The Republican candidates for U.S. Senate debated on questions on July 8 at the Paulding County Extension Building. The event was held by the Paulding County Republican Women.
The four candidates in attendance were: Mark Pukita, Neil Patel, Michael Leipold and Mike Gibbons. All four of the candidates have a very interesting history. Three claimed they were successful job creators.
Mark Pukita is from Ohio and he graduated from OSU in 1981 and then went on to start a business in his basement in which he recently sold in 2019. He is frustrated with the politicians in Washington, just as many people are, and wants to get back to the Constitution.
Neil Patel, was born in India and immigrated to the United States in the 1970s with barely anything and now has a very successful business. Patel became a US citizen in 1994 and he loves this country. He realized early on that this country has the greatest opportunities for the ambitious in heart and soul.
Michael Leipold is the candidate with eight children. The young man has big aspirations as the working class conservative. He understands right to life as he nearly had it taken away from him. Michael served in the military and is a proven leader with six deployments as an Air Mission Commander.
Michael Gibbons comes in to the race with experience as a running candidate. He was put into the race in 2018 against Jim Renacci and won 38 counties in his bid. Mike launched his own successful financial company and is very experienced in the business sector. He travelled around the state in 2020 speaking on behalf of President Donald Trump.
All the candidates were prepared and answered the 15 or so questions within their allotted time frame. Each of their personal stories were quite interesting in their success. None of them have previously held a public office.
The event had a meet and greet time after the debate, where people were able to ask questions to each candidate individually.
The full debate is recorded and located at https://youtu.be/wqo1MUqztjQ or at westbendnews.net
