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A crushing week for computer chipmaker Intel.

House Republicans roll out their proposed changes to Ohio's law on recreational weed.

And a conversation with Republican candidate for governor, David Frost.

That's this week in the state of Ohio.

Just.

Welcome to the state of Ohio.

I'm Karen, counselor.

It's been a bad week for Intel.

The computer chip maker announced another delay on its central Ohio manufacturing plant, the largest private investment ever in Ohio, and then found out it might have to fight President Trump for federal funds that were approved during the Biden administration.

With the intention of bringing semiconductor manufacturing back to the US from overseas.

State House correspondent Sarah Donaldson reports.

It was only a little more than a half a minute out of Trump's first speech to Congress of his second administration, the longest such address in U.S. history.

But it had a big impact.

And we're not giving them any money.

Your Chips act is a horrible, horrible thing.

We give hundreds of billions of dollars and it doesn't mean a thing.

They take our money and they don't spend it.

All that meant to them, we're giving them no money.

All that was important to them was they didn't want to pay the tariffs.

So they came in that building.

And many other companies are coming.

We don't have to give them money.

We just want to protect our businesses and our people.

And they will come because they won't have to pay tariffs if they build in America.

So it's very amazing.

You should get rid of the chip back and whatever's left over.

Mr. speaker, you should use it to reduce debt or any other reason you want to.

Intel is among the companies that benefited the most from the Chips and Science Act, signed by President Biden in August 2022, a few months after Intel officially broke ground in central Ohio.

Intel is set to get nearly $8 billion for projects in Ohio and elsewhere, and the U.S. Department of Commerce says $2.2 billion have already been disbursed.

Republican state Senator Tim Schaefer's district includes the Intel site.

He said he believes those written agreements between Intel and the federal government preclude its central Ohio project from being affected by Trump's call for crushing the Chips act.

I don't know if he came out against the Chips act so much as he is coming out against any future or future, future, legislation along the line that may not be in his vision of making sure we're making product here in America with American workers, especially in Ohio.

My angle is Ohio.

Since the Intel is in my district, I do want to protect that, project.

It's going to provide is providing, but it's going to provide more and more jobs in our district and all of central Ohio, really, all of Ohio.

And that's very, very important for our economic development.

So I have no concerns about, what's coming out of Washington.

Everybody's everybody's fully committed to making sure we're making these chips in America, and that is our goal.

I think that's everybody's goal.

Governor Mike DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said in a text when Intel announced the New Albany Project.

They committed to it.

Whether the Chips act was passed or not.

The company remains committed to ensuring its manufacturing, which aligns with President Trump's semiconductor strategy and on shoring strategy until a firm proposal moves through Congress, it is prudent to reserve comment until more details are known.

Trump's comments and reactions to them have frustrated minority Democrats, who say they'll push DeWine to fight for the Chips act funds.

We have put a lot on the line in the state of Ohio to move that project forward.

Look, we're building housing.

We're paving roads.

We are getting ready for a massive development project that will make a difference for not just the state of Ohio, but the entire country producing these chips as it is, the president said.

It's a point of national security as well to produce these chips in the United States, and especially in the state of Ohio.

It was promised, by the federal government.

We need to I absolutely believe we should follow through the increased Chips Act.

A tangent comes at a critical juncture for Intel.

The computer chip maker outlined another timeline delay on its central Ohio project last Friday, punting the date to finish one fabrication plant to 2030 and the 2nd to 2031.

Neither will come online until at least 2031.

If it's delayed at all, then it's delayed simply because of how they manage their capital, how they manage their assets, and their customer expectations.

What the federal government is doing is they are committing, and we have written agreements to this already in place between Intel and the federal government, written contracts to help support that effort.

And, you know, otherwise known as the Chips act, the state has already disbursed $600 million in on shoring grants for its venture.

The Ohio Department of Development awarded Intel those on shoring grants and set 2028 as the deadline for when it needs to meet its job and investment commitments to the state, according to department contract documents.

A department spokesperson wrote in an email last week that expectation remains unchanged.

Sarah Donaldson, Statehouse News Bureau.

House Republicans have put forward their changes to the state's voter approved cannabis law, a week after a party line vote in the Senate on its overhaul of the recreational marijuana program.

Unlike the Senate bill, the House would require Delta eight THC and other similar products be sold at dispensaries.

That's largely unregulated now, which governor Mike DeWine has been pushing to change.

The House bill also restores home grow to 12 plants for households from a maximum of six per household.

In the Senate proposal.

And both bills cap the THC content for dispensary products.

The 2026 primary is May 5th.

That's 14 months away.

And on the Republican side, there are three candidates already the long shot former Morgan County Board of Education president Heather Hill, the new entrant, tech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, and the one he'd been planning his run for a while.

Attorney General Dave Yost.

Over the course of the next year and two months, we'll be covering this campaign by the Republicans and the Democrats.

Right now, the only one from that side running for governor is former Ohio Department of Health director Doctor Amy Acton.

I'll feature my interview with her soon.

But this week, my conversation with Dave Yost.

You've been in public office for a while now.

Your term limited as attorney general.

You were state auditor and term limited before that.

You announced your campaign in January, after John Houston's appointment to the U.S. Senate.

Shook up that whole race.

Since then, Vikram Swamy has launched his campaign.

He's gotten endorsements from some sheriffs, though you have more endorsements from sheriffs, as I understand, some statewide executive officeholders, candidates and of course, President Trump.

He's running in this outsider lane here, which has benefited JD Vance, Bernie Marino, and arguably President Trump.

Where where is the path for you to win?

Well, I'm running because of my record.

I've got results, not just rhetoric.

I've won elections.

My opponent has never won an election.

And, you know, candidly, I think probably the outsider candidate in this race, because if you look around cap square, these are the same people that have fought with me during my time as auditor.

Sometimes when I've been attorney general and now they're all lining up, behind my opponent.

I don't think that they like that.

I call balls and strikes.

Is that at all frustrating to have so many years in public office and to see people lining up behind someone who's new to this whole situation?

Look, I, I the the endorsement that I seek the most and I'm very proud of the endorsements that we have.

And honored to have them.

But the ultimate endorsement is the endorsement of the people of Ohio, and they've given it to me four times.

Now, there was a memo from your campaign team that came out before Rama Swamy launched that said his early advantage was a sugar high, driven by media and perceived association with President Trump, that the Trump endorsement was the key factor.

So the Trump endorsements out there, you're still firmly in this race.

Yeah.

And look, wrote President Trump, endorsed me in 2022.

He has endorsed multiple candidates in the same race in the past.

I, I would like to have his support.

No question about it.

But, at the end of the day, it's the people of Ohio that will make this decision.

You talked about several issues here.

Like, for example, immigration.

You said you'd sign an executive order on day one to mandate local law enforcement work with Ice.

Though there are some cities that have pushed back on that.

You've battled against pharmacy benefit managers, PBMs, calling them modern gangsters.

You sued the Biden administration repeatedly over issues you felt were federal overreach, like the Covid 19 vaccine mandate, and also a provision in federal funding that prevented states from issuing tax cuts.

What would be your top priority?

My top priority is to set goals for the state of Ohio.

Oh, every politician comes in talking about problems, stacking them one on top of the other and pledging that there would be the finally, the person that's going to solve the problems.

I don't think we live our lives that way.

We live our lives by figuring out where we want to go and how we're going to get there.

And that's what we ought to do for Ohio.

Is set goals.

How about universal literacy when we've got kids that get out of school and can't functionally read, can't learn a new job from them?

Operating manual.

How about we talk about Ohio Energy produced in Ohio from Ohio, resources for Ohioans and Ohio businesses and manufacturers.

Forget about the intrastate interstate commerce and having to give federal permits.

