Tag: 53rd District

Ohio’s Thomas Hall: The Man of Law Enforcement

It’s not hard now to know what we do about Sheriff Jones, why he dislikes the Ohio Representative of the 53rd District so much. I still tell all the people who now dislike the good Sheriff that he has done many good things over the years, and his brand has been good for the Republican Party and the first Trump term. Whether or not he continues to hold that lofty position is up to him. So far, he is turning hard left and headed for Mike DeWine country. But that’s his decision. Politics is a blood sport, and blood does get spilled. And that’s certainly the case with the feud between Thomas Hall and Sheriff Jones. Learning what I have, this problem goes far beyond just disagreements over sponsored bills or even kissing the ring by the youth to the elderly. Instead, it looks like insecurity that many older people go through when they realize a younger generation is replacing them. It can be hard to look in the mirror and acknowledge that you are no longer that guy. And for a guy with an ego the size of Sheriff Jones, of course, getting to the end of a long career in law enforcement will stir up emotions. After endorsing Thomas Hall for his next election, where Jones is trying to primary him out of contention, I stopped by the Statehouse in Columbus to see how Thomas was holding up. It’s been a rough campaign. Like many politicians, they have no idea really when the primary will happen. It’s set for May, but it might change to August. And in Thomas’s case, he doesn’t even know what district he’s running for because the Supreme Court might change it based on district mapping disputes. Yet, when I found Thomas in his natural habitat, I noticed that he was calm, cool, and sure of himself. And he quickly mentioned to me that Sheriff Jones’ labor union had endorsed him. 

Thomas told me all the measures he was taking to get re-elected, including all the door-to-door campaigns he had, regardless of how the districting broke down. We also talked strategy about the negative hits by Sheriff Jones. But now that the smoke had settled from the WLW incident back in November, where Jones went way out of his way to attempt to disparage Thomas in detrimentally belittling ways, the report from the outskirts of Butler County was that the Sheriff was losing his support. People in the rural parts of the county were always skeptical of Jones. They see him as more of a bully than a good cop, and that perception was already in place before Thomas Hall came into politics. The Sheriff is popular with the levy supporting Lakota moms and the big-government liberals, but not so much the rugged self-doers. When Jones supported Trump with them, they liked him. Now that he’s supporting Governor DeWine and is much more on the left than they are, they look at him with squinted eyes of skepticism. And in that way, most of Thomas Hall’s district falls under that category, so the attempts by Jones to disparage Hall have actually seemed to help the young congressman because he provides a protest vote to Jones.

Thomas and I spent quite a lot of time catching up, walking through the rotunda and eventually down into the atrium with the giant Greek pillars standing as testaments of law and order. We took a few pictures and continued to talk about the campaign and his goals for his second term. But along the way, the Governor was walking around in the rotunda, taking pictures with whoever wanted them, so there was a significant police presence everywhere. While we talked, Thomas Hall stopped by each one along our path, thanked them for their service, and showed them how much he appreciated them. They were highly appreciative and receptive. This went on with a frequency that stopped our conversation about every 30 seconds. My thought at the time was that Thomas was doing this for my sake, so I wondered if he did that kind of thing all the time. After taking a few pictures, he had to run off for a session, and we parted ways. But my curiosity wondered if, even in a bit of a hurry and without me around, he would continue to shake hands with all the officers on his way back to his office. 

It was a formal occasion that day, so I was dressed in a suit like everyone else. It was easy for me to hang way back and follow Thomas Hall to his office. He didn’t know I was following as I blended into the crowd. And sure enough, he stopped by every officer, not the same ones as before, of course, and shook their hand and showed them how much he appreciated them. Now Thomas Hall is the son of the old cop who stopped the shooting at Madison Schools a few years prior. Hall grew up with a love of law enforcement and public service, which is why as such a young man, he is already moving toward another term as a House Rep after a past as a trustee in his community. But this reverence for the police was not fake. He didn’t know I was watching him, yet he was very sincere about it. Like I say all the time, don’t listen to what people say; watch what they do. The police of Butler County know what kind of young man Thomas Hall is, and they like him. And that looks to be the problem Sheriff Jones has with him. It’s more a problem that Jones has than what Thomas has. And when the Sheriff’s own police union supported Thomas Hall despite of the activism of Jones, the direction of the campaign was clearly headed in a direction favorable to Hall. The police can see where the future is, and Thomas Hall is their guy. And deservedly so. 

I always enjoy learning these kinds of things about people. We live in a world full of fake people and broken promises. There are few people out there who actually exceed expectations. I already liked Thomas Hall before our meeting at the Statehouse of Ohio, in those grand chambers of intellect and the pursuit of justice. But after watching him work with people and his behavior when he didn’t know anybody was looking, I knew that there was a lot special about Thomas Hall. It’s a shame that Sheriff Jones is trying to put a rift in the Butler County Republican Party the way he is. I understand that fear of becoming irrelevant. I would even think of it as a forgivable situation. Nobody wants to see the memory of the Sheriff be like that old dog that bit some little kid at the end of its life, erasing all the good things that had occurred over its lifetime. But that is for the Sheriff to work out for himself. The police and voters where it matters were clearly happy with Thomas Hall, and he was certainly willing to do whatever it took to defend his House seat. And he was confident the way unbeaten people in life usually are. And when you are as good and sincere as Thomas Hall is, it looks clear that he will remain unbeaten for the foreseeable future. Thomas Hall is the man of law enforcement, and the police know it and will reward him accordingly.    

