David Swanson has announced his candidacy for Ohio House District 81, running as the Democratic nominee against Williams County Recorder Patti Rockey and challenging a Republican supermajority that he says has left working-class Ohioans behind.
Swanson is the son of a dairy farmer, a U.S. Navy veteran, and the founder of Daavlin, a Bryan-based manufacturer of medical products that today employs over a hundred people and serves dermatologists worldwide.
He has spent decades building his life and business in northwest Ohio, and says those roots are exactly why he’s running.
“The American middle class is under attack,” Swanson said. “Values that we have held sacred for generations are being trampled. I want to be a part of rebuilding a healthy, robust society where people can aspire and flourish, and I want to do it for all Ohioans, not just those who vote for me.”
Growing up on a dairy farm as the oldest of six children, Swanson learned early that failure and dereliction are simply not options.
After earning a degree in Political Science from the University of Puget Sound and serving four years in the U.S. Navy, he earned a Master’s degree in International Trade from the American Graduate School of International Management in Phoenix, Arizona.
He then came to Bryan, Ohio as an export manager for a local pharmaceutical company and never left.
In 1981, he co-founded Daavlin and built it into the predominant player in the photo-therapeutic market for skin diseases such as psoriasis and vitiligo. In recent years, he has helped lead a downtown revival in Bryan, rehabilitating historic buildings on the square and opening a new restaurant, with a boutique hotel underway next door.
Swanson points to Ohio’s Republican supermajority as a government that has failed to deliver on the core concerns of working families in western Ohio. He is running on a platform built around four priorities: Food, Housing, Healthcare, and Education.
“The challenges we face don’t belong to one side of the aisle, and neither do the solutions,” Swanson said. “Real change takes collaboration, and I’m committed to doing the hard work of building it.”
Swanson acknowledges that both parties have at times failed to prioritize the working-class Ohioans they were elected to serve. He is running to return the Democratic Party to its roots: fighting for kitchen-table issues that affect everyday families, from the family farmer to the factory worker to the parents trying to keep their kids in a good school.
“Northwest Ohio provided both the opportunity and the foundation that I needed to build a strong company and a meaningful life,” Swanson said.
“If elected, I will bring the same work ethic I learned on that dairy farm to the work of ensuring that everyone has a fair shot at the blessings this state has to offer, with honesty, fairness, and decency.”
Swanson has also served on the board of the Bryan Hospital and currently serves on the Chairman’s Circle of Advisors at the Johns Hopkins Hospital department of dermatology. He is a longtime supporter of the arts and an active civic leader in the Bryan community.
To learn more about David Swanson’s campaign, visit swansonforohio.com or follow him on Facebook at facebook.com/SwansonForOhio.
