URBANA — For the first time since vying for a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives, Nino Vitale, R-Urbana, has competition in a November general election. Now in his second two-year term as 85th District representative of all of Champaign and parts of Logan and Shelby counties, he faces Mechanicsburg High School senior Garrett Baldwin, a Democrat first-time contender for an elected political position, in the Nov. 6 election.

A Champaign County native, Baldwin is a Mechanicsburg High School senior and, through Ohio’s College Credit Plus (CCP) program, a full-time Urbana University student.

He has held various jobs in the food industry and now works for a Mechanicsburg restaurant. For nearly a year, he worked for the Ohio branch of Wolf PAC, a group that believes corporate money has no place in state or national politics and meets with state legislators to try to resolve this issue.

Baldwin enlisted in the Ohio Army National Guard this past summer.

Vitale has lived in Champaign County more than 20 years with his wife, Lilli Johnson Vitale, with whom he has five boys. They have fostered four children at various times.

He attended the Ohio State University and holds a Master’s in Business (MBA), having worked his way through college working highway and building construction jobs. He has worked for large and small companies, including Wendy’s and Apple Computer. The family’s Urbana manufacturing business employs over 400 local people.

The two candidates were asked to provide background information (from which the information above was taken) and written responses to six questions. They were asked to keep each response under 100 words and told unedited responses would be published. The responses appear in this edition of the newspaper.

Learn more about the candidates at VoteVitale.com and on their facebook pages.