Helen Oriatti-Bruns
Chief Copy Editor
On April 27, Laura Sirot, professor of biology and biology department co-chair, officially launched her campaign for the Ohio Senate in 2026. She is running as a Democrat in Ohio Senate District 31, which includes Wayne County. The Voice sat down with Sirot on September 10 to discuss her campaign and policies.
As of the time of writing, Sirot is running unopposed. The current state senator, Al Landis, is a Republican serving his first term — Ohio limits state senators to two four-year terms. The Voice contacted Landis’ office for comment, but has not received a response by the time of writing. In the interest of journalistic neutrality, the Voice will publish sections of Sirot’s interview alongside summaries of Landis’ policies. The interview was edited for grammar and length.
HOB: What motivated your decision to run? Do you want to talk me through that decision?
Sirot: The fundamental reason that I’m running is because I think that our current elected officials are failing to protect the wellbeing and safety of our current kids and future generations and I’m really sick and tired of them presenting Ohioans with false choices that are meant to divide voters instead of finding the common problems that bring us together, so that’s the main reason … from my perspective, it looks like they’re just trying to divide people along partisan lines on things that I don’t think should be partisan.
HOB: What kinds of false choices would you say that they’re being presented with?
Sirot: Yeah, so things like … you can’t have both responsible gun ownership and prevent gun violence. You absolutely can do those things. You can’t protect natural resources and promote the economy — you can totally do those things. And, you know, those types of things that they’re trying to wedge people between, you have to choose between private schools and public schools, it just kind of goes on and on where they’re making these into partisan issues that really shouldn’t be partisan issues … I refuse to be divided by politicians. When I go around and have house parties and I’m talking to groups of people, so many of them are saying, ‘I don’t talk to my family anymore. I don’t talk to my friends anymore. We can’t talk about politics.’ It is so disturbing to me that, like, our elected officials are able to break up long-term relationships in that way, like that we’re allowing that to happen, and so I always say, ‘get back to the table.’ You gotta go back and have these hard conversations or find a way, like places that you can agree on, because otherwise they win and we’re just gonna be in disarray as a society. So what I do is try to just be open to listening to anyone, no matter what their views are, and trying to see where we agree on things. There might be 10 things that we disagree on, and if I can find one thing that we agree on, then I’ve found the common ground that we can talk about.
HOB: You talked a lot about listening to people and bridging those divides — what kind of challenges do you think exist for your constituents in District 31? What are you hearing that they want in a representative, and what kind of legislation are they looking for?
Sirot: Yeah, so I think a lot of people have just been happy, like they want to talk to their representative, so they want to be able to have accessible representatives who listen to them and listen to their concerns, and that’s something that I’ve been trying to do, getting around to the different parts of my district and just having, I call them house parties but they’re basically listening parties, like we just, it’s a lot like teaching a class here, so we go in, we have a meet-and-greet, and then I do a little lecture, like my campaign speech, but then it’s just discussion, and them talking about issues and people are just thirsty to have these discussions, so I think really listening to the constituents is one thing, and I think the other thing that I’m really hearing is that the main issues coming up with people is having access to affordable housing, healthcare, childcare, eldercare and also mental health care and addiction care, so those are just like basic necessities that we have that aren’t being met, and I think one of the reasons, again, is because of this divisiveness. Like we’re fighting over things that aren’t the essential problems that people are facing day-to-day in their lives.
HOB: How did your work at the College impact your decision to run or your philosophy, if at all?
Sirot: Every day I’m working with students from when they’re prospective students considering coming to Wooster all the way to way past graduation … there’s nothing I want more than to prepare them to have a very fulfilling, vibrant, professional life. What I’m seeing is that there’s fewer and fewer of those opportunities as students are coming out of college, and especially in the sciences — I would say, last year we took a huge hit when so much science funding was cut — and so I just felt so terrible for these students, who had been in their senior year of high school during COVID, and then in their senior year of college, all of a sudden, all the science funding gets cut, and their future is completely uncertain. So, really trying to make sure that there’s a vibrant economy in Ohio is really important so that people can build their lives here and have satisfying lives and jobs here in Ohio … And the second thing is that one of my passions here at The College of Wooster has been science communication … One is that … so many of the wicked problems, like, you know, climate change, or environmental contamination, or disease outbreaks, they’re science-based, and so we need scientists in the decision-making roles, people who understand science to be in the decision-making roles. That’s one reason I think as a scientist I’d be, and all my training before Wooster and at Wooster, will help me as a scientist to be in a decision-making role. Also, I think that our politicians [and] our elected officials don’t necessarily understand science, and it’s really at the detriment, because since they are not understanding how science is done, the process of science, or the findings of science, they’re conveying misinformation to the public.
