Steve Chabot, Troy Balderson Victorious as GOP Holds on to Ohio Congressional Seats

While Republicans failed to hold control of the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday night, nobody can say that Ohio Republicans didn’t do their part.

Republican Congressmen Steve Chabot, Troy Balderson, Dave Joyce and Mike Turner were all targeted for defeat by big-spending Democratic PACs and individuals. They failed to knock off a single one of the Republican congressmen.

  • In Ohio’s first congressional district, Chabot whipped challenger Aftab Pureval by a margin of 52 to 46 percent.
  • Balderson staved off a challenge from Democrat Danny O’Connor in the 12th district, winning by 52 to 47 percent.
  • Joyce won handily over Democrat Betsy Rader, 56 to 44 percent, in the 14th district.
  • Turner crushed his Democrat challenger, Theresa Gasper, by a margin of 56 to 43 percent in the 10th district.
Betsy Rader, David Joyce
Incumbent Joyce (right) beat challenger Rader by 12 percentage points

In the 1st and 12th district races, the Democrats hauled in at least twice as much funding than the Republicans, with much of the money coming from California, New York and other areas outside of Ohio.

But the money could not buy a victory.

“Congressman Steve Chabot earned his re-election victory tonight,” said Mandi Merritt, the Ohio spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee. “This race was about trust and integrity, and voters absolutely made the right choice in sending Congressman Chabot back to serve another term.”

Pureval was the subject of several scandals, including campaign spending miscues and one of his supporters caught trying to infiltrate the Chabot campaign.

As for Balderson’s win, Merritt said it was extra sweet. That’s because this was an open seat that had a special election earlier this year, and national Democrats flooded millions of dollars into the district in support of O’Connor. Balderson won the first time, and again on Tuesday.

“Ohio voters rejected Danny O’Connor’s out-of-touch agenda twice within three months, proving once again that conservative, pro-growth policies are working for Ohio families,” Merritt said. “Congratulations, yet again, to Congressman Troy Balderson. A well-deserved victory.”

The remaining seats that Democrats had targeted in Ohio also slipped from their grasp as the polling numbers came in Tuesday night.

In the end, there was no blue wave, or even a ripple, for Democrats in Ohio. The U.S. Senate seat held by incumbent Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown wound up being their only major victory to celebrate, and that race was never really considered in doubt, despite one late poll that showed Renacci pulling ahead. All of the other polls showed Brown winning by six to nine points. Brown ended up winning by seven points.

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Anthony Accardi is a writer and reporter for The Ohio Star.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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