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A BRIEF LOOK AT OHIO HOUSE PRIMARIES
Last week, The
Political Edge reviewed this year’s Ohio Senate primaries and
Ohio House primaries in districts 1-50. What follows is a brief review
of districts 51-99.
As always, P.a.C.E.
will have the results of next Tuesday’s primaries summarized for
you the next day.
House District
56: (Democrats)
– Justin Hill of Sheffield Lake, a 19-year old student at
Lorain County Community College, is attempting to upset appointed Rep.
Joe Koziura of Lorain by questioning what Koziura has accomplished
during his tenure in the General Assembly. He’s not likely to succeed.
House District 58: (Republicans) – Huron County Clerk of
Courts Kathleen Walcher should have no trouble dispatching former
Ford Motor Co. machinist Jack Williamson of Bellevue.
House District 59: (Democrats) – Freshman Rep. Ken Carano
of Austintown faces only token opposition from 19-year old Youngstown
State University student David Sisk.
House District 60: (Democrats) – Rep. Sylvester Patton
of Youngstown won a contested primary with 63 percent of the vote two
years ago. This time he faces Jerry McNally, a candidate who
– in his most recent run for office in 1999 – finished third
in a three-way Democratic primary for a Youngstown City Council ward
seat. The challenge this year for Patton, an African-American, is to
appeal to the predominantly white voters in Austintown Township that
were added to his district as a result of reapportionment.
House District 61: (Republicans) – Three candidates are
running for the right to challenge freshman Rep. John Boccieri.
Randy Pope, who helped manage former Rep. Ron Hood's campaigns
in this same district and works as a basket weaver for Longaberger,
is a slight favorite. He has some residual name recognition from having
run and lost an uphill race against an incumbent last year for City
Treasurer in Alliance, the largest city in the district. Heather
Plues of Salem, a restaurant service manager, is an energetic first-time
candidate who received The Youngstown Vindicator endorsement, while
Ron Barnhart of Columbiana, the Lordstown planning administrator,
captured 34 percent against Hood in the 2000 GOP primary.
House District 65: (Democrats) – Joseph Melfi, a former
mayor of Girard, is the favorite in this race. He received the Trumbull
County Democratic Party's endorsement – no surprise given that
his brother is the current party chairman. The other candidates are
Barry Profato, a former Niles councilman who lost a 1999 bid
for mayor in the Democratic primary, and Sandra Stabile Harwood
of Niles, a private practice attorney. Incumbent Rep. Tony Latell
is running for Congress rather than for re-election.
House District 68: (Democrats) – Kathleen Chandler,
a Portage County Commissioner, is the clear favorite to win the Democrat
nomination. She is also a former council member and mayor of Kent. Her
primary opponent is Gene Brown, a Ravenna City Councilman who
works for Owens Corning and owns a car wash. He ran against Rep. Ann
Womer Benjamin in 2000, capturing 41 percent of the vote.
House District 68: (Republicans) – Terri Hauenstein,
a member of the Aurora School Board, is term-limited Rep. Benjamin's
choice to succeed her. Speaker Householder is also supporting her candidacy.
Both believe that the party needs a female candidate against Chandler
in order to win in November. Hauenstein will first have to get by two
opponents in the primary. Her strongest challenger is Brain Paul.
He currently works for his family's business, Paul's Lumber, which has
a number of locations throughout the county. Paul is a former member
of U.S. Rep. Steve LaTourette’s staff and has LaTourette's public
support. Paul rebuffed requests by the House GOP caucus to drop out
of the race. Aurora attorney Bob Willis is a non-factor. Depending
on how much money the caucus dumps into Hauenstein's campaign, the race
could be close.
House District 71: (Republicans) – The only thing standing
between Rep. David Evans of Newark and re-election to a third
term is primary challenger Grover Fraley, who lost his race for
re-election to Pataskala City Council last year. No Democrat filed.
House District 78: (Republicans) – One would think that
a district with a 60-plus percent GOP index and a freshman Democrat
incumbent would draw much interest. It has. Six Republicans filed for
the right to take on Rep. Derrick Seaver. One has since dropped
out. The House GOP caucus thinks its strongest candidate against Seaver
is John Adams of Sidney, owner of several retail furniture stores
in west central Ohio. Adams lost a four-way primary for this seat in
2000. His strongest competition will probably come from two Champaign
County candidates, Capital Law student Josh Hahn and Sharon
McCall. McCall is a self-employed recruiter; her sister is Champaign
County Auditor Bonnie Warman. Also in the GOP primary are political
newcomers Bruce Lee of Sidney and Michael Galluzzo of
St. Paris.
