Portage County voters elected Democrat Jenny D. Adams as county commissioner on Nov. 3, defeating Republican incumbent Mike Tinlin 33,308 votes to 31,171, according to complete but unofficial results from the Portage County Board of Elections reported by The Portager and the Record-Courier. Nearly 62 percent of the county’s registered voters cast a ballot, The Portager reported, in an election that also changed the county’s representation in the Ohio Senate and kept a Republican in the Ohio House.
In the Ohio Senate’s 27th District, which covers all of Portage County and parts of Summit and Geauga counties, Democrat Mike Roberto narrowly won Portage County with 32,541 votes to Republican Steve Demetriou’s 32,405, The Portager reported, and Roberto led district-wide in results reported by the Ohio Secretary of State and cited by the Record-Courier. In Ohio House District 35, Democrat Samantha Salamon was leading Republican Vik Sandhu 33,726 to 26,887 in Secretary of State results cited by the Record-Courier.
Republican Heidi Workman held Ohio House District 72, which serves only Portage County, with 22,880 votes to Democrat Jeff Clapper’s 22,179 and Libertarian Michael Fricke’s 1,490, according to the board of elections results reported by both The Portager and the Record-Courier. Republican Matt Kelly ran uncontested for county auditor, and Common Pleas Judge Becky Doherty and Juvenile/Probate Judge Patricia Smith were also unopposed, the Record-Courier reported.
Portage County voters backed Democrat Amy Acton for governor with 33,784 votes to Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s 29,625 and Democrat Sherrod Brown for U.S. Senate with 31,974 votes in the county, The Portager reported from the county’s final unofficial canvass. Both Acton and Brown won statewide. The county’s two congressional districts, the 13th and 14th, both returned their incumbents, Democrat Emilia Sykes and Republican David P. Joyce, The Portager reported.
On money issues, voters rejected almost every request for new taxes while passing renewals easily, The Portager reported. The Portage County Job and Family Services additional 0.4-mill, five-year levy failed 32,922 to 30,814, while the Mental Health and Recovery Board’s 0.3-mill, 10-year renewal passed 40,640 to 23,935. Ravenna’s 0.25 percent income tax increase for new city facilities failed 2,504 to 1,266, while Kent voters approved changing their existing 0.25 percent police-station tax to a continuing tax, 4,140 to 3,878, according to results reported by the Record-Courier and The Portager.
The one successful new-money request was the Aurora City School District’s 4.26-mill bond issue for a new elementary school and facility upgrades, which passed 5,002 to 4,117 in Portage County, The Portager reported. School levy renewals in Ravenna, Streetsboro and Crestwood also passed. All results in this story are complete but unofficial; they become final only after the Portage County Board of Elections completes its official canvass and certification.
The commissioner change takes effect when the new term begins in January, with Adams joining the Portage County Board of Commissioners as the board turns to the county budget and the levies voters renewed — and declined to expand — on Nov. 3.