Thursday, December 17, 2015
SEE ALSO: Major GOP, Dem prez candidates file in Ohio
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2016 Primary Candidates and Issues for Mahoning, Trumbull, and Columbiana Counties.
Though most incumbents in the Mahoning Valley won’t face challengers in the March 15 primary, several candidates gravitated toward the few open seats on the ballot.
In the race for the 63rd Ohio House District, which takes in a majority of Trumbull County, three Democrats and one Republican are seeking the seat. State Rep. Sean O’Brien, a Democrat from Bazetta, isn’t running for re-election in 2016, opting to capture the open 32nd Ohio Senate District seat.
Democrats filing to replace O’Brien in the 63rd are McDonald Mayor Glenn Holmes, Hubbard Councilman Benjamin A. Kyle, and Maryanne James of Niles, who lost in the 2014 primary.
Republican Devon Stanley of Girard, who lost in last year’s general election to O’Brien by 33 percentage points, filed as the lone GOP candidate in the 63rd.
The 32nd Senate seat is open; incumbent Democrat Capri Cafaro of Liberty is unable to run next year because of the state term-limit law.
In addition to O’Brien, Atty. Kristen F. Rock of Liberty filed in the Democratic primary for state Senate.
Ex-state Rep. Tom Letson, a Democrat of Warren, had said he’d seek the spot but didn’t turn in petitions.
“I looked at the practicality of the race, and party unity is a better idea,” he said.
When asked who the party will rally around, Letson said he didn’t know.
Also, two Republicans filed in the 32nd: Randy Law, the Trumbull County Republican chairman and a former Ohio House member; and Robert J. Allen of Chardon.
Wednesday was the filing deadline for candidates running in the partisan March 15 primary. County boards of elections need to certify the candidacies after reviewing nominating petitions.
The retirement of Trumbull County Recorder Diane Marchese drew three fellow Democrats and a Republican to file to replace her.
Two Republicans filed to replace retiring Columbiana County Coroner William A. Graham Jr., also a Republican.
In the three congressional districts that serve the Mahoning Valley, two of the incumbents will face primary challengers, and all have general-election opponents.
In the 13th District, seven-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a Howland Democrat, will again face John Stephen Luchansky, a frequent congressional candidate. In the 2014 Democratic primary, Ryan beat Luchansky by 70 percentage points. Republican Richard A. Morckel of Akron filed to face Ryan in the general election.
In the 6th District, three-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, a Republican of Marietta, has no primary, but two Democrats – Belpre Mayor Michael L. Lorentz and Michael D. Davenport, a former Meigs County commissioner and Democratic chairman – filed in that party’s primary.
Davenport, who unsuccessfully ran last year as an independent in an attempted comeback as Meigs County commissioner, is expected to withdraw, as he was a placeholder in case Lorentz opted not to run, state Democratic officials say.
The 14th District race has several familiar names with two-term incumbent U.S. Rep. David P. Joyce of Russell challenged in the Republican primary by ex-state Rep. Matt Lynch, whom he beat in the 2014 primary. Two Democrats filed – attorney Michael Wager of Moreland Hills, who lost last year’s general election to Joyce, and retired Ashtabula County Common Pleas Judge Alfred Mackey.
In Mahoning County, Commissioner David Ditzler, Recorder Noralynn Palermo, and state Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan of the 58th District are the only incumbents with primary-election challengers. All are Democrats.
Except for Auditor Ralph Meacham, all nonjudicial elected officials in the county are Democrats.
Several Republicans filed to face Democrats in the general election, including Corrine L. Sanderson of Youngstown, elected last month to a seat on the city school board. She won’t start serving in that position until Jan. 1, but is already looking to leave that post.
With the passage of state legislation to take control of the school district away from the board of education, Sanderson said, “I can better serve people by running for the state House. The [school] board hasn’t been effective, but it was a little extreme for [the Republican-led Legislature] to remove power from all the elected officials.”
Other Republican candidates include two who unsuccessfully ran last month as independents for Youngstown council seats – Steven M. Carter in the 3rd Ward for county recorder, and David Shaffer in the 7th Ward for clerk of courts.
“We think that by filing a strong slate of Republican candidates, voters will...respond by electing good people to office,” said Mark Munroe, county Republican chairman.