House District 81: (Republicans) – What’s in a name? We’ll
find out in this primary. Gene Demschroder of Fremont, the 80-year
old former state legislator and father of term-limited incumbent Rep.
Rex Damschroder, is one of four GOP candidates in this race, three of
which have surnames quite familiar to voters. Charles Knight
of Fostoria, a small business owner, is the Republican State Central
Committeeman for the district and the son of another former state legislator
from the area, Howard Knight. Helena’s Jay Thatcher, a first-time
candidate, has the same last name as a current Sandusky County Commissioner
and a current Fremont City Councilman, but is related to neither. Despite
these familiar names, the candidate likely to win is Seneca County Commissioner
Jeff Wagner, a Sycamore farmer.
House District 86: (Republicans) – This is a three-way race
that could be won by any of the candidates. Both Dave Daniels
and Rick Stanforth are county commissioners, Daniels in Highland
County and Stanforth in Clinton County. Daniels has support from Sen.
Doug White, Rep. Dennis Stapleton, and former Sen. Cooper Snyder. Stanforth
has been endorsed by Rep. Tom Niehaus, and there are nearly 1,500 more
registered Republicans in Clinton than in Highland. Blanchester’s
Toni Barnes is the wild card. As a first-time candidate, she
is the top primary priority for pro-family and social conservative organizations.
The irony in this race as that the winner will likely be determined
by voters in Pike County, the smallest county of the three in the district
and a heavily Democratic area.
House District 87: (Democrats) – The favorite in this three-way
primary is Fred Deel of Vinton, Gallia County’s 4-H extension
agent. He served 16 years on the Gallia County Local Board of Education,
though he lost a close race for re-election last year. His stiffest
competition is coming from Carol Porter, who sells real estate
in Vinton County. Also in the race is Ron McClintock, mayor of
the Village of Athalia in Lawrence County.
House District 87: (Republicans) – It’s Evans v. Evans
in the district that includes the original Bob Evans Farm. Clyde
Evans, a Gallia County resident and former Rio Grande Village Councilman,
is currently Executive Assistant to the President for Public Affairs
and Director of Athletics at the University of Rio Grande, while Jackson
Mayor John “Tom” Evans owns a coin-operated vending
business. Though the race may have been a toss-up initially, a recent
audit conducted by State Auditor Jim Petro’s office which alleges
that nearly $150,000 of public money was misspent in Jackson in 1999
and 2000 may spell doom for the candidacy of Tom Evans, currently serving
his fourth term as mayor.
House District 89: (Republicans) – Portsmouth’s Harold
“Bud” Sayre, a retired high school principal, is the likely
winner in the GOP primary against Tom Pinkerton of Ironton.
House District 90: (Republicans) – Another incumbent whose
primary challenge appears to stem mainly from changes made to the district
by reapportionment is Rep. Thom Collier. More than 40 percent
of the district is new territory to Collier. His opponent is James
Carroll of Cardington in Morrow County, a maintenance manager and
long-time Lincoln Township Trustee.
House District 92: (Democrats) – Athens City Councilman
Dale Tampke and Dr. Eric Hasemeier, also of Athens, are
locked in a close contest for the Democratic nomination in this reapportionment-created
district in southeastern Ohio. James Pancake of Nelsonville,
an A.E.P. electrician, executive board member of his I.B.E.W. local,
and a York Township Trustee, is also a candidate. Tampke, an administrator
at Ohio University who captured 47 percent in a 1998 race against Speaker
Householder, appears to have much of the party establishment behind
his candidacy. Hasemeier, a former Athens County Coroner and a former
dean at Ohio University, is attempting to run to the right of Tampke.
House District 95: (Democrats) – John Domenick, weather
anchor/director for WTRF-TV 7, a Wheeling, W.V. station, appears to
have incumbent Rep. Eileen Krupinski on the ropes. The combination
of a reshaped district, more than a third of which is newly added Belmont
County, and voter fatigue with the Krupinski name appearing on the ballot,
created an opening for Domenick to translate his television visibility
to political support.
House District 96: (Republicans) – Greg Erb, a one-term
mayor of New Philadelphia who was easily defeated in his 1999 re-election
bid, and Connie Finton, a dairy farmer, square off for the right
to run against incumbent Rep. Charlie Wilson. Though Erb is a
slight favorite in the primary, either will be an underdog against Wilson
in November.
House District 97: (Republicans) – Four candidates filed,
but only two remain in this new, solidly Republican district created
as a result of reapportionment. Kevin Potter and Forrest Thompson
both withdrew, likely paving the way to victory for hog farmer Bob
Gibbs. Gibbs is a former president of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation.
Chuck Pfeister, a Wadsworth barber, is the other remaining candidate
in the primary.
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