HOB: I’m going to switch gears a little bit. You’ve previously spoken in opposition of a six-week abortion ban here in Ohio. Obviously, that abortion ban is no longer actively under consideration, but what, in your opinion, does the future of abortion access look like in Ohio, and do you plan to address reproductive rights generally if you’re elected?
Sirot: I support the Ohio Constitution, which was voted on by a majority of Ohioans, to protect the reproductive decision-making of all Ohioans, and so I think that abortion should be safe, rare, legal, private. It’s nobody’s business but that person, and the person they decide to include in that decision. So I hope I won’t have to fight to protect it. I hope it just stays there, but realistically there’s a lot of people who’d like to reverse it, or to undermine it, I would say, and so I will fight to keep it in the constitution as it is now. And I think there’s a lot of other things connected to it, like comprehensive sex education, that’s really important, and access to birth control. So those all contribute to keeping abortion rare, which is something that I think most people would agree that they want.
What is Landis’ position on abortion access and access to reproductive healthcare?
According to Landis’ campaign website from 2022, Landis is “100% Pro-Life” — Landis stated that he wants “to protect those who cannot protect themselves.” Landis was a co-sponsor of Ohio House Bill 4, which designates Sept. 19 “Stillbirth Prevention Day.” Per Gongwer News Services, Landis received an endorsement from Ohio Right to Life Political Action Committee for the 2022 election. Landis opposed the Nov. 2023 ballot initiative Ohio Issue 1 — the “Right to Make Reproductive Decisions Including Abortion Initiative” — which enshrined in the Ohio Constitution the right of individuals to make reproductive healthcare decisions, including about abortion. Issue 1 allows restrictions on abortion after fetal viability, unless the pregnant person’s life is threatened. Equality Ohio, a nonprofit LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, assigned Landis a score of “F” on their 2024 scorecard — suggesting that Landis was a “driving force of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in Ohio.”
What is Landis’ background?
Landis was previously a representative in the Ohio House of Representatives — serving the maximum of four terms. In the House, Landis was the vice chairman of the now-decommissioned Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Committee and the chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Landis was born and raised in Tuscarawas County. Landis worked for 33 years at Greer Steel Company — in a 2023 Senate bulletin, Landis stated that he got his “real life education” working for Greer. According to the bulletin, Landis is a member of the National Rifle Association, the Ohio Farm Bureau and the Tuscarawas County Chamber of Commerce.
Which issues have been a part of Landis’ campaigns in the past?
In the 2023 Senate bulletin, Landis laid out his top issues. He listed mental health care, addiction care, natural resources management and employment growth as topics that he hoped to address. “Increasing the quality of life in the 31st Senate District means more than just making good jobs available,” Landis wrote. “It means providing people with the resources to fully enjoy the good life we are building here.” Landis also referred to the use of Ohio’s energy as a “national security issue” and linked it to economic growth. He stated that he had observed the “consequences of a shrinking coal industry…[and] learned we can’t just scrap one energy source for another.”
What legislation has Landis supported since becoming a state senator?
Landis has sponsored and co-sponsored several bills and resolutions. In 2025, these have included the Agriculture Appreciation Act, Ohio Senate Bill 179 and Ohio Senate Bill 138. Ohio Senate Bill 179 has not yet been passed by the House of Representatives. The bill requires jails and other correctional institutions to verify whether incarcerated individuals are veterans — with the goal of connecting them to veterans’ services. Ohio Senate Bill 138 revises existing state law with the goal of establishing cohesive, community-based mental health services. Landis is the primary sponsor for Ohio Senate Bill 219, which revises regulations surrounding gas and oil wells and establishes a division of oil and gas resources management within the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Landis supported Ohio House Bill 68, which aimed to prohibit minors from accessing gender-affirming medical treatment — and is currently the subject of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit.