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A Republican filed for Mahoning County auditor
YOUNGSTOWN
Republican Bill Reese, a former Canfield Township trustee, filed nominating petitions to challenge Mahoning County Auditor Michael V. Sciortino, the Democratic incumbent, in the general election.
Today is the filing deadline for candidates wanting to run in the May 6 primary.
Reese served eight years as a Canfield trustee and ran his own cutting-tool supply shop for 25 years. Sciortino turned in petitions Tuesday to the county board of elections seeking re-election.
As of Tuesday, no one has filed to challenge county Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti, a Democrat.
The open seat on the 7th District Court of Appeals — being vacated by Judge Joseph J. Vukovich — had attracted interest from numerous candidates.
But as of Tuesday, Youngstown Deputy Law Director Anthony Donofrio, a Democrat, and Judge Carol Ann Robb of Columbiana County Municipal Court, a Republican, are the only candidates to file for the seat.
Probate Court Judge Mark Belinky is being challenged in the Democratic primary by Susan Maruca. Judge Belinky defeated Maruca in the 2008 Democratic primary.
In the 6th Congressional District race, former state Rep. Jennifer Garrison of Marietta, who announced in July she would run for the seat in the Democratic primary, will have an opponent in May.
Gregory D. Howard of Albany, an organic farmer and Meigs County Democratic central committee member, filed for the seat in the Democratic primary.
In the 13th Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat from Howland, is being challenged in the primary by John Stephen Luchansky of Boardman, who lost the 2006 Democratic primary in the 6th District.
In the 5th Ohio House District, which takes in all of Columbiana County, there will be a rematch from the 2012 race.
State Rep. Nick Barborak, a Democrat from Lisbon, defeated then-incumbent Republican Craig E. Newbold of Columbiana by 1 percentage point in 2012.
Newbold and Libertarian Martin Elsass of Columbiana filed nominating petitions to challenge Barborak in the November general election.
Also in Columbiana County, Democrat Brandon J. Kovach, a University of Akron student who moved his place of residency to Lisbon from Austintown last month, filed as a Democrat for county auditor. Republican Nancy Gause Milliken of Lisbon is seeking her fourth term for that position this year.