Affordability and Rising Costs: Wenda Sheard’s Positions
Candidate: Wenda Sheard (Democrat) Office: Ohio House of Representatives, District 94 (all of Meigs and Washington counties, plus the outskirts of Athens County, not including the city of Athens) Election: November 3, 2026 Information current as of: October 1, 2026
Quick Summary
Wenda Sheard believes prices keep rising while large corporations and billionaires come out ahead. She wants to lower costs for regular families by reversing tax laws that favor the wealthy, making property taxes fairer, keeping utility companies in check, making health care more affordable, and supporting better wages and unions.
The Problem as Sheard Sees It
- Groceries, electricity, and health care cost more, and many people struggle to balance their household budgets.
- Ohio’s Republican-controlled legislature has passed laws that help the wealthy at the expense of everyone else.
- The main divide in society is billionaires and big corporations against everyone else, not left against right.
- Families in the district face hunger, too little affordable housing, poor internet and phone service, and a long-running drug addiction problem.
- Some large corporations pay wages so low that workers must rely on government help for food and health care.
- Athens and Meigs counties rank 83rd and 84th among Ohio’s 88 counties for income per person (2024 figures). Washington County ranks 40th.
What Sheard Would Do
1. Reverse laws that favor the wealthy. Sheard’s first step is to reverse laws and policies passed by the current legislature that benefit the wealthy at the expense of everyone else. She would work to reverse the tax breaks the legislature has given Ohio’s wealthiest residents over the past 20 years. According to Policy Matters Ohio, a policy research group, the top 1% now pay $68,000 less per year in state taxes than they did in 2005.
2. Undo the flat income tax. The flat income tax is one tax rate for everyone. Sheard believes there is no excuse for it– the flat tax instantly gave millionaires a big tax break and gave nothing to anyone earning under $26,000.
3. Make property taxes fairer.
- The tax burden has shifted from businesses and commercial property onto families and farmers. Families are being asked to vote on school tax levies (local tax measures) that they can barely afford. Ohio schools put more levies on the ballot than schools in any other state.
- Sheard would ask county auditors for suggestions on making property taxes fairer for people while still supporting schools and roads.
- Taxing someone out of their home is unfair.
4. Tax the wealthy and large corporations fairly. It is unfair to tax people so much that they cannot afford health insurance. It is also unfair that billionaires, large corporations, and injection well owners do not pay enough. (Injection wells are underground disposal sites for toxic, radioactive fracking waste from oil and gas production.) Fair taxes mean the government works for people, not the other way around.
5. Keep utility companies in check. Sheard would work to repeal laws that let utility companies profit more than is reasonable. She would also push for stronger oversight of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), the state agency that oversees utilities. She points to House Bill 6, a 2019 law tied to a bribery scandal involving the FirstEnergy company. Ohioans are still paying on their electric bills for the bribery scandal.
6. Move voucher money to public schools. Sheard would end the expanded EdChoice voucher program and put that money into public schools. The program cost $492 million in 2025. A large body of research shows that children do not benefit academically from voucher programs, which take money from public schools. For lots more on public school policy, see Wenda Sheard’s Public Education page.
7. Support workers and wages. Sheard supports living wages and unions. Through efforts like Senate Bill 1 in 2025, the legislature has weakened unions, which help obtain fair wages for working people,
8. Make health care cheaper and oppose cuts to food and wellness. Sheard would work to increase transparency and accountability in health care and would examine whether a universal health care system like those in other developed countries could work in Ohio. Cuts to SNAP (food assistance) and Medicaid (health insurance for people with low incomes) have gone too far. Children should not go hungry. More is on the Health Care page.
9. Give local people control over economic development. Decisions about local economic growth should be made by people in the area, not by people far away or in other countries. Sheard wants more public input on economic decisions and an end to the abuse of secrecy agreements. More is on the Government Accountability and Fairness page.
10. Protect money that goes to local governments. Sheard would argue for keeping the Ohio Local Government Fund. This is state money that helps cities, townships, and counties pay for things like police and local services. She would change it only if local governments proposed a fairer way to share the money.
11. Support local infrastructure. Sheard would support whatever funding ideas local governments and residents suggest for rural internet, water, and sewer projects. In 2024, she wrote that the district should get a fair share of state and federal money for roads, bridges, water and sewer, broadband, and phone service. She is open to ideas for a specific funding method.