The newly redrawn 35th Ohio House District will have a new representative come January. Political newcomer Steve Demetriou won his first election earlier this month.
The 35th District covers the southern half of Geauga County, the eastern and southern borders of Portage County and the southeast corner of Summit County. Steve Demetriou, a Republican, overwhelmingly won election to represent the new district with 60.4% of the vote.
Demetriou said his experience in the Army prepared him to represent such a geographically diverse district.
“Just being a platoon leader in the Army, leading you know 40 men from all different walks of life, from all corners of the globe and being able to relate to them and learn what their needs are," Demetriou said.
He has three priorities for his first term in office: tax reform, funding police and school choice.
“Really just giving parents a bigger say in their kids' education and providing more options for children in our state when it comes to getting an education in Ohio," Demetriou said.
He’d like to look at the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s framework for school choice as a possible model for a statewide approach.
"The Cleveland public school system has a variation of 'school choice' right now, and I think that's a great framework to see what's worked, what hasn't worked," Demetriou said. "And then, also, same thing on the budget side. What works? What hasn't worked? And how do we implement that across our state?"
He also wants to reduce and potentially eliminate the state income tax and the corporate activities tax.
"Those are some things as a small business owner and as a resident of Ohio I'd like to see kind of get changed, reduced, hopefully eliminated eventually," Demetriou said.
Demetriou's other issues include standing against abortion, backing first responders and protecting Second Amendment rights.
Demetriou will be sworn in on Jan. 1.
A Northeast Ohio native, Demetriou attended West Point and graduated with honors in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in economics. During his time in the Army, Demetriou served as an infantry officer, completed Army Ranger School, completed airborne training, served in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, for which he received a Bronze Star Medal, and served as a platoon leader.
After he was released from the military, he started an investment business.
