatically decrease the number of people” who cross the border, Landsman said.
“Because the asylum process goes from six years to six months and fewer people are going to apply” he said. “And if they do, they’re going to apply from home, their home country.”
Sonza’s priorities
Southern border security is a priority for Sonza, second behind the economy, he said.
Sonza said he wants favors a “strong, legal” immigration process and federal officials must “stop the bleeding that’s happening in the southern border,” allowing millions of immigrants into the U.S. without thorough vetting.
The mass processing of immigrants in recent years at the border has led to a “rise in crime that we see in our communities,” he said.
Those practices have fueled the surge of a “fentanyl epidemic” in southwest Ohio as well as an increase in crime, Sonza said, adding that he has prosecuted such cases in Hamilton County.
“That’s got to stop,” he said. “I will always be the strongest proponent in this race for maintaining a strong legal immigration system, because I’m a product of a legal immigration system.”
“We need to close” the southern border “and give our border agents exactly what they need to do their job,” Sonza said
Economically, cutting federal spending to reduce government’s size and keeping the tax cuts approved seven years ago are focal points to help the middle class, he said.
“It does no good for the government just to continue to spend and spend and pour gasoline on an open flame fire that is our inflationary environment,” Sonza said. “We’ve got to make sure that we keep as much money in the pockets of everyday Americans.”
Allowing the tax cuts to expire would hurt the growth of small businesses, he said.
“We want to send them the message that we support you. We believe in what you’re doing in strengthening our U.S. economy,” Sonza said.
Restoring the U.S.’s perception internationally by ensuring a strong military is also a key issue, he said.
“We need to continue to protect that strength to make sure that we have when we give our U.S. military exactly what they need to do their job, so that we are prepared for the conflicts should they arise,” Sonza said.
On abortion, Sonza said he “pragmatic” on this issue, noting his support of exceptions.
“The majority of Americans are not for extremes,” he said. “The majority of Ohioans on this issue are not for extremes.”
Gun rights
Landsman and Sonza both see a need for gun reform to make communities safer, but they differ on restrictions.
Landsman said he favors raising legal the age to buy firearms, enacting universal background checks and making “weapons of war” — rapid-fire guns with high-volume magazines — illegal.
“And that means standing up to the big gun manufacturers and saying, we’re going to have basic, but hugely impactful, new rules,” he said.
“People, obviously, are going to be able keep their guns,” Landsman added.
He said law enforcement should be empowered “to work with judges to get guns out of the hands of folks who shouldn’t have them because they’re going to do something bad.”
Sonza said he is a strong 2nd Amendment advocate, but those with severe mental illness or violent criminal records should not have firearms access.
“We must make sure that our children are safe in their schools,” he said. “We want to make sure that we have plans in place that empower administration and parents to be able to intervene” to avoid school tragedies.
Sonza said he wants law enforcement equipped to protect communities and to add more school resource officers.
“We want to make sure that we support the people whose job is to protect us,” he said.
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