Medina County voters backed Republican candidates in Ohio’s biggest races on Tuesday, Nov. 3, even as Democrats won those same contests statewide, according to Associated Press tabulations of the county’s unofficial results. With 121 of Medina County’s 124 precincts reporting in the AP count — an estimated 98 percent of the county vote — the county went for Vivek Ramaswamy for governor and Jon Husted for U.S. Senate, while voters statewide chose Democrat Amy Acton as governor and returned Democrat Sherrod Brown to the Senate.
In the governor’s race in Medina County, the AP tabulation showed Ramaswamy, the Republican, with 44,003 votes to 38,701 for Acton, the Democrat, and 2,690 for Libertarian Don Kissick. Statewide, the AP called the race for Acton, who will become Ohio’s first woman elected governor. Medina County’s preference for Ramaswamy did not decide the outcome, but it shows how differently this Northeast Ohio county voted from the state as a whole.
The Senate result followed the same pattern. The AP tabulation showed Husted, the Republican incumbent, with 44,892 votes in Medina County to 36,900 for Brown, 2,339 for Libertarian William Redpath and 1,293 for independent Greg Levy. Statewide, the AP called the race for Brown, who defeated Husted to return to the U.S. Senate seat he previously held.
On State Issue 3, Medina County lined up with the statewide result — by a wide margin. The AP tabulation showed 60,207 votes in the county for Yes and 24,780 for No on the proposed constitutional amendment to require voter identification. The AP called Issue 3 as passing statewide, so the amendment enshrining a government-issued photo ID requirement for in-person voting in the state constitution carried both in Medina County and across Ohio.
Medina County also favored its incumbent congressman, even though he lost his district. In the county’s voting for Ohio’s 7th Congressional District, the AP tabulation showed Republican Max Miller with 42,877 votes to 38,695 for Democrat Brian Poindexter. The Akron Beacon Journal reported that Miller won Medina, Ashland and Wayne counties but that Poindexter defeated him in the district overall on the strength of his vote in Cuyahoga County, and the AP declared Poindexter the winner of the district.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
Confirmed from the AP tabulations is how Medina County voted in the statewide races and the 7th District above, with 121 of 124 precincts reporting. Not yet verified is the outcome of local contests and levies. The Nov. 3 ballot included a county commissioner race between Republican Julie A. McNabb and Democrat Cheryl Minichiello, a county auditor race, and local tax questions including a Wadsworth City School District income tax proposal, according to sample ballots produced by the Medina County Board of Elections. The board’s canvass document available for this report was its pre-election zero report, listing contests but no totals, and no verified local totals from the board, the Ohio Secretary of State or the AP were available. NewsForce247 is not calling those local races until the board’s updated results or official canvass can be checked.
All results here are unofficial. The next step is the Medina County Board of Elections’ canvass and certification of the Nov. 3 results, after which the local outcomes awaiting confirmation can be reported with verified totals. Until then, the picture from Tuesday is clear: a county that voted Republican in the top races and strongly for Issue 3, in a year Ohio chose a Democratic governor and senator.
Photo: Brenda, CC BY 2.0