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O’Brien, Holmes re-elected to 64th and 63rd House districts
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Two former Trumbull County mayors pulled off two victories Tuesday, with former Warren Mayor Michael O’Brien and former McDonald Mayor Glenn Holmes being re-elected to statehouse seats.
O’Brien and Holmes are Democrats. Holmes received 56 percent of the vote, and O’Brien received 57 percent, according to unofficial results.
O’Brien defeated former Farmington Township Trustee Martha Yoder in the 64th District. Holmes defeated first-time candidate James Hughes of Bazetta Township for the 63rd District seat.
O’Brien said he is “just as energetic as I was 34 years ago” when he won his first of 26 elections. He said he’s looking forward to working with the other state representatives and state senators from the Mahoning Valley and the new governor.
He will be serving his third term on finance committee, which will enable him to “work across the aisle based on my seniority.” He said he hopes to bring more dollars back to the area for infrastructure and local colleges — Kent State, Youngstown State and Eastern Gateway Community College.
He said he looks forward to “putting Northeast Ohio back on the map.”
Yoder said Tuesday night she will “continue to to serve my community and fight the status quo in every way I can.”
During the campaign, she criticized O’Brien for having only sponsored two bills during his four years as state representative. She had hoped as state representative to connect people to jobs that go unfilled in Ohio.
Holmes said Tuesday voters have told him they do not want any more injection wells in Trumbull County and want them “handled better.” In the next General Assembly, he will be exploring the idea that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources should “come to the community and ask after so many wells, before granting any more.”
One new injection well was given the OK recently to inject waste at a site off of state Route 7 in Brookfield, and the applicant has four more proposed wells at the same location. Another well is proposed for a location in Hubbard Township.