Perry County voters backed Republican candidates in the top statewide races on Tuesday, November 3, even as Democrats won those same contests across Ohio, according to unofficial returns from the November 3, 2026 general election. In Perry County’s unofficial totals, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy received 7,913 votes for governor to 3,960 for Democrat Amy Acton, while Ohio voters statewide gave Acton the governorship. The county pattern held in race after race, making Perry a Southeast Ohio county that moved opposite the statewide result.
Statewide, the Ohio Secretary of State’s unofficial results showed Acton with 52.3 percent to Ramaswamy’s 44.3 percent, with Libertarian Don Kissick at 3.3 percent. Perry County’s split was nearly the reverse. County returns showed 32 of 33 precincts reporting, so the Perry figures remain unofficial and subject to change during the official canvass.
The U.S. Senate race followed the same pattern in Perry County. Republican Jon Husted received 8,020 votes in the county to 3,654 for Democrat Sherrod Brown, with Libertarian William Redpath at 500 votes and independent Greg Levy at 300. Statewide, however, Brown won the seat, taking 50.1 percent of the vote to Husted’s 45.2 percent in the Secretary of State’s unofficial results.
Perry voters also favored the Republican for the office that will oversee Ohio’s next elections. For secretary of state, Republican Robert Sprague received 8,286 votes in Perry County to 3,670 for Democrat Allison Russo and 390 for Libertarian Tom Pruss. Russo won the office statewide, meaning Ohio’s chief elections officer will be a Democrat even though Perry County preferred her opponent by a wide margin.
The closest Perry County contest was local. In unofficial vote totals from the Perry County Board of Elections reported by the Perry County Tribune, incumbent Common Pleas Judge Tina Boyer received 6,031 votes to 5,737 for challenger Steve Carr, a margin of 294 votes for the full term commencing July 6, 2028. The Tribune reported that provisional ballots still to be added could not make up the difference, but the result will not be official until the county canvass is complete.
That canvass is now the next step for every race on the Perry County ballot. The Ohio Secretary of State’s election-night reporting site stresses that all results are unofficial until the Secretary of State certifies them, and that the official canvass is completed approximately three weeks after the election. Overseas and military absentee ballots mailed in have up to four days after Election Day to arrive and be counted, and qualifying provisional ballots are considered during the canvass.
For Perry County voters in New Lexington, Thornville, Somerset and communities across the county, what happens next is a waiting period rather than another campaign. The Perry County Board of Elections will complete its official canvass, including any eligible provisional and late-arriving overseas ballots, and forward its certified county results to the Secretary of State. Only after that statewide certification will the November 3 winners — statewide and local — be final.