Rich Hoffman

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You Can Get it All with Thomas Hall: What good government looks like

Vote For Thomas Hall

Now that we’re in the primary season, it’s time for endorsements. This one for Thomas Hall is so obvious that I might not even think he needs one. But primaries can be tricky since there aren’t usually many voters who participate, so just for good measure, I wanted to say how excited I am to endorse Thomas Hall for the 53rd House District in Ohio. Some redistricting is going on, which might expand Hall’s district from Middletown into Liberty Township, which is presently going through the Supreme Court process. But whatever the case, Thomas Hall is one of the finest examples of what politics should look like. He certainly deserves another term to continue doing the excellent work that he has been doing. He’s a Trump Republican who worked for the campaign in 2016 when it wasn’t so popular to do so out of Madison Township, where he had been a two-term trustee. As he appears in the video above, Thomas seems to be too young to have so much political experience at this point in his life and running for a second term in the Ohio House, but let me tell you, this guy is a whiz kid. He’s been involved in a lot of undoubtedly conservative legislature. He has stood up to some severe bullying by influential political figures and not allowed them to sway him away from the voting public. He is one of the rare examples of a person who comes into politics with all the ideology of goodness and has lived it out in real life, which is exceptionally unique. He’s everything voters could want and more in a representative, and I look forward to more from him in the years to come.

I always refer to politics as a blood sport. One of the things I admire most about Thomas is that he’s been able to weather a lot of political current without losing himself to the tides of erosion. He is the same good person going into his second year as the first. He has a confidence that is unusual in people young or old, which has served him well as a political heavyweight in a brief period. Of course, that kind of competency would get attention and make political enemies. Having political enemies is a great thing; it means you are doing a good job and ultimately doing the people’s work. Many people get into politics for the wrong reasons, making it a weary point of conversation for most people. They’d rather not deal with politics because their experience with politicians is often very negative for that reason. But Thomas is the exception. He is like the classic representative from some far-flung Wild West town that greets all his voters with enthusiasm, shakes hands with everyone, including all the babies, and is sincere in doing it. And people love him. Going into January of 2022, I would think that Thomas Hall would be a slam dunk for re-election. But you can’t take anything for granted these days. Some people may not know Thomas yet, especially with the prospects of redistricting, so endorsements are an excellent way to learn more about him.

Thomas and I met to film the endorsement video in West Chester, Ohio, to the south of where he lives and works, just north of Middletown. The 53rd district consists of Middletown, Monroe, Trenton, Seven-Mile, Madison, and Oxford, so West Chester is in another political universe. When we were parking Thomas was like a rock star. People recognized him immediately and wanted to come up and shake his hand. Thomas Hall has, after all, been a part of most of the significant gun legislation that has been moving through Columbus, including arming teachers to promote school safety and constitutional carry. He certainly has the most conservative position on abortion in politics. To the political left, these may seem like extreme positions, but Thomas is far from any kind of extremist. His views are consistent with most people’s, and you can see when he speaks with those who greet him, that is the case. Hall comes across as a friendly young man who cares because he actually does. And it is that attitude that has made him so successful as a first-term member of the House. He’s doing the kind of work in politics that people have wanted to see done for a long time, but often politicians don’t dare to do it. But Thomas is fearless and friendly enough to have compassion for his political rivals. He doesn’t have to be mean or a sell-out. He’s smart enough to win without crawling through the mud, and people can see that. That much is evident when people approached him while we were going to film the video. People naturally like Thomas Hall because they can see that he’s not a phony. 

I’ve known Thomas for a while now; I have seen him at events all over town for years. I know how hard it is for me to attend political events because time is often short, and it’s hard to schedule in my busy life. Thomas is always at all those events, and he goes to a lot more of them than I do. And when he is there, he is always very polite, very respectful, interested in talking to the people around him. He’s always learning new things and applying them to his vast experience as a young man. For me, his first term flew by too quickly. Every time I have met with him, it was reassuring to know that a great person like him was in one of our House seats in Ohio. He is what government should look like, and I’d hate to see that condition change with an election. So for my part, it’s a slam dunk on Thomas Hall, re-elect him, and send him back to Columbus not just with the primary election but the general coming up in November.

The primary is in May. It may seem a bit far out, but we can’t take anything for granted. These things move fast. A good government takes more work than most people usually give to it. But it’s worth it when you get it, which is undoubtedly the case with Thomas Hall. When I think of his name, I think of good government. I think of someone who will stand up to corruption emphatically. He has the ideology of someone new to politics who wants to fight the bad guys out there. But he has the smarts to know how to do it without losing his soul. I would go beyond calling him, my friend. I think he’s excellent for Ohio, great for the nation, and really good for the Trump Republican America that is hatching as we speak. This movement only started to sprout during the first Trump presidency. Those who don’t like Thomas Hall in politics are the same kind of people who didn’t like Trump because both wanted to solve problems rather than use crises to gain more power. No voter could go wrong with Thomas Hall, and when it comes time to vote for him in the primary, I am very much looking forward to voting for him and making the world a better place with a second term.

Rich Hoffman