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Candidates continue filing petitions
YOUNGSTOWN
Most incumbents and a few challengers running in the March 6 primary aren’t waiting until the deadline to file nominating petitions.
Barring an 11th-hour deal struck between Democrats and Republicans in the state Legislature to have one primary, Wednesday is the deadline for those seeking to run in the March primary. The second primary is June 12 for U.S. House members and presidential candidates. That filing deadline is later.
Several incumbents have filed for the March 6 primary as well as three candidates for the open Mahoning County sheriff’s seat.
Also, a number of candidates have announced their intention to run for the county commissioner’s seat being vacated by John McNally IV, a Democrat, but only four had filed as of Monday.
The only incumbent in the county seeking re-election who hadn’t filed by Monday is Prosecutor Paul J. Gains.
Youngstown Prosecutor Jay Macejko, who has announced he is challenging Gains in the Democratic primary, also hadn’t filed by Monday.
In Trumbull County, all incumbents, except Commissioner Dan Polivka, a Democrat, have filed to seek re-election.
The only incumbent with a challenger in the primary so far is Sheriff Thomas L. Altiere, a Democrat. James R. Phillips of Farmdale is the challenger.
Two Republicans filed to be their party’s nominee in the 64th Ohio House District seat held currently by state Rep. Tom Letson, a Democrat from Warren, who’s running for re-election.
The Republican candidates are Bloomfield Township Trustee Roger M. Peterson Jr. and Albert J. Haberstroh Jr. of Southington, who lost to Letson last year.
Columbiana County is the only area in the Mahoning Valley in which a majority of incumbents have yet to file.
Meanwhile, March 16 is the deadline for U.S. House candidates to file nominating petitions for the June 12 primary.
That second primary was created because Ohio Democrats are seeking a referendum on the November 2012 ballot to overturn new U.S. House District boundaries drawn by Republicans.
A resolution likely would need to be finished by Wednesday because that’s the deadline to file for the March primary.
The Ohio secretary of state is recommending U.S. House candidates file on or before Wednesday’s deadline for the March 6 primary.
As of Monday, only the incumbents in the three U.S. House seats that represent the Valley had filed.
They are U.S. Reps. Tim Ryan, a Democrat from Niles in the new 13th Congressional District; Bill Johnson, a Republican from Marietta in the 6th District; and Steven C. LaTourette of Bainbridge, a Republican in the 14th District.