SUPER TUESDAY | Strickland has strong statewide lead in U.S. Senate race

YOUNGSTOWN - Former Gov. Ted Strickland has a strong lead statewide in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate with nearly 70 percent of the vote.

He's doing even better in Mahoning County with 74.4 percent of the early vote.

Cincinnati Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, who is also seeking the party's nomination, has 20 percent of the vote statewide and only 17.1 percent of the Mahoning County vote.

Sittenfeld is significantly closer to Kelli Prather of Cincinnati than he is to Strickland. Prather has 10 percent of the state vote and 8.5 percent of the Mahoning County vote.

The winner faces U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, the Republican incumbent.

Portman has a challenger - Don Elijah Eckhart - in the GOP primary, but the incumbent has 84 percent of the early statewide vote and 83 percent of the early vote in Mahoning County.