AKRON -- Ohio's gubernatorial race has started to heat up ahead of the May primary, meaning voters may have questions for the candidates.
Former WKYC senior political correspondent Tom Beres has teamed with the University of Akron's Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics to get in-depth answers from the six candidates.
WKYC will stream all of the interviews here and on our Facebook page.
“I want in-depth discussions that will allow for more than 10-second sound bites or the food fight of a debate,” Beres said.
Topics will include public health and safety issues, such as the nation's deadly opioid epidemic, education and the economy.
The full interview schedule is as follows:
- Joe Schiavoni: April 3, 10 a.m. - Watch the full interview here.
- Sen. Schiavoni is a democrat serving the 33rd Senate district of Columbiana and Mahoning counties. In 2008, he was appointed to a vacant seat in the Ohio Senate. He was elected to a full term for his Senate seat in 2010 and was reelected in 2014.
- Mary Taylor: April 5, 10:30 a.m. - Watch the full interview here.
- Ohio Lt. Governor Mary Taylor has served by Gov. John Kasich since 2011. Taylor, a republican, is a former two-term state representative and state auditor. She stepped down as the state's insurance director in March in anticipation of her gubernatorial run.
- William O'Neill: April 5, 3 p.m. - Watch the full interview here.
- Democrat Bill O'Neill departed the Ohio Supreme Court in January for his gubernatorial run. He was elected to the 11th District Court of Appeals in 1996 and reelected in 2002. He was the first democrat elected to the Ohio Supreme Court in 30 years in 2012.
- Dennis Kucinich: April 6, 9:30 a.m. - Watch the full interview here.
- Former Cleveland mayor Dennis Kucinich is adding a gubernatorial run to his political resume, which also includes state senate and eight terms in congress. The democrat was elected mayor of Cleveland in 1977 and ran as a candidate in the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections.
- Mike DeWine: April 11, 2:45 p.m. - Watch the full interview here.
- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine was reelected to his position in 2014. The republican has also served as Greene County Prosecutor, in the Ohio State Senate, in the United States House of Representatives, as Ohio Lieutenant Governor, and in the U.S. Senate.
- Richard Cordray: April 11, 4 p.m. - Watch the full interview here.
- Democrat Richard Cordray was appointed director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by President Barack Obama for the last five years. Prior to that, he was Ohio's Attorney General and Treasurer.
Beres spent 37 years covering politics for WKYC.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
