State House, Senate races— Hometown challengers fall short
- Published: November 17, 2016
Two Yellow Springs hopefuls for state office fell short of their goal Tuesday night against Republican incumbents who decidedly retained their seats in the Ohio Senate and House.
Local voter turnout
Across Greene County, voters turned out in strong numbers to vote, with about 71 percent of registered voters casting a ballot, according to unofficial results Wednesday. As of press time, voter turnout in Yellow Springs, as well as the breakdown of votes by precinct, had not been released by the Greene County Board of Elections. The News will post results when they become available at ysnews.com.
Yellow Springs resident and political newcomer Matthew Kirk entered the Ohio Senate’s 10th District race earlier this year as the Democratic challenger of incumbent Bob Hackett. The 10th District represents Greene, Clark and Madison counties, and the contest was one of 16 open seats in the 33-member state senate.
Hackett, who was appointed in early 2016 to replace Republican Chris Widener, earned a total 97,200 votes (65 percent), compared to 51,664 (35 percent) for Kirk. according to unofficial results Wednesday.
In Greene County, voters cast 50,172 ballots (66.05 percent) for Hackett, compared to 25,790 for Kirk (33.95 percent).
Hackett previously served for eight years in the Ohio House, while Kirk worked for the state as an economic development expert.
Ohio House, 73rd District
Villager Brian Housh, currently vice president of Yellow Springs Village Council, pulled out all the stops in his “Housh to House” campaign for the 73rd District seat in the Ohio House of Representatives. The District, one of 99 in the state, represents residents in the western part of Greene County.
But as the Democratic challenger in a strongly Republican county to two-term GOP incumbent Rick Perales, Housh ended election night with about half as many votes as his opponent.
According to unoffical election results Wednesday morning, Housh earned 18,282 (33.38 percent) votes compared to Perales’ 36,487 (66.62 percent).
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