President Obama emerged victorious over Mitt Romney in an election that saw Ohio and its 18 electoral votes heavily courted with political ads and candidate visits.
In Lucas County, Obama won 64 percent of the votes to Romney’s 34 percent. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, earned 1 percent in Lucas County. All numbers are according to unofficial results from Lucas County Board of Elections and Secretary of State’s Office.
U.S. Senate
In another race driven by ads, Sen. Sherrod Brown triumphed over Treasurer Josh Mandel in the contest for U.S.Senate. Democrat Brown retained his seat with 50 percent of the votes statewide compared to Republican Mandel’s 45 percent. Independent Scott Rupert won about 5 percent of the votes.
Rupert said of his $6,000 campaign, “I would say our campaign got the most bang for the buck … we spent about a nickel a vote. Now people will know who I am so we’ll have more success in the future. What I’m trying to accomplish needs to be done.”
U.S. House
In the race to represent the redrawn District 9, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur won about 73 percent of the votes. Republican Samuel Wurzelbacher earned about 23 percent. Libertarian Sean Stipe received about 4 percent.
Kaptur has served 30 years in the House and was recently appointed to the House Appropriations Committee. After winning the primary in March, Kaptur said of her district,which now includes Toledo and parts of Cleveland, “This is a powerhouse of a district — they’ve given us the crown jewels of Ohio.”
Wurzelbacher, who received his famous nickname in the 2008 election, said he decided to run because he was“disgusted” with the state of Congress. He said that poor voter turnout among conservatives may have been why he and Romney lost. In Ohio, officials reported that overall turnout was about 68 percent, compared to 70 percent in 2008.
“It’s gonna be a rough next couple years and we have ourselves to blame because we settled for the status quo,” Wurzelbacher said of the 2012 results. He plans to continue his work with Alaska’s Healing Hearts, which provides outdoor activities to help veterans with social reintegration.
Wurzelbacher also said he will continue to speak out on replacing the country’s tax system and did not rule out a future run for office.
“You’re supposed to say ‘Never say never.’ Right now, it’s the furthest thing from my mind, but we’ll see what happens in the future,” he said.
In the contest for District 5, U.S.Rep. Bob Latta had about 57 percent of votes while Democrat Angela Zimmann had 39 percent. Libertarian Eric Eberly received about 3 percent.
Latta, now in his third term, said,“I’m very, very humbled to once again be able to serve the people of the 5th Congressional District. It’s the greatest honor and privilege that I can have.”
Zimmann, pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Riga, Mich., said, “It was an amazing race and we had fantastic support from so many people. I actually had a lovely conversation with Bob Latta tonight [Nov. 6] and told him I will be wishing him the best.”
Zimmann added that she is looking forward to seeing the results of the provisional ballots in Lucas County where votes were close.
State representatives
In the race to represent the redrawn 47th District, state Rep. Barbara Sears, currently serving her second term, received 60 percent of the votes over Democrat Jeff Bunck, a retired teacher, who took 40 percent.
“I’m thrilled. I’m absolutely ec-static with the support and feel an overwhelming amount of responsibility to appreciate the support everyone has given me in my race,” Sears said.
“Extending into new territory with Fulton County brings with it a lot of responsibility to learn, appreciate and understand a lot of new area.”
State Rep. Matt Szollosi received 65 percent of the votes against Republican Dave Kissinger, regional vice president at maxIT Healthcare, who earned 35 percent in the contest for District 46.
“I’m very pleased with the results and very humbled by the strong showing of support from the voters in the 46th District,” Szollosi said. “You can’t take on this kind of effort and campaigning without strong support from family and friends and we had a lot of people out there helping with the campaign. It was a hard-fought election and I’m just very humbled with the result.”
Kissinger said, “We’re obviously saddened by the loss, but we will live to fight again. It was a long campaign. We fought hard and we had a lot of support from great volunteers. We certainly appreciate all their hard work and contributions and assistanc ein helping us get to this point.”
