A tense and attack-riddled campaign for the Ohio Senate came to an end last night with incumbent Sen. Joy Padgett defeating her democratic challenger, Terry Anderson, by a margin of about 12,000 votes.
Padgett had come under fire the last weeks of the campaign for a flier she and the Ohio Republican Party put out, accusing Anderson of being soft on terrorism. Anderson was held hostage in Lebanon for seven years while working as a war correspondent.
Politics is a tough game
she said.
The final count of the district's nine counties was 82,968 to 70,658, with Padgett winning 54 percent of total votes.
Anderson won Athens County by almost a 2-to-1 margin -17,056 votes to Padgett's 9,095 -but that was not enough to carry the overwhelmingly Republican 20th District, where seven of the nine counties chose Padgett, R-Coshocton.
I'm very pleased Padgett said. I really worked a strong grass-roots campaign. I talked to people and I have a very comprehensive understanding of what people are expecting.
The race was fairly close throughout the night, but Padgett pulled away by more than 10,000 votes around midnight. She said she was never unsure of the election's ultimate result but knew she would not carry all the district's counties.
I predicted I would lose Athens and Monroe (counties)
and that's what happened
she said.
Anderson also beat Padgett in Monroe County 4,052 votes to 3,264.
The 20th District comprises half of Athens County and all of Belmont, Coshocton, Holmes, Monroe, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble and Washington counties -with some of the highest unemployment rates in the state.
As of September, Coshocton, Monroe, Morgan and Muskingum counties all had unemployment rates higher than 10 percent, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Morgan County has the highest rate in Ohio -15.8 percent -while the statewide average is 5.7 percent.
Anderson spent much of election night at The Blue Gator, a bar he co-owns, and left around midnight after reading a statement thanking his supporters.
We've worked hard to bring attention to Southeast Ohio and asked our leadership to address our problems
he said. We can only hope that they will address those problems in the new session of the legislature.
Mariel Betancourt, a spokeswoman for the Anderson campaign, said Anderson had hoped to have the numbers to win.
We were surprised with the result
she said. It's a tough district for a Democrat.
Padgett said she hopes to continue working on a solution to Ohio's school funding system and improving the region's economy.
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Chuck Bowen