Let's focus on Ohio and not worry about the other states in the market.

How about we set a goal of being younger and growing?

Instead of shrinking more vibrant?

These are the kinds of goals that our government ought to be setting.

And then we can talk about how to get there collaboratively.

What strength do you feel you bring that, say the Ramaswamy or say, Lieutenant Governor Jim Tressel, who has not said he's going to run but has not ruled it out.

What's your advantage compared to those two candidates who would be leading candidates in this race?

Proven results.

When, I was auditor state, I found $260 million worth of cuts and efficiency savings, through my work.

With our performance audit, I was, Dodge before Dodge was cool.

And when I was, the promise that I was going to go after public corruption, we, our work led to more than 170 criminal convictions for public corruption.

You know, as attorney general, I said I was going to fight for Ohioans on free speech and federal overreach and religious freedom.

And we've done all of those things.

Everybody else can talk about what they'd like to do, but I can talk about what I've already done.

So I used to tell juries when I was prosecuting attorney in Delaware County, don't just listen to what they say because people will say the truth.

They'll say anything to try to get you to go along with them.

Look at what they actually did.

Because when you see what they do, what they did, you're going to begin to see the truth of the matter.

When you talk about public corruption, there are those who would criticize you saying on the House Bill six case, you didn't do it quickly enough.

You didn't go far enough in trying to figure out exactly the role that FirstEnergy was playing and the House speaker, former House Speaker Larry Householder and everything, that you could have gone further.

Well, that's simply not the fact.

Those aren't the that's not the evidence of the record.

Dave Yost went out and sued First Energy and all those, perpetrators, and we stopped the nuclear subsidy through our court action.

That's $1 billion that didn't get taken out of ratepayers pockets.

We also stopped decoupling, which you understand because you were there.

But I'm not going to try to explain it to you.

Yeah, that's a whole other show.

But but basically it was a guaranteed profit provision for FirstEnergy.

That could have been another billion dollars.

Who did that?

Not the federal government, not the Franklin County prosecutor, Dave Yost.

The attorney general was the one that went to court and won those victories for Ohioans.

So I just categorically reject anybody that wants to criticize and say that we didn't do enough.

We did more than anybody, and we have all, on top of that, we have cases pending against the private sector, guys that wrote the checks that provided the oxygen for, the public corruption that occurred.

We're going to hold them accountable to, nobody's done more to bring justice on.

And House Bill six and Dave Yost, including my friends in the legislature.

Are you satisfied with the settlement you got with FirstEnergy?

Because there were critics, including many Democrats, most Democrats, who said it was too low.

Yeah.

And I have to be candid with you.

I it was by that point screened off from the, those negotiations because of, the political posture of the of the situation at that point.

And I didn't want to taint the prosecution, so I wasn't involved with that.

I might have negotiated a different, outcome.

But we'll never know because I wasn't at the table.

I hadn't trust my staff on it.

I, brought up, Lieutenant Governor Jim Tressel, who, again, has not said he's going to run.

It's not ruled out that he's going to run.

If he does get into this race, does that change what you'll do?

No.

Look, competition is good.

The competition between my friend Vivek and I, we've known each other for a number of years.

It's going to make both of us better.

If Jim gets into.

I've known him for 15 years.

I have the highest respect for him.

He'll improve the debate, heal him, and make all of us better as well.

And ultimately, it's the people of Ohio that are going to be the winners there.

You talk about the the voters of Ohio that you're seeking here.

There certainly are a lot of pro-Trump Republicans in Ohio.

But there have been some things have been happening recently that are frustrated, even some Republicans.

The DOJ's job cuts.

You've got the Oval Office blowup between President Trump, Vice President Vance and President Zelensky from Ukraine.

Ohio has 45,000 people with Ukrainian roots.

So I'm wondering what kind of Republican are you hoping to reach?

Who are you hoping will hear your message and embrace it over anybody else's?

