Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose speaks to the press before a tour of Compco Industries in Columbiana Thursday. Chairman of the board for Compco Industries Craig Smith is also pictured. (Photo by Stephanie Elverd)

COLUMBIANA — In celebration of Manufacturing Week, which honors the contributions of the manufacturing sector, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose stopped in at Compco Industries in Columbiana Thursday to talk shop and shine a spotlight on the production industry.

“Ohio builds things. That’s what we do,” LaRose said. “We build things and we build things well, and to have an economy, you need manufacturing.”

Thursday marked the third time LaRose has visited the Columbiana-based company, which was formed in 1954 and continues to produce and deliver steel products. LaRose held Compco, a fourth-generation family operated business, up as an example of the companies that keep Ohio’s economy booming.

“Manufacturing is one of Ohio’s real strengths as a state,” LaRose said. “We are a state with skilled, hard-working people that know how to build things. Not only is that a great part of our heritage as a state, it’s a great part of our economic future as a state.”

Aside from celebrating the manufacturing industry, LaRose said he intended to use the visit as an educational tool to gain perspective on what the sector needs to keep thriving.

“Ohio workers and Ohio manufacturers can outcompete anyone in the world when they are competing on a level playing field,” he said. “We are here to speak with and learn from some of Compco’s great employees while really highlight manufacturing.”

LaRose, who has his sights set on Sherrod Brown’s senate seat, also took advantage of the visit to promote his race.

“I wanted to take this chance to make my pitch to them and do what I call the job interview,” LaRose said. “I consider this whole campaign for the U.S. Senate a year-long job interview so I am here to speak to my prospective employers.”

LaRose told the workers that he challenged Brown to “save the country,” expressing frustration with the current president and the Democratic Party who he said have continued to add to America’s struggling economy and souring cost of inflation. LaRose spoke of the disadvantages Compco and other manufacturers face when competing against foreign companies who are not saddled with the same rules and regulations. He also voiced concern over election integrity.

“I want to make elections easier to vote in and harder to cheat at,” he said. “I want a level playing field for our manufacturing and I want to leave this country better than we found it. That’s what we’ve always been told to do — to leave things better than we found it. We are in danger of being the first generation to leave things worse than they were.”

LaRose also talked about illegal immigration, making a correlation between “the border crisis” and the growing numbers of fatal fentanyl overdoses in the country.

“Fentanyl is coming across our border. The chemicals are coming from China and being mixed by criminals and brought in over the southern border,” he said. “Everyday, over 200 people die from fentanyl poisoning. That’s enough to fill a Boeing 737. If we had a Boeing 737 go down everyday, we would ground the airline industry, yet we keep letting this poison into our country. We know how it’s happening and we know how to stop it.”

selverd@mojonews.com