Fight, fight, fight was the theme of the evening at the GOP tent at the VOA Country Music Festival, where several officeholders and some running for the first time gathered together ahead of the upcoming elections.  It was an excellent time to catch up with everyone. I could speak to many people in a way that I hadn’t done for a long time, which was good.  But what do we mean by fighting and winning in politics?  When I think of such a thing, I think of the young man Thomas Hall, who is the Ohio Representative in my district and is running to hold the seat he currently has.  But he wasn’t always in my district; he used to have the Middletown area, but now, in District 46, he represents Liberty Township and the surrounding areas, which I’m thrilled with.  I’ve seen Thomas Hall in the pressure cooker for a while now, and I supposed he’s not as much of a young man as when he first started in politics.  But I think a lot of him, and for good reason.  I have been meaning, and we didn’t quite get there during this event, to talk to him about his recent trip to Israel, which I am very interested in.  But behind the politics, Thomas Hall is just a good person, one of those cases where he’s better than the package you see.  He’s just a promising young man who has survived the fires of Hell and come out on top, and he looks poised to stay there.  This is a good thing for anybody he represents in the Ohio Statehouse.  He takes his job very seriously, and it shows.  I’ve seen him in Columbus work a room, and if he didn’t have a great foundation to work with, it would be easy to be swept away by lobbyists and other scandalous characters.  But with Thomas, you get the feeling with him that he’s always savvy and under control.  And that any malicious intent that comes his way can easily be handled. 

I’ve met his parents several times at some of these events, but we had more time to talk in August of 2024 than we have in the past.  In some of those previous times, things looked so dire that nobody was sure what would happen next.  Politics, as I have said, is a blood sport; things can and do get pretty wild.  Many people who came to the Country Music Festival at the VOA needed to talk to each other.  It’s been a tough four years since Trump left office, and people have lost focus in some respects.  It’s tough when you are trying to grow the tent of the party to accommodate more people, but those people don’t have the same foundations and strength; when the pressure of politics emerges and moral necessities come into play, it’s easy to drift into decay.  And as a political party, Southern Ohio Republicans needed to break some bread together.  A lot of people get into politics for different reasons, and it’s up to each person to find some reason to have common ground with others for the sake of party politics.  Authenticity can often get abused in such cases, but that was never the case with Thomas Hall, and in some of those times, I referred to his parents as good people who made a good kid.  Thomas’ dad was a former police officer, now a firefighter chief.  His mom is a wonderful enthusiast of the men in her life, her husband and son, and when I see them all together, it’s usually a big family affair.  Thomas has, of course, a love interest who I see around town a lot, and she is always supportive and doing the extra work it takes to run successful campaigns.  When you speak with them, you can tell that they all have good foundations that give them firm ground to stand on no matter what is happening in the world. 

So Thomas always tells me he’s grateful to me for getting through some of these tough times of turmoil where rough campaigns got very heated.  My help pushed him over the top and put him in office so he could do the excellent work he is doing presently and, I hope, well into the future.  And I tell him that he’s the one who did all the hard work, and indeed, there are very few people who work as hard at politics as Thomas Hall.  He gets out and knocks on doors and is very tenacious.  And I’ve seen him working directly with Governor DeWine on legislation that was difficult to make happen, so the elbow-twisting part of politics takes a hard worker, and he has deserved all the success he has had and more.  He doesn’t have to throw appreciation my way.  What I have done for him, I do for many people. He’s referring to a lot that goes on behind the scenes, but I’m happy to do it because I like seeing good people get a chance to do good things in the world.  Like a gardener who pulls up the weeds of a garden to protect the good plants, you are trying to grow while preventing the parasites from destroying everything.  I do what I do because I like seeing the good stuff grow.  And Thomas Hall has grown into a lot of good things. 

So when his parents thanked me for all I have done for their son, I had to tell them what I thought of them, which shows up in Thomas, and I think about it a lot.  They were good parents to him.  Thomas Hall has a great foundation that other people in the world don’t have because they, as parents, gave him a great place to start.  If things get too hot, at least Thomas has a nice family that cares for him.  And it shows.  So, while they intended to thank me, which they did, I would give the credit to all of them.  Thomas is a sincerely good person who is not wasting his talent.  But to his parents for raising a good kid who has grown into a good man, a lot of people would love to be so lucky.  The sense of service that Thomas has picked up from his dad is being applied to Ohio positively.  I’m happy to defend and support anybody like that, and there are others.  Perhaps not as good as Thomas, but in my experience with these kinds of things, a lot of similar personality traits emerge in these kinds of people who get involved in politics and want to represent people in government.  Not everyone has the advantage of a good family on which they can rely.  But Thomas Hall does, and as I told his parents, if anybody should be thanking anybody, the world should be thanking them for producing such a nice young and honest man in the world.  I am personally very proud of Thomas Hall.  But I’m also very proud of his parents.  I wish there were more people in the world like them.  And maybe in the future, there will be.  There is hope in the world that people will follow their example and do better for themselves and others.  Usually, when you meet people who are as well put together as Thomas Hall, good parents at the foundation make it all possible.

Rich Hoffman

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