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Review of races for seats in State Rep. Dist. 17, State Senate Dist. 24


Ohio House 17th

Aaron Marshall reviews Ohio House challengers in this Openers article, but he left out my district, the 17th. Republican Josh Mandel currently holds the seat. He has been out of the country for a few months as a result of volunteering to return to military duty and will return sometime in the spring.

One Democrat has filed to challenge Mandel, Robert S. Belovich. He appears to be a lawyer who practices in Parma, and is older than Mandel (who does not appear to have taken the bar exam yet, although that was one of his stated goals when he was running for the seat in 2006).

Belovich’s petition filing still has to be validated but I’ve been wondering, with the Ohio GOP fielding someone in every district, and the ODP so intent on getting control of the Ohio House, what’s the story behind the 17th?

Does Mandel have too much money to bother?

Does the district have too many independents to fuss over?

Are there too many other easier targets?

Does the military service make Mandel off-limits in this particular cycle?

Is there no one who has stepped up who seems strong enough, when the effort that the ODP will have to put forth in other districts to win the House is already great?

I just want to understand the strategy. I can’t complain about Josh except for the fact that we don’t agree on many issues and I want a representative with whom I do agree. But in a democracy, that’s what happens when the person for whom you vote loses. There are other things about Josh that nag at me, but as someone who has tried to pay attention to his constituents, at least me, I cannot fault him.

So, I wonder, when does the ODP decide that the disappointment that Democrats feel because they live in a district represented by someone who doesn’t share their views and positions becomes weighty enough to support a real challenge?

Only when there’s an open seat? Only when…what, exactly?

Ohio State Senate 24th

This seat is being vacated by Bob Spada (R-North Royalton). The Republican who will be running to occupy it is current house rep., Tom Patton.

While Patton vacates his house seat, Bob Spada seeks election to Patton’s post. Swapperoo.

The Democrats running against Patton are:

John W. Celebrezze

Joanne DiCarlo

Maureen M. Sweeney (still checking on whether that’s accurate; here’s a League of Women’s Voters profile and here’s more)

Emanuel J. Contronakis

Can any of them win? No clue.

And I’m sure the ODP “cares” about whether one of them can win, but someone who knows a lot more than me when it comes to Ohio General Assembly races tells me that he is “stunned” at the lack of viable Democratic candidates fielded here.

What’s going on for the suburbs of Cuyahoga County? I thought they were supposedly turning blue. I know they have a ton of independents. Both the 17th and the 24th wind around from the east, down south of Cleveland and, in the case of the 24th, to the west side of Cleveland.

It’d be nice to be clued in rather than only seeing that we’re being left out.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:48 am January 5th, 2008 in Campaigning, Elections, OH17, OH24th, Ohio, Politics 

Comments

One Response to “Review of races for seats in State Rep. Dist. 17, State Senate Dist. 24”

  1. 1 Smith on January 7th, 2008 3:53 pm

    You think you hit the various reasons in your post. Josh is popular in the district, he does a good job, he raises alot of money, and they have many other more “realistic” opportunities which are going to require considerable resources. They’ll leave Josh’s opponent to his own devices–he’ll probably get little support from the party because, frankly, he doesn’t stand much of a chance given the district make-up.

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