Ohio Primary Results

     Hey gang the Primaries are over and now time has come to analyze the results.

     First off I know everyone has been studying and following the presidential race, as with any election the top office tends to define the whole process. Here in Ohio in the Republican race John Kasich our current Governor won the Primary, while Hillary Clinton won on the Democrat side.  What does this mean? Well the thing about the presidency is that it’s really the only position that is elected nationwide. Since the Presidency is in fact voted on by the nation one must look at the rest of the nation to know what is really going on. First off in the Democratic race, Hillary Clinton now holds nearly double the total delegates as opponent Bernie Sanders, and is likely to take the nomination.

     Now John Kasich is a completely different story, He himself has 143 delegates and 66 of those are from his win in Ohio. In my humble opinion John Kasich's only hope of gaining the nomination is a contested convention, which means that when the primaries in every state are over there is no clear winner. That said it would be a great atrocity for the people to give say for example 49% of the vote to Donald Trump, 30% to Ted Cruz and 15% to Kasich, (leaving the last 16% to other candidates who dropped out early) and then all of a sudden you give the prize to third place. #GoldDon'tEqualBronze

     Okay now that we have discussed the national issues let’s not forget the local elections. Two races that I have myself followed closest were the Sharif and Ross County Commissioner races. On the Republican side current Sharif George Lavender, and Dwight Garret won their respective races for nomination. On the Democrat side we had Donald T. Hayburn, II who won the nomination for Sharif and Todd Holdren won the nomination for Commissioner.  

     I will not be announcing all of my endorsements anytime soon but I cannot hide that George Lavender is my pick for Sharif I know him personally and I've never met a member of law enforcement more dedicated to the protection of the citizenry. 

     One final note I'm excited to announce that both Diane Carnes Ross County Republican Committee Chairwoman and Dustin Proehl Ross County Democratic Committee Chairman have agreed to be interviewed on the the results of our local primaries. Look for these posts to come soon.

Primary Season 2016

So for what may be obvious reasons I have been thinking a lot about the upcoming primary elections here in Chillicothe Ohio. Everyone is so focused on the Presidential nominees that they have for all intents and purposes forgotten how many senate seats, congressional seats, governorship's, and local positions are also up for grabs this year. I have included here the list copied from the Ross County Board of Elections website. I must say that I am unfortunately not acquainted with every name on this list but I have taken the liberty of bolding the people I would stake my reputation on.

Local Candidates for the March 2016 Primary

 *Judge of The Court of Appeals-4th District (Non-Partisan)

 -Valarie K. Gerlach -Matthew W. McFarland -Paul Price

*15th US Congressional District

 -Scott Wharton (D) -Steve Stivers (R) -Write-In (Dennis Lambert) (G)

*2nd US Congressional District

 -Russ Hurley (D) -Ronny Richards (D) -William R. Smith (D) -Jim Lewis (R) -Brad Wenstrup (R)

*State Representative (91st District)

 -Cliff Rosenberger (R)

*State Representative (92nd District)

 -Gary K. Scherer (R)

*County Commissioner (Term Commencing 1/2/2017)

 -Brad Cosenza (D) -Todd Holdren (D) -Jan Nusbaum (D) -James E. Barker (R) -Dan D. Cryder (R) -Dwight A. Garrett (R)

 *County Commissioner (Term Commencing 1/3/2017)

-Stephen A. Neal (D)

*Prosecuting Attorney

 -Matthew Schmidt (R)

*Clerk of Court of Common Pleas

 -Ty D. Hinton (D)

*Sheriff

 -Donald T. Hayburn, II (D) -George W. Lavender, Jr. (R) -Gregory Alan McKeever (R)

*County Engineer

 -Charles R. Ortman (R)

*Coroner

 -John A. Gabis (D)

*County Treasurer

 -Jerald A. Byers (D)

*County Recorder

 -Kathy Dunn (D)

*Judge of The Court of Common Pleas

 -Michael Ater (R)

*State Central Committee Man-Republican

 -Phil A. Bowman (R) -James Rosendahl (R)

 * State Central Committee Woman-Republican

 -Wendy Sizemore (R) -Bonnie Ward (R)

Underlined Items: 1st I know both James E. Barker and Dan D. Cryder personally, Dan and I spent the week of the fair manning the Ross County Fair both last summer, while James and I were runners at the Republican Fish Fry last September. Both are good hard working men that I would gladly vote to the position of County Commissioner, Only at the time of this writing I have not decided which one I would vote for and therefore until that time I will endorse both although only one will can win.

2. I am a Republican and as such it takes a great deal for me to endorse anyone with a D next to their name that said Steve Neal though maybe not a personal friend has been in my sphere for a very long time. You see Steve's parents have been the greatest neighbors my grandparents could ask for and his daughter Sarah and I graduated high school together. Steve is a good man from a good family and though I know I may catch some flak for crossing party lines I would like to see Steve continue to serve our community.