After three losses, the Warren Republican pulled off an upset in the 64th.

After three losses, the Warren Republican pulled off an upset in the 64th.
WARREN -- Losing the Warren mayoral race in 2003 actually helped pave the way for his upset victory this year in the 64th House District, Randy Law said.
"I can tell you, knocking on doors running for mayor, people said, 'I've never heard of you,'" said Law, 43, a Republican from Warren. "This year I never heard that, because people watched that mayor's race so much. It really paid off big this year."
Last month Law defeated two-term Democrat state Rep. Daniel J. Sferra, a former Warren mayor.
Won the townships
The House district includes Warren and Cortland cities, and the townships of Champion, Southington, Braceville, Warren, Howland, Farmington, Johnston, Mecca, Vernon and parts of Bazetta and Fowler.
Law carried 67 of the 70 precincts outside of Warren, though he lost Warren by 2,200 votes. "So, the townships were extremely supportive," he said.
Law said he's the first Republican to hold this office in 40 years. And he knows Democrats will be gunning for him in two years.
"It's probably going to be the most expensive re-election campaign in Ohio in two years, because obviously being a sitting member I'm going to be a little higher on the radar than a long shot," he said. "If people feel we've started some things and we're moving in the right direction, they'll send me back."
Across party lines
He said his won't be a voice in the wilderness in the Mahoning Valley's Democratic stronghold.
"In Columbus, obviously I'm going to be able to get in some doors that other elected officials in this area can't, and I want to use this to the area's advantage," he said. "Working across party lines isn't going to be an issue if it means helping this community."
Law reached unsuccessfully for other elected offices in the past: He tried to wrest the 59th District state representative job from Democrat Michael Verich in 1990; he challenged Sferra in 2002; and in 2003 he lost a bid to be Warren's mayor to Michael O'Brien. Law has been a longtime state GOP committeeman and involved with the county's Young Republicans organization.
This year, Law said he thinks Sferra had underestimated him, and so did the state Democratic party. His own polling six weeks before Election Day showed him winning, Law said.
"They didn't expect it, and I know their local polling showed some of the things ours was showing -- and they just chose not to believe it," he said.
Help from the GOP
Law had $157,364 worth of help from the Ohio House Republican Campaign Committee in the days before the election for media, advertising, printing, calling, mailing and more campaign literature. "They saw we were winning," he said. "Our whole hope was to put us in a position where they would come in and help."
The 126th General Assembly convenes in January. Party distribution in the house is 60 Republicans and 39 Democrats -- a gain of two seats for the Democrats. Republicans defeated the Democratic incumbent in only one district, the 64th, and held onto seven open seats.
Members are limited to four consecutive two-year elected terms. Law hopes he has a shot at four committees as a freshman: finance, environment, natural resources and agriculture, and business and technology.
Two offices
He's setting up offices in Warren and Columbus to work full time, leaving his longtime employer, Torque Drives in Warren, where he was a manager. His local office will be in Riverside Square, the former St. Joseph Riverside Hospital on Tod Avenue Northwest in Warren -- close to the Clemmens Avenue house he shares with his mom, Wilma.
He'll be in Columbus three days a week. "I think that's going to be important, giving us a full-time representative down there on a day-to-day basis," he said.
Already, Law is trying to hold onto state money that was appropriated six years ago for renovating the Robins Theater in downtown Warren. He spoke with state Rep. Jon A. Husted, a fellow Republican from Kettering and the next House Speaker, about making sure money earmarked for the project stays in the city, even if it doesn't wind up being used on the theater.
"I just can't sit by and have them take money out of the area that we've been allocated," Law said.
"I had to use a little bit of my early political capital," he said of raising the issue to Husted.
"I have political capital going in as a freshman from a tough district. A little frustrating, but necessary."
"I have political capital going in as a freshman from a tough district. A little frustrating, but necessary."