SIDNEY — Republican candidates had landslide wins Tuesday, Nov. 6, in races to represent the 84th and 85th districts in the Ohio House of Representatives.
While election results won’t be final until results are certified in the next few weeks, it’s pretty clear that Republican Nino Vitale, of Urbana, will add a third term to his career as Ohio’s 85th District representative to the state house. Susan Manchester, of Lakeview, will assume her first elective office as representive from the the 84th District.
Vitale outpaced his opponent, Democrat Garrett Baldwin, a high school senior from Mechanicsburg, by taking some 73 percent of the vote overall. The 85th district comprises parts of Shelby, Logan and Champaign counties.
In Shelby County, Vitale won 7,763 votes to Baldwin’s 2,605. In Logan County, the vote was 5,346 to 2,105. In Champaign County, the margin was 10,101 to 4,299.
Manchester will represent voters in parts of Shelby, Mercer, Auglaize and Darke counties. She defeated Joe Monbeck, of Wapakoneta. She took 6,461 votes to Monbeck’s 1,200 in Shelby County. Auglaize voters gave her an 8,465 to 1,564 win. The tally in Mercer County was 13,955 to 2,943, and in Darke County it was 9,520 to 2,442.
“I’m excited,” Manchester told the Sidney Daily News, Tuesday night. “It’s been a long journey to get here, but the real journey starts tomorrow.”
She credited her team with the win.
“We worked really hard over the last year and a half. We earned the respect of voters in this district, and I’m looking forward to representing this district,” she said.
Vitale was surprised that his win was a landslide.
“It’s strange,” he said by phone Tuesday night. “I never aspired to be in government. It’s humbling to win this big. I also take it as a mandate. I’m not shy about telling people what I believe. That’s what I’ll keep doing. I’ll keep pushing for Christian conservative values.”
Neither Baldwin nor Monbeck returned requests for comments.