I'm hoping to reach all Republicans.

I think every Republican, regardless of your worldview, values proven results with values.

A conservative, that acts on principle.

Who is fiscal conservative and fights for the people?

So there isn't anybody I'm not trying to reach.

You are a social conservative, though it should be said you identify as pro-life.

You've done a lot in the, space about LGBTQ rights and specifically trans athletes in sports and that sort of thing.

You've written on X that the left is incapable of coherence or governance.

You've posted about the elites and blue states and the lunatic left.

So it sounds like you're not trying to appeal to Democrats at all.

Well, certainly not the progressive left.

Because they are incoherent.

The thing that you just cited was about a specific argument that they're making, which is that one of these people that are being deported who are here illegally might cure cancer or do some great thing.

Well, that is true of any human being anywhere on the planet.

So, that argument falls of its own weight because we clearly can't bring the entire globe under the thought that maybe one of them is going to cure cancer.

Everybody come to the United States.

That's that's silly.

It doesn't.

It collapses when you even think about it.

That's what I was about when I talked about the our friends on the left being incoherent.

They really need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what it is they believe in.

Because they have twisted themselves into such pretzels that ordinary Americans don't even understand what they're saying anymore.

We got to talk about money here.

Both you and Ramaswamy have high name recognition, according to some polling that's been out there.

But Rama Swamy comes in with a lot of money.

He raised a lot of money over the last weekend.

With the help of Don Donald Trump Jr. Raised a lot of money.

Has a lot of people in that space that can donate money.

How do you how do you battle against that?

Well, we raise money to look, if all it took was money, you'd be talking about President Michael Bloomberg or Senator Matt Dolan.

The money.

What you need is enough money, and we're confident we're going to have enough.

I want to ask you about the questions you raised about jobs.

Ohio, asking for a delay in consideration of extending the state's funding contract from it's supposed to end in 2038.

It got extended to 2053.

You said you wanted higher stakes attached to that.

You said it wasn't the same terms, essentially.

State budget Director Kim Morgan said, because, well, she basically told you to back off saying that you weren't involved in this and that your considerations were not part of the agenda there.

Why did you raise these concerns about jobs Ohio now instead of a couple of years ago?

Well, I didn't realize candidly that this simply wasn't on my agenda.

I saw it for the first time.

It wasn't on my radar.

I mean, I saw for the first time when it came up on a controlling board agenda.

So I just missed, that discussion last fall, when I might have said something about it.

But just because I failed to bring it up back then doesn't mean that it's wrong to bring it up now.

But you know, I don't work for director mechanics, so she might be confused about that.

But at the end of the day, the original 25 year lease on those liquor profits included $1.4 billion that went back to the state.

The the proportion of about for another 15 years would be 840 million.

That's not included in the deal.

And I said it ought to be not to come back to the state.

What I would like to see is that money being spent for the workforce, for the workers in our state to do things like this, provide retraining for people that are in an industry that maybe is going away for industries that are coming, to Ohio, to provide subsidized onsite daycare, to encourage people to come back into the workforce.

Here's the fundamental problem that we have current jobs.

Ohio's bringing all these new projects, all these new companies in, but we're not expanding our workforce.

That means that the people that are already here are competing with these newcomers for the same pool of workers.

And I have talked with people all over this state who are hurting for employees.

They can't hire enough people to take advantage of all the opportunities in the marketplace.

So instead of giving all the money to the corporations to come here, how about we give them some money to come here and we give the workers some money to come into the workforce that people that have been, outside the workforce is, that's something that you would be looking at if you are elected governor.

Is that that whole jobs Ohio deal?

Is that something that you'd want to renegotiate or look at again?

Well, I'm meeting with Jobs Ohio at the end of this month, to talk about this.

Certainly something I would pursue or I would pursue as governor, but I'm pursuing it right now because it's the right thing to do, and it doesn't require a renegotiation.

