Republicans dominate local races
The preliminary results are in for Tuscarawas County:
Empower Tusc Coordinator Jodi Salvo is taking her expertise in mental health and youth substance use prevention to Columbus.
Salvo is poised to represent Tuscarawas County in the Ohio House for the next two years after beating Democrat Joe Rinehart by over 15,000 votes in Tuesday’s preliminary totals. She says she’s grateful for the opportunity.
“I really want to thank the residents of District 51 in Tuscarawas County and Southern Stark. I’ve met some amazing people in the last 11 months. I’m so excited and honored to be the representative for our district.”
Her legislative priorities include directing state tax revenue from marijuana sales to help with suicide prevention causes and regulating psycho-active hemp.
“That’s the Delta 8 and Delta 10 that’s in our gas stations, and it’s hemp products that can get you high that are in our vape shops around the county, so crafting some legislation to keep some of this stuff out of our communities, out of the hands of our young people because that type of product is completely unregulated.”
Salvo unseated incumbent 51st District state rep and fellow Republican Brett Hillyer in the primary.
Meanwhile, Mitch Pace is going from New Philadelphia City councilman to county commissioner.
Pace was leading Democrat Kent Watson 28,190 to 12,310 in the preliminary totals. He says he’s thankful for the outcome.
“It’s a great feeling to have so much support throughout the county, and I just appreciate everybody for getting out, voting, and supporting me and my campaign.”
Pace is poised to replace retiring Democratic County Commissioner Chris Abbuhl come January.
Also at the county level, Lori Gardner will replace retiring longtime Tuscarawas County Recorder Lori Smith. Gardner, a Republican, was leading Democrat Dave DiDonato by more than 13,000 votes after election night.
In Ohio’s U.S. Senate race, Republican businessman Bernie Moreno was leading incumbent Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown by more than 4 percentage points with not quite 90 percent of the votes counted statewide.
In the Congressional races, incumbents Michael Rulli and Troy Balderson will retain their seats after beating their Democratic challengers with roughly two-thirds of the vote in their respective districts.
On the issues side of the ballot, State Issue 1 – a proposed Constitutional amendment to create an independent, citizen-run redistricting commission to make political maps for Ohio – was failing by around 400,000 votes.
Locally, voters in the New Philadelphia school district overwhelming rejected Issue 8, a 72-million dollar, 37-year bond issue to build two new schools.