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Sen. Gardner is chairman of the Senate Education Committee and serves on the Energy, Finance and Financial Institutions, State and Local Government and Veterans Affairs committees. He was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1996. His district includes all of Lake and Ashtabula counties.

Previously, Gardner served terms as a township trustee and county commissioner. He also is a member of the State Board of Education and the Ohio Board of Regents. Before winning a seat in the Senate, Gardner had been an educator for 28 years.

He is a lifelong resident of northeast Ohio. He received a bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University and did post-graduate studies at Kent State and Cleveland State universities. He and his wife, Barbara Goertz, are parents of two children and legal guardians of a nephew.