YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Mahoning County voted like a hometown on Tuesday, backing Youngstown native Amy Acton for governor and Sherrod Brown for the U.S. Senate by comfortable margins in unofficial results reported by the Associated Press. With 207 of the county’s 212 precincts reporting — about 98 percent of the expected vote — Acton led Republican Vivek Ramaswamy 47,879 to 37,482 in Mahoning County, according to AP’s county tabulation, on her way to a statewide victory that made her the first woman elected governor of Ohio.
In the Senate race, AP’s Mahoning County tabulation showed Brown, the Democrat, leading Republican Jon Husted 45,595 to 39,192, with Libertarian William Redpath at 2,398 and independent Greg Levy at 1,961. Brown won the seat statewide, returning to the Senate after AP called that race Tuesday night. The county’s support for both Democratic statewide winners marked a notable night in a county that had swung toward Republicans in recent presidential cycles.
Acton’s Mahoning County showing carries a local story inside the statewide one. Acton is a Youngstown native and a graduate of Youngstown State University who has often talked about a difficult upbringing in the city, the Columbus Dispatch and USA Today reported in their election-night coverage of her victory. “I’m very excited that people are ready to start building an Ohio that gives a kid like me, growing up in Youngstown, a chance,” Acton said at a campaign stop, in remarks the Dispatch reported.
The county split its verdict in the congressional race that covers part of Mahoning County. The Canton Repository reported that Democrat Elizabeth Kirtley carried Mahoning County with nearly 54 percent of the vote — 34,798 to 29,955 — over Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli, even though Rulli, whose family’s Rulli Brothers grocery business is based in Mahoning County, won the 6th District overall with more than 60 percent of the district-wide vote, according to AP results.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on: AP’s county tabulations for the governor’s and Senate races were at roughly 98 percent of the expected vote in Mahoning County overnight, and both statewide races have been called. Still outstanding are the county’s official canvass, the counting of any remaining absentee and provisional ballots, and certified results for the county’s local offices and levies, which the Mahoning County Board of Elections will finalize later this month. Nothing in the remaining county ballots can change the called statewide outcomes.
Before the election, Mahoning County was widely watched as a bellwether: the Dispatch noted in pre-election analysis that Republicans needed the onetime Democratic stronghold — which flipped to Republicans during the Trump era — to stay red to have a shot in the statewide races. On Tuesday, the county instead lined up behind both Democratic winners, with its most famous political daughter at the top of the ticket.
The Mahoning County Board of Elections will meet later this month to certify the county’s results. Acton takes office in January, succeeding term-limited Gov. Mike DeWine — and a kid from Youngstown will hold Ohio’s highest office.
Photo: BFDhD, CC BY-SA