County Commissioners
Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken won 67 percent of the votes versus Republican John Marshall’s 33 percent.
“I’m grateful to the people of Lucas County for giving me the opportunity to serve them for four more years,” Gerken said. “We came out of the worst four years and I think we showed our common sense and resilience. I thank our voters, our employees and our people that we give services to for their trust. It’s been a tough road, but we’re around the corner.”
In the other commissioner’s race, Commissioner Tina Skeldon Wozniak earned 62 percent of the votes to Brent McCormack’s 25 percent and Kevin Haddad’s 13 percent.
“It’s just a complete honor to serve the citizens of Lucas County and I can’t wait to continue to work hard with everyone to solve our community’s challenges,” Wozniak said.
McCormack said, “I made it a real focus to be out there and touch base with citizens on a personal level, not just put up a sign every five feet, and I think that really hit it off. I know I have support now and this absolutely will not be the last you see of me. Maybe not for county commissioner, but I plan on running again very soon.”
Lucas County Recorder
City Councilman Phil Copeland garnered 56 percent of the votes in the race for county recorder over fellow Councilman George Sarantou, who had about 44 percent.
“The voters have spoken. I respect that and we did the best we could,” said Sarantou, who has a year left on Council but is term-limited after that. He said he has not thought about what his next step will be after his term is up.
Levies
This year, seven tax levies were presented to Toledo voters, who chose not to support three of them.
The Toledo Public Schools’ (TPS) 4.9-mill levy failed to pass with about 52 percent against it.
“I’m disappointed … on the other side, I saw how close the numbers were. I can see we are making up some ground,” said Lisa Sobecki, president of the TPS Board of Education. In November 2010, voters rejected a 7.8-mill levy for TPS.
Imagination Station’s 0.17-mill tax levy failed with 50.28 percent of votes against the levy.
The City of Toledo Parks and Recreation 1-mill levy also failed, with about 54 percent of votes against it.
“We respect the will of the voters and we’re going to continue to work to come up with creative funding solutions for parks and recreations,” said Councilwoman Lindsay Webb, who supported the levy.
As of now, Webb does not know what will be cut. She is waiting for the mayor’s budget, which is due Nov. 15.
The Toledo-Lucas County Public Library 2.9-mill levy passed with about 66 percent of voters in its favor.
“It kind of demonstrates to us and to the community at large that people really see public value to public libraries,” Media Relations Coordinator Rhonda Sewell said.
The Metroparks’ 0.9-mill levy had 55 percent of votes in favor of the levy.
“We’re obviously thrilled with the outcome,” Director of Public Relations Scott Carpenter said. “It’s exciting and at the same time humbling.”
The money will be used mainly for major maintenance and capital improvement in the Metroparks system.
The Lucas County Mental Health& Recovery Services 1-mill levy passed narrowly, with 51 percent of votes for the levy.
“First of all, we need to thank the voters for their support,” Executive Director Scott Sylak said. “Our campaign was always about the best interest of our clients.”
The levy funds will go toward re-storing access to treatment, medication and housing, he said.
The Lucas County Children Services’ 1.85-mill levy passed with about 55 percent of the votes in favor of the levy.
“We are very happy that Lucas County voters have once again shown their commitment to our county’s most vulnerable citizens,” Public In-formation Officer Julie Malkin said.
Other candidate races
✯State Rep. Randy Gardner earned 59 percent of votes in his bid to returnto the Ohio Senate against Democrat Jeff Bretz, who earned 41 percent.
✯J. Bernie Quilter, Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, earned 69 percent of the vote over Constantine Stamos with about 31 percent.
✯Common Pleas Judge Myron Duhart earned 51 percent of votes in the race to keep his seat versus Kenneth Phillips, who earned 49 percent.
✯Lucas County Treasurer Wade Kapszukiewicz garnered 71 percent of the votes over Norm Witzler, who had 29 percent.
