CLEVELAND — We're just one week away from Election Day, which many consider to be an historical one. It's not just because of the nominees, but also due to the division in our country.
Two of Ohio's most prominent politicians with Washington experience joined us to talk about what they hope to see out of this election. We expected a conversation divided down party lines. Instead their answers surprised us.
Marcia Fudge most recently served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2021 to 2024 in the Biden Administration. Prior to that the registered Democrat served as the U.S. Representative for Ohio's 11th congressional district from 2008 to 2021.
"Every election is an important election. Let me start there," Fudge said as we broached the topic.
Also joining us: Jim Renacci, a Republican who served as U.S. Representative for Ohio's 16th congressional district from 2011 to 2019. Prior to that Renacci was also a city council president and two-term Mayor of Wadsworth.
"They're all for the history buffs and it's a great country that we have, when we have these elections," Renacci said.
And 2024 is no different with candidates in a dead heat in the polls - and hot button issues reaching a boiling point.
We asked them both to weigh in on whether this campaign boils down to policy issues or personality.
Renacci says many voters will brush past policies and lean into "likability."
"I think people wanna vote for somebody they can say, 'Hey, I can sit down and have a discussion with, have a beer with is kind of the answer.' And I think that's what drives, especially presidential politics."
Fudge had her own explanation.
"All elections are policy elections. You know I was an elected official for many, many years. What I realized is two things: policy is important but people vote for people they like. They vote for people they believe in that they have confidence in so there's always some personality involved. It's not just 'Okay, we go out and vote for the person with the best plan,' because the average person doesn't know all the plans."
And even if voters do their homework, Renacci says these plans are merely promises.
"Look, they're all vying for votes which is really problematic. Serving in Congress I can tell you that their policies still have to get vetted and passed by Congress. So it doesn't matter what their policies are and most of their policies - even former President Trump's policies I don't think will get passed by the House and the Senate. And neither will Kamala Harris' get passed. They're looking to do things to garner votes," Renacci said.
Something else the former lawmakers agree on: even though voters will be looking to a newly elected President to change the trajectory of the country - becoming a unified nation will fall to all of us.
"We're divided. And politics is dividing us more than anything. I was at a show this weekend where the performer said 'We keep saying those people and the truth of it is, is that's our biggest problem in politics. It's always those people don't agree with us.' And one of the things he said was 'those people are us.' You know, we all have families, we all have brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers and we're all those people. And I think how we fix this country is we start thinking that way," Renacci implored.
Fudge said it this way: "It's so important because of where we stand as a nation. There's a choice that we've never really had before. There's a choice as to whether we decide that we believe in the rule of law, that we believe in repairing the faults of this country instead of pulling us further apart. If you look everywhere - there is chaos. But we have always been the light on the hill. We've always been the nation that all nations strive to be. And I think that this election will decide if we believe that this is a nation we all want to be."
Both former HUD Secretary Fudge and former Congressman Renacci had opinions on each candidate's economic policy and other policies. We'll be hearing from them and a Case Western Reserve University professor tomorrow as we continue our election coverage.