It requires a commitment that they're going to use some of that very large pool of money to do things that are going to bring people back into the workforce.

It's good for workers.

It's good for the economy.

It's good for the companies.

It's right in the middle of jobs.

Ohio.

We ought to do it.

I the state, the state has been run by Republicans for decades now.

Essentially, the Republicans have dominated in statewide elections.

Do you think the state has been well run?

Is the state headed in the right direction?

This well, the state has been, run way better than places like California, or New York.

Could it be run better?

Yes, it can.

And I think that we need to be asking serious questions.

You know, why are we spending what we spend, on what we spend it?

Are we getting the benefit of our bargain?

Let's talk about one of your favorite topics.

School fund.

I knew that was going to come off.

Well, here's the thing.

We've been talking about funding schools, for as long as I've been, an adult.

I'll be going back to, the last administration.

And the challenge is the problems don't ever seem to change, and they get a little bit worse as we go on.

Maybe it's time we stop funding schools and start funding.

Students stop paying for a certain number of seats in a building and start paying for kids that can read, the kids that can do, some kids that understand, how to balance checkbook and those kind of basic skills we expect our schools to do, are what we should be paying for.

It's what people think they are paying for with their taxes.

This argument about which school building and which school district gets how much money is really beside the point.

We should be asking whether we're getting what we're paying for as an outcome of a student who graduates from school literate, numerate, and ready to be a productive citizen.

So vouchers have been a good idea as far as you're concerned?

Yes.

Short answer.

Well, let me let me end with a final question.

That maybe a short answer here.

Would you accept the federal appointment?

Well, that's pretty open ended, I suppose if, you know, they wanted to make me speaker of the House, I would have to seriously consider.

Well, how about let's keep it in the judicial area?

Here you are a lawyer.

You've been a prosecutor.

What about a federal appointment, U.S. attorney, something like that.

Look, I'm too passionate to be a judge.

And, Yeah, I'm already attorney general of the, of a great state.

Why would I want to be, United States attorney?

I I'm pursuing the the direction that, is on my heart.

I care about the people of this state, and I'm going to keep going.

And as long as they'll have me as their servant.

After our interview, the leader of the influential center for Christian Virtue delivered what could be seen as a snub to Yost, who has talked about his Christian faith and advocated for positions and laws that conservatives have backed, including opposing the Reproductive Rights Amendment that voters approved in 2023.

CCD President Aaron Bear wrote in a national conservative publication that he is endorsing Maverick Ramaswamy, who is Hindu.

Mayor said it wasn't an easy decision and that it's his only not for CVS, and he said he loves and respects Yost and the work he's done as attorney general.

But, quote, I believe in the vague so much and I believe in the opportunity that is ahead of us that I felt like I had to do this and quote, there's been no comment from Yost, and that is it for this week for my colleagues at the Statehouse News Bureau of Ohio Public Media.

Thanks for watching.

Please check out our website at State News.

Org or find us online by searching.

State of Ohio show if you'd like to be in the know about what we're following, you can register for Ohio State House alerts by texting state news to (380) 233-5686, or go to join subtext.com/statehouse News Bureau.

You can hear more from my colleagues, Joe Ingles and Sarah Donaldson and me on our podcast, The Ohio State House scoop.

Look for it every Monday morning wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks for watching, and please join us again next time for the state of Ohio.

Just.

Support for the Statehouse News Bureau comes from Medical Mutual, dedicated to the health and well-being of Ohioans, offering health insurance plans, as well as dental, vision and wellness programs to help people achieve their goals and remain healthy.

More at Med mutual.com.

The law offices of Porter, right, Morris and Arthur LLP.

Porter Wright is dedicated to bringing inspired legal outcomes to the Ohio business community.

More at porterwright.com.

Porter Wright inspired Every day in Ohio Education Association, representing 120,000 educators who are united in their mission to create the excellent public schools.

Every child deserves more at OHEA.org.