Steubenville legislator to replace JasonWilson in Ohio state Senate

By David Skolnick | December 1, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

COLUMBUS

A first-term Ohio House representative will fill out the unexpired term of former state Sen. Jason Wilson.

The nine Democrats in the 33-member Ohio Senate selected state Rep. Lou Gentile of Steubenville, D-95th, on Wednesday to replace Wilson, a Democrat from Columbiana, who resigned last week to join the administration of Republican Gov. John Kasich.

The Vindicator reported Nov. 19 that Gentile was Wilson’s likely successor for the 30th Senate District seat.

“Lou Gentile is hard-working and passionate about public service,” said Senate Minority Leader Capri S. Cafaro, a Democrat from Liberty.

“He will be a strong voice for the residents of the 30th District and a great addition to the Ohio Senate.”

Before being elected last year as a state representative, Gentile worked for Democrat Ted Strickland when he was in Congress and as governor. Gentile was assistant director of the governor’s office of Appalachia during the Strickland administration.

“I am honored and humbled to have been chosen to represent southeastern Ohio in the state Senate,” Gentile said.

Columbiana County is currently the most-populous county in the 30th District, and Gentile will represent it in the Senate through the end of next year.

State legislative redistricting, approved by a Republican-controlled committee that included Kasich, drew new lines that put Columbiana and Mahoning in the new 33rd District, effective in January 2013.

State Sen. Joe Schiavoni, a Democrat from Canfield, was elected to a four-year term in the 33rd District last year, and doesn’t have to run for that seat until 2014.

Under state law, for Wilson to remain in the Senate, he would have had to move south to run next year in the new 30th District.

Wilson said he wouldn’t move.

Until Gentile’s appointment, that district was without an incumbent.