Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Stops In Dayton

DAYTON, OH - Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg surprised an Ohio family in Newton Falls last week, showing up at their home for dinner. Zuckerberg also spent time in Dayton discussing the opiate epidemic and its impact on residents.

Zuckerberg, 32, has been crisscrossing the nation meeting with families, emergency service personnel, and political leadership as he fulfills his New Year's resolution to meet residents of all 50 states. Many are speculating that Zuckerberg is actually feeling out a possible presidential bid in 2020 or later. Besides hitting the Buckeye State, Zuckerberg made stops in Indiana and Michigan during his Midwest swing.

In Newton Falls, the Silicon Valley mainstay had dinner with the Moore family. Zuckerberg landed at the family's doorstep after telling his staff he wanted to meet with Democrats that had switched sides in the most recent election.

The Moores were identified. The family had voted for Barack Obama twice before campaigning on behalf of Trump. The family was told simply that a wealthy Californian would be joining them for their meal, the BBC reports. The family discovered their guest's identity 15 minutes before they sat down to eat.

The dinner was not solely focused on politics though. The conversation moved to the family's work with an orphanage in Uganda, which Zuckerberg promised to throw a fundraiser for, Fortune reports.

Zuckerberg thanked his Ohio hosts in a post to his personal Facebook page.

Zuckerberg then spent time in Dayton, discussing addiction and recovery with opioid users. Ohio has been called the "face of the opioid epidemic" by the Democratic staff of the Senate Finance Committee.

"The opioid epidemic is one of the worst public health crises we've faced. More people die from it today than died from AIDS at its peak, or that die from car accidents and gun violence," he said in a post on his Facebook. "The rate is still growing quickly."

In January, Zuckerberg made a New Year's resolution to see all 50 states and meet with residents in each state.

"After a tumultuous last year, my hope for this challenge is to get out and talk to more people about how they're living, working and thinking about the future," he said in a post his Facebook.

To many, it appears convenient that Zuckerberg's resolution takes him through key swing states like Ohio and Michigan. His visits have also had a distinctly political feel. He's met with swing voters in Ohio, toured a Ford Plant in Dearborn, Michigan, and drove around South Bend Indiana with ascendant Democratic star Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Plus, as Vanity Fair noted, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a limited liability company with a goal of "advancing human potential", recently hired David Plouffe, a political strategist famous for his work with Obama.

Still, it could all be coincidence and an attempt to fulfill a resolution. As Nick Bilton wrote for Vanity Fair, "these are just a series of hints."

Featured photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News/Getty Images