Incumbents in contested races in the Ohio primary election held Tuesday won their places on the November election ballot, led by Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted over three sets of challengers.
Republican DeWine’s 514,374 votes in unofficial results posted by the Secretary of State’s office were 48% of the total. His nearest challenger was Jim Renacci and his running mate, Joe Knopp with 299,515 votes. The Joe Blystone/Jeremiah W. Workman ticket had 232,716 votes and Ron Hood/Candice Keller trailed with 221,212 votes cast.
DeWine’s apparent Democratic challengers will be the ticket of Nan Whaley and Cheryl L. Stephens. They received 326,329 votes compared to their challengers, John Cranley and Teresa Fedor, who had 175,771 votes statewide.
A little more than 1 million of the state’s 7.9 million registered voters turned out for the hotly contested primary election, or just over 13% of qualified voters.
The U.S. Senate race saw Democrat incumbent Tim Ryan looking to easily win the primary against Morgan Harper. Ryan’s 355,764 votes led Harper who had 90,485 votes and Traci TJ Johnson with 64,113 votes in unofficial results.
On the Republican ticket, JD Vance had the lead with 340,991 votes. Josh Mandel was in second with 253,051 and Matt Dolan trailed behind at 247,042 votes.
Mike Gibbons had 123,417 votes, Jane Timken had 62,237 votes, Mark Pukita had 22,478 votes and Neil Patel had 9,897 votes.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose won his primary fight with John Adams, with 607,144 votes compared to Adams’ 331,814 votes in the Republican primary. He’ll face Democrat Chelsea Clark who ran unopposed and received 427,981 votes.
Ohio candidates win races with pluralities – the most votes win – so runoffs aren’t an issue for candidates with less than a majority of the votes.
In the 12th District Congressional race, Republican incumbent Troy Balderson appeared headed for a primary victory against Brandon Michael Lape. With results from all counties in the district, including Knox, Balderson’s unofficial total was 55,783 to Lape’s 11,314.
Results were tighter in the Democratic primary, with Amy Rippel-Elton’s lead of 8,920 to Michael Fletcher’s 8,434 votes.
Local tax levy renewals approved
In unofficial results, the Fredericktown Ambulance District proposed tax levy renewal was approved by 1,174 votes for and 587 votes against.
Loudonville voters approved their public library proposed tax levy renewal by a 30 to 16 vote.
Munday to face Pursel in November election
Roger Munday received 1,357 votes in his primary bid for county commissioner in the Democratic primary. He’ll face incumbent Republican Commissioner Bill Pursel, who received 6,200 votes in Tuesday’s election.
