2016 Elections Summary from Government Advantage Group

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To: Our Clients
From: Government Advantage Group - Kevin Futryk, Amanda Sines, John Singleton, & Mikayla Pollitt
Date: November 9, 2016
Re: Elections Summary

2016 Ohio Election Update
The November 8, 2016 election has made history in several different ways. Across the country voters came out to choose our next President.  Please see alternative news sources for reports and commentary on the Presidential Election.

There were very important decisions made down the ticket. Ohioans chose three Supreme Court Justices, all 99 House of Representatives seats were on the ballot, half of the State Senate seats, one US Senate Seat, and all Congressional seats.

Supreme Court
Incumbent Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor ran unopposed and will retain her seat.

The race to replace Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger who was ineligible to run due to Constitutional age restrictions, saw Court of Common Pleas Judge John O’Donnell facing Court of Appeals Judge Pat Fischer. This race was razor thin throughout the evening but it appears that Judge Pat Fischer has come out the winner by a very narrow margin.

Justice Paul Pfeifer, who was also ineligible to run because of age restrictions, saw Appeals Court Judge Pat DeWine running against Appellate Court Judge Cynthia Rice. Judge DeWine, also the son of Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, was able to win the seat.

Ohio House of Representatives
With all 99 seats of the House of Representatives up for election, there were plenty of opportunities for upsets. However, the Republicans handily retained their majority, with very few upsets or surprises. In fact, Republican will be going into 2017 with one additional caucus member, extending their majority to 66-33. (A full list of members elected is below)

Close races included:

•   In Athens County, the Democrats played defense in an attempt to elect Sarah Grace (D), however Republican were able to pick up this seat with successful campaign by candidate Jay Edwards. This was the one seat that changed parties, giving Republican a larger majority going into 2017. (This seat will be replacing Debbie Phillips)
•   Appointed to fill the seat of Tim Brown who resigned earlier this year, Theresa Gavarone faced Kelly Wicks. Gavarone was able to defend this seat for Republicans.
•   Cuyahoga County Councilmember Dave Greenspan (R) was able to retain this seat for Republicans by defeating Tommy Green. (Replacing Nan Baker)
•   In Franklin County, Adam Miller (D) was able to head off a challenge by Republican John Rush (Replacing Michael Curtin)
•   Laura Lanese (R) was able to defend this seat for Republicans from a challenge by Lee Schreiner (Replacing Cheryl Grossman)
•   Kristina Roegner (R) was able to win another term in House by overcoming a challenge by Casey Weinstien.
•   Derek Merrin (R), who was appointed to replace Representative Barbara Sears earlier this year was able to retain the seat for Republicans.
•   Republican Steve Arndt (R) was able to handily defend the seat recently held by Former Ohio Democratic Party Chair Chris Redfern. Democrats had hoped to get this seat back in 2016.

While technically considered “freshman” legislators, many candidates who won their races are no strangers to the Statehouse. Current Senators Keith Faber, Jim Hughes, Tom Patton, and Bill Seitz are returning to the House after being term limited out of their Senate seats. Additionally, former Speaker Larry Householder will be returning to the legislature.

Ohio Senate
The Senate will easily remain under a Republican majority and have even managed to pick up a seat. The even numbered Senate districts were up for election this year.  With the defeat of Democrat Senator Lou Gentile, the Republican caucus increased their majority to 24-9.  (A full list of members elected is below)

Of the 16 races, 3 Republican ran unopposed: Dave Burke, Troy Balderson, and Matt Huffman.

•   Stephanie Kunze (R) was able to head off a challenge by Cathy Johnson (D), a local school board member, in the race to replace term limited Jim Hughes.
•   Matt Dolan (R), a former State Representative, was able to win a return to service in Columbus in his race against Emily Hagan (D) to replace Tom Patton.
•   Current Senator Lou Gentile (D) faced Frank Hoagland (R), a retired NAVY Seal and small business owner. Republicans successfully targeted this race heavily as an opportunity to expand their majority.

Three of the new members to the Senate are current or former Representatives. Former Representative Vernon Sykes (D) and current Representative Sean O’Brien (D) easily won their races to replace Senator Tom Saywer and Capri Cafaro respectively. Current Republican Representative Lou Tehhar won his race to replace Bill Seitz (who will be moving the House of Representatives).

US Senate
In what was originally thought to be top targeted race for both parties, turned out to be not as competitive as expected. Incumbent Senator Rob Portman was able to easily fed off a challenge by former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland.

US Congress
There were no upsets in Ohio’s Congressional delegation. All incumbents were running to retain their seats and were successful.

