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STATE RACES Kasich, GOP dominate Democrats
YOUNGSTOWN
For only the fifth time in the past 70 years, a Democrat gubernatorial candidate failed to win in Mahoning County.
Ed FitzGerald, the party’s nominee, also became the fourth Democrat in that same time period to not take Trumbull County.
The Democratic Party chairmen of Mahoning and Trumbull, two of the most Democratic counties in the state, said FitzGerald’s poorly run campaign, which included numerous setbacks and the revelation that he didn’t have a driver’s license for about a decade, not only doomed his campaign, but hurt other Democrats.
“FitzGerald was so weak and he even dragged the local candidates down with him,” said Mahoning Democratic Chairman David Betras. “The top of the ticket killed us. I’m pretty depressed. Democrats didn’t turn out because the top of the ticket sucked.”
Trumbull Democratic Chairman Dan Polivka, who had a high-profile dispute with Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern over secret ballots, called for the state chairman to be replaced. Polivka didn’t have to wait long as Redfern resigned late Tuesday, effective mid-December, after all seven statewide party candidates lost.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to build what I believe to be the strongest state party in the country,” Redfern said.
Mahoning GOP Chairman Mark Munroe said, “The statewide numbers are impressive. There’s no doubt the strong performance of the governor helped the rest of the state. We suspected from the beginning Kasich would do well, but to hit 53 percent is an achievement for a Republican in Mahoning County.”
FitzGerald received 33 percent of the vote statewide, the second-worst showing for any Democrat who has run for governor. The worst was in 1994 when then-state Sen. Robert Burch of Columbiana County received 25 percent in a loss to incumbent Republican Gov. George V. Voinovich.
In this election, incumbent Republican John Kasich beat FitzGerald by 11 percentage points in Mahoning County. In Trumbull, Kasich won by 14 percentage points.
Before Burch, the last Democrat to lose Mahoning and Trumbull counties was Frazier Reams Jr. in 1966.
FitzGerald was crushed by 43.5 percentage points in Columbiana County by Kasich.
All Republican statewide candidates won in Columbiana County as they did in 2010 — and all by large margins.
“In the 25 years I’ve been doing this, it’s the largest electoral victory we’ve ever experienced,” said Columbiana County Republican Chairman Dave Johnson.
When told of Kasich’s victory in Mahoning County, Johnson said, “That’s astounding. I must confess that I don’t look at Ohio as a red, red state. But the margins of victory are remarkable.”
Other statewide Republicans winning in Mahoning County were Secretary of State John Husted over Democrat Nina Turner by 8 percentage points, and Supreme Court Justice Sharon Kennedy by 30 percentage points over Tom Letson, a state representative from Warren. Supreme Court candidates don’t run with party affiliations in general elections in Ohio.
Other statewide Republicans winning in Trumbull included Attorney General Mike DeWine over Democrat David Pepper by 3 percentage points, Husted over Turner by nearly 10 percentage points, Treasurer Josh Mandel over Democrat Connie Pillich by 1 percentage point and Justice Kennedy over Letson by 8.5 percentage points.