Primary election results: Contested races pit state reps, senators 

In unofficial election results from Tuesday night, several state representatives battled for Senate seats, and other contested races were tentatively decided.

Provisional ballots are still yet to be counted, so official numbers won’t be ready until the official canvas with a deadline of May 19 for county boards of elections.

Last night’s results in contested Senate races included:

District 4: State Rep. George Lang, R-West Chester, took a win on Tuesday with 49.5% of the votes, coming in ahead of State Rep. Candice Keller, R-Middletown, who had 32.5% of the vote. Lang now faces Kathy Wyenandt in November.

District 6: State Rep. Niraj Antani, R-Miamisburg, won his primary with 64% of the vote against opponents Rachel Selby and Greg Robinson in a bid for term-limited Sen. Peggy Lehner’s seat. He now faces off against Mark Fogel in the general election.

District 14: Incumbent Sen. Terry Johnson, R-McDermott, won his primary against David Uible with 76% of the vote, setting him up to face Ryan Ottney later this year.

District 16: Democrats had the contested race in this Senate race, but Crystal Lett rolled through with nearly 79% of the vote in unofficial results. This pits her against incumbent Sen. Stephanie Kunze, R-Hilliard, who was unopposed in the primary.

District 22: State Rep. Mark Romanchuk, R-Ontario, took 58% of the vote in the Senate race that had five primary candidates. Ron Falconi came behind with 23%, followed by Cory Branham with nearly 12%. Romanchuk goes against Steve Johnson in the general.

District 26: State Rep. Bill Reineke, R-Tiffin, took 64% of the vote in a hotly-contested race against Melissa Ackison, who appeared in a now famous photo protesting the coronavirus decisions of Gov. Mike DeWine and Dr. Amy Acton.

District 32: Sandra O’Brien took 69% of the vote over Kenneth Polke, to set her up for a race against incumbent Sean O’Brien, D-Bazetta, in November.

Last night’s results in contested Ohio House races included:

District 16: Incumbent Dave Greenspan, R-Westlake, will face off against Monique Smith, who received 70% of the votes in unofficial results.

District 36: Matt Shaughnessy beat out Anthony Harris in a bid to take over the seat currently held by Republican Anthony DeVitis (who is term-limited). With 66% of the vote, Shaughnessy moves forward to take on Bob Young in the general.

District 43: Rodney Creech won the race for incumbent J. Todd Smith’s seat. With 65% of the vote in the Republican primary, he now moves on to a general race with Amy Cox.

District 53: The district currently held by state Rep. Candice Keller (who lost her Senate bid) had a close race on Tuesday. Thomas Hall eked out 44.5% of the vote, followed closely behind by Diane Mullins, who had 38%. Brett Guido closed out the race with 17%. If Hall prevails after provisionals, he faces Michelle Novak in November.

District 65: In another narrow contest, former U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt won 43.6% of the vote in the race for term-limited John Becker’s seat. Joe Dills has 41.5% of the vote, followed by Dillon Blevins with 14.8%. The winner faces Alan Darnowsky in the general.