OPED | Congressional Race Update

Ohio does not belong to Washington 
By Rosemary Oglesby-Henry, Candidate for US Congress 1st District 

Let us rise up and build.” — Nehemiah 2:18

“Faith built this country. Discipline will restore it.”

In a matter of hours, Ohio’s 1st Congressional District changed dramatically. Dr. Steven Erbeck suspended his campaign. Eric Conroy received a presidential endorsement. 

Yet the central question of this race remains the same: does the direction being pushed from Washington truly reflect what the people of Hamilton, Clinton, and Warren Counties need?

An endorsement matters. But significance is not the same as alignment. The voters of Southwest Ohio deserve more than a predetermined outcome.

I am not a Washington candidate. I am a neighbor.

I understand addiction personally. I know what it costs to send a child to college while wondering how you will make it work. I have navigated childcare deserts and education choices that felt impossible. I have sat with the weight of aging parents and the uncertainty of not knowing what comes next.

I face what many families face. I am not reading about these pressures in a briefing book. I have lived them, I am living them.

That is why I entered this race. Not for a moment. Not for a title. But because I know I was built for this moment. I believe Warren County deserves a voice in Washington that was shaped here through the same pressures, the same difficult decisions, and the same hope that things can still improve when someone is willing to fight for them.

Warren County is one of Ohio’s strongest counties. But strength does not mean immunity.

Median home values have climbed to roughly $349,400 and continue to rise. Families with two children can spend 35 to 45 percent of their household income on childcare, when they can find it. Six percent of children in Warren County live in poverty, often quietly and behind suburban doors. Between 21 and 25 residents per 100,000 still die from overdoses each year, because prosperity does not protect a family from addiction. Seniors face housing instability they never expected. Workers commute 25 minutes or more each way because they cannot afford to live near the jobs they hold.

These are not failures of Warren County. They are warning signs.

Strong communities remain strong because they prepare early, not because they ignore pressure until it becomes crisis.

Warren County does not need someone to rescue it. It needs someone in Congress who sees these pressure points clearly and will fight to protect what families have built here without trading away the small business support, safety nets, and community investments that help this county thrive.

Too often, this district is overlooked because, on the surface, it appears successful. But representation is not about appearances. The responsibility of a Member of Congress is to stay grounded in the communities they serve and understand the full needs of the district. When leaders focus only on what looks stable, they risk forgetting the people quietly carrying the burden beneath it.

Border security matters. Fiscal discipline matters. But cutting the programs that sustain working families simply to claim a political victory is not discipline. It is a cost neither Warren County nor Southwest Ohio can afford.

I am a conservative who believes government should stay out of your business, families should keep more of what they earn, and the people closest to a problem are best positioned to solve it.
I am an outsider who has delivered without a title, built under pressure, and never waited for perfect conditions to act.
Nehemiah did not wait. He rose, saw what was broken, and built.
That is the model.

I am not suspending this campaign. I am asking for your support because together, we are just getting started in the effort to flip this seat.this district back into a conversation that too often forgets us and to prevent greater challenges before they arrive.

Ohio does not belong to Washington.

This seat belongs to the people who live here.

I am one of them.
And I am not done.

Rosemary Oglesby-Henry
Candidate for USCongress
Ohio’s 1st Congressional District

The Rosemary Red Standard Plan a detailed policy from local to national scale.