From the sheriff’s office to the White House, Portage County voters chose Republican candidates nearly across the board in the November 2024 elections, according to unofficial results released by the county Board of Elections late Tuesday night.
Among the tightest races was for county sheriff, in which Democrat Jon Barber challenged incumbent Republican Bruce Zuchowski, whose first term earned him national attention over racist and intimidating language in a Facebook post. He also attracted controversy over his ballooning spending and multiple lawsuits against him, but his supporters gave Zuchowski 40,029 votes to Barber’s 38,831.
The lone contested county commission race also went to the Republican candidate. Commissioner Tony Badalamenti lost his primary race to a Zuchowski-backed candidate, Jill Crawford, this spring. Crawford continued her streak by beating Lisa Laudato by 43,746 votes to 32,262.
Voter turnout was slightly lower than in the 2020 general election but higher than in 2016. This year, 82,384 Portage County residents cast ballots out of 111,135 registered voters, a rate of about 74%. The turnout was 72% in 2016 and nearly 77% in 2020.
Other local results
The county treasurer’s office will switch from blue to red as John Kennedy, a Democrat who sat in on Brad Cromes’s unexpired term, lost to former Ravenna Mayor Joe Bica. Bica earned 41,800 votes, while Kennedy earned 34,806.
The only Republican to lose a race was local open government activist Brian Ames, though the result was close in his challenge to incumbent Clerk of Courts Jill Fankhauser. The count was 39,195 to 37,479.
County Commissioner Sabrina Christian-Bennett, Prosecutor Connie Lewandowski, County Recorder Lori Calcei, County Engineer Larry Jenkins and Coroner Dean DePerro all ran unopposed.
Federal and state elections
Portage County mirrored statewide trends in federal and state races.
For president, 33,943 people voted for Kamala Harris, but 46,717 voted for Donald Trump. For senate, Portage County chose Bernie Moreno over Sherrod Brown by 41,361 votes to 36,244. Both Republican candidates have been projected as winners in Ohio.
Republican Steve Demetriou was leading a close race for the state House 35th District against challenger Mark Curtis, helped by his 12,337 votes in Portage County versus Curtis’s 9,058.
For the 72nd District, Republican Heidi Workman defeated Democrat Nathaniel Adams 32,967 to 23,099.
While David Joyce kept his U.S. House seat, U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes, whose district includes a small portion of Portage County, won a tight race against her Republican challenger Kevin Coughlin.
Meanwhile, Portage County helped vote down Issue 1, which would have addressed gerrymandering by appointing a citizen’s commission for redistricting. The local vote was 35,058 in favor and 42,539 against.
Ben Wolford is the editor and publisher of The Portager.
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