District 1 – Steve Chabot (R)
District 2 – Brad Wenstrup (R)
District 3 – Joyce Beatty (D)
District 4 – Jim Jordan (R)
District 5 – Bob Latta (R)
District 6 – Bill Johnson (R)
District 7 – Bob Gibbs (R)
District 8 – Warren Davidson (R)
District 9 – Marcy Kaptur (D)
District 10 – Michael Turner (R)
District 11 – Marcia Fudge (D)
District 12 – Pat Tiberi (R)
District 13 – Tim Ryan (D)
District 14 – David Joyce (R)
District 15 – Steve Stivers (R)
District 16 – Jim Renacci (R)

Ohio Senators Elected to the 132nd General Assembly (Even Districts Only) (Total – 24 Republicans – 9 Democrats)

2.   Randy Gardner (R)
4.   Bill Coley (R)
6.   Peggy Lehner (R)
8.   Lou Terhar (R) (Replacing Bill Seitz)
10.   Robert Hackett (R)
12.   Matt Huffman (R) (Replacing Keith Faber)
14.   Joe Uecker (R)
16.   Stephanie Kunze (R) (Replacing Jim Hughes)
18.   John Eklund (R)
20.   Troy Balderson (R)
22.   Larry Obhof (R)
24.   Matt Dolan (R) (Replacing Tom Patton)
26.   Dave Burke (R)
28.   Vernon Sykes (D)
30.   Frank Hoagland (R) (Defeating Lou Gentile (D))
32.   Sean O’Brien (D)

Ohio House of Representatives Elected to the 132nd General Assembly (66 Republicans – 33 Democrats)

1.   Scott Wiggam (R) (Replacing Ron Amstutz)
2.   Mark Romanchuk (R)
3.   Theresa Gavarone (R) (Replacing Tim Brown)
4.   Bob Cupp (R)
5.   Tim Ginter (R)
6.   Marlene Anielski (R)
7.   Tom Patton (R) (Replacing Mike Dovilla)
8.   Kent Smith (D)
9.   Janine Boyd (D)
10.   Bill Patmon (D)
11.   Stephanie Howse (D)
12.   John Barnes (D)
13.   Nickie Antonio (D)
14.   Martin Sweeney (D)
15.   Nicholas Celebrezze (D)
16.   Dave Greenspan (R) (Replacing Nan Baker)
17.   Adam Miller (D) (Replacing Michael Curtin)
18.   Kristin Boggs (D)
19.   Anne Gonzales (R)
20.   Heather Bishoff (D)
21.   Mike Duffey (R)
22.   David Leland (D)
23.   Laura Lanese (R) (Replacing Cheryl Grossman)
24.   Jim Hughes (R) (Replacing Stephanie Kunze)
25.   Bernadine Kennedy Kent (D) (Replacing Kevin Boyce)
26.   Hearcel Craig (D)
27.   Tom Brinkman (R)
28.   Jonathan Dever (R)
29.   Louis (Bill) Blessing, III (R)
30.   Bill Seitz (R)
31.   Brigid Kelly (D) (Replacing Denise Driehaus)
32.   Catherine Ingram (D) (Replacing Christie Bryant Kuhns)
33.   Alicia Reece (D)
34.   Emilia Sykes (D)
35.   Greta Johnson (D)
36.   Anthony DeVitis (R)
37.   Kristina Roegner (R)
38.   Marilyn Slaby (R)
39.   Fred Strahorn (D)
40.   Michael Henne (R)
41.   Jim Butler (R)
42.   Niraj Antani (R)
43.   Jeff Rezabek (R)
44.   Michael Ashford (D)
45.   Teresa Fedor (D)
46.   Michael Sheehy (D)
47.   Derek Merrin (R) (Replacing Barbara Sears)
48.   Kirk Schuring (R)
49.   Thomas West (D) (Replacing Stephen Slesnick)
50.   Christina Hagan (R)
51.   Wes Retherford (R)
52.   Margaret Conditt (R)
53.   Candice Keller (R) (Replacing Tim Derickson)
54.   Paul Zeltwanger (R)
55.   Nathan Manning (R)
56.   Dan Ramos (D)
57.   Dick Stein (R) (Replacing Terry Boose)
58.   Michele Lepore-Hagan (D)
59.   John Boccieri (D)
60.   John Rogers (D)
61.   Ron Young (R)
62.   Scott Lipps (R) (Replacing Ron Maag)
63.   Glenn Holmes (D) (Replacing Sean O’Brien)
64.   Michael O’Brien (D)
65.   John Becker (R)
66.   Doug Green (R)
67.   Andrew Brenner (R)
68.   Rick Carfagna (R) (Replacing Margaret Ann Ruhl)
69.   Steve Hambley (R)
70.   Darrell Kick (R) (Replacing David Hall)
71.   Scott Ryan (R)
72.   Larry Householder (R) (Replacing Bill Hayes)
73.   Rick Perales (R)
74.   Bill Dean (R)
75.   Kathleen Clyde (D)
76.   Sarah LaTourette (R)
77.   Tim Schaffer (R)
78.   Ron Hood (R)
79.   Kyle Koehler (R)
80.   Stephen Huffman (R)
81.   Robert McColley (R)
82.   Craig Riedel (R) (Replacing Tony Burkley whom he bested in the Republican Primary)
83.   Robert Sprague (R)
84.   Keith Faber (R) (Replacing Jim Buchy)
85.   Nino Vitale (R)
86.   Dorothy Pelanda (R)
87.   Wes Goodman (R) (Replacing Jeff McClain)
88.   Bill Reineke (R)
89.   Steven Arndt (R)
90.   Terry Johnson (R)
91.   Cliff Rosenberger (R)
92.   Gary Scherer (R)
93.   Ryan Smith (R)
94.   Jay Edwards (R) (Replacing Debbie Phillips (D))
95.   Andy Thompson (R)
96.   Jack Cera (D)
97.   Brian Hill (R)
98.   Al Landis (R)
99.   John Patterson (D)