The following unofficial results include a partial count of Election Day votes cast and early votes, which includes vote-by-mail and in-person votes at either the Butler or Warren counties elections office.
4th Ohio Senate District
With early votes partially counted and 125 of 276 precincts reporting, Lang has 62.2% of the vote, while Cooke has 37.8%.
The 4th Ohio Senate District includes most of Butler County, except for Milford and Wayne townships, and the city of Trenton (which are in Ohio Senate District 5).
Lang is seeking re-election to a second four-year term as he continues to legislate with a business-first approach, something he calls “the Butler County model.”
However, Cooke said that approach is wrong, who said he wants “to put the heart back in Ohio.”
Cooke moved to Oxford from the Washington, D.C., area just after Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022. Lang had been in office since 2003, first as a West Chester Twp. trustee before being appointed to the Ohio House in September 2017.
40th Ohio House District
Republican Rep. Rodney Creech, of West Alexandria, leads Democrat Bobbie Arnold, 76.4 to 23.6% with nearly half of the precincts reporting in Butler County and nearly all of the precincts in Montgomery County. Preble County is reporting 100% of its precincts reporting in this race.
The 40th Ohio House District seat represents all of Preble County, the western reaches of Montgomery County, and Milford and Wayne townships and the city of Trenton in Butler County.
45th Ohio House District
With only early votes counted and 47 of 97 precincts reporting, incumbent Republican Rep. Jennifer Gross, of West Chester Twp., has 61.8% of the vote, while Landon Meador, of West Chester Twp., has 38.2%.
Gross is seeking her third two-year term in a district that includes West Chester, Ross, and Morgan townships, along with the city of Fairfield. Meador, finance manager for three car dealerships, is touting is youth (he’s 23) as a Gen-Z candidate.
Meador, a 2019 Lakota East graduate, said his first day in Columbus would include proposing a bill similar to one in Texas “that caps in-state medical students tuition costs to keep our health care workers in the state. We need to double our health care workforce in Ohio.
Gross, a 21-year Air Force veteran, said her top priority to seek a decrease in energy costs through easing up on regulations, and tackling inflation, which she said, “For my constituents, inflation is a major issue.” This involves, she said, addressing the fact that property taxes in Ohio rose dramatically.
46th Ohio House District
With only early votes partially counted and 27 of 91 precincts reporting, incumbent GOP Rep. Thomas Hall of Madison Twp. has 64.9% of the vote, while Democrat Benjamin McCall, of Liberty Twp., has 35.1%.
Hall is also seeking his third term in the statehouse, and said he wants to Columbus because “the job is not done in my opinion.” Property tax reform is at the top of his to-do list, calling it “the number one and most important reason I want to go back and fight for this district.”
McCall said if elected, his top priorities would be to reform funding for schools and townships, and mental and physical health needs. Voting rights is also a high on his list of things to accomplish.
Ohio House District 46 covers the northeast section of Butler County including Middletown and Monroe along with Madison, Liberty and St. Clair townships.
47th Ohio House District
With only early votes partially counted and 52 of 91 precincts reporting, Republican Diane Mullins, of Hanover Twp., has 61.3% of the vote, while Democrat Vanessa Cummings, of Oxford, ha 38.7%.
Mullins defeated incumbent state Rep. Sara Carruthers, R-Hamilton, in the March primary, did not respond to the Journal-News for a request for comments prior to Election Day, but her campaign Facebook page said “pro-life is a top priority of my core values, and belief system.”
Mullins did tell the newspaper in 2020 she was steadfast in also protecting Second Amendment rights.
Cummings said health care, education and economics, including the jump in property taxes, are issues she plans to address if elected. She also plans to look at wages for Ohio workers as wages have not kept up with inflation in a post-pandemic economy.
Both women are pastors of area churches, Mullins the co-pastor of Calvary Church on Jacksonburg Road in St. Clair Twp., and Cummings the pastor at Payne Chapel AME Church in Hamilton.
The 47th Ohio House District represents western and northern Butler County, including the cities of Hamilton and Oxford.
55th Ohio House District
With early votes tallied, and 90 of 93 precincts reporting, Republican Michelle Teska of Clearcreek Twp. has 72.6% of the vote and has an insurmountable lead over Democrat Laura Marie Davis, of Clearcreek Twp., who has 27.4%.
Teska said in in her first term in the Statehouse ― which is her first time ever running for and winning an elected office ― would focus on economic growth, small businesses, crime and healthcare.
“I’m very humbled and I’m very grateful to the voters of Warren County, and I look forward to serving the great people of District 55,” she said. “I want to make sure we have economic prosperity, great schools and I want to represent the conservative values that Warren County has.”
Teska would succeed Rep. Scott Lipps, R-Franklin, in representing the 55th Ohio House District. Lipps is term limited as he is serving his fourth two-year-term.
The 55th District includes all of northern Warren County, plus much of the county’s eastern and southeastern areas.
56th Ohio House District
With early votes tallied and 83 of 87 precincts reporting, incumbent Rep. Adam Mathews of Lebanon has 62.4% of the vote, who also appears to be have an insurmountable lead over Democrat Cleveland Canova, of Lebanon, who has 37.6%.
Mathews and Canova have been vying to represent southwestern Warren County, including Lebanon and Mason for the next two years.
Mathews will complete his first-term as a representative at the year’s end, and during that time he’s procured tens of millions in state funds to keep a premier tennis tournament in Mason and passing a straightforward good-governance bill to begin numbering state issues sequentially from here on out, among others.
An exhausted Mathews on Tuesday night said the past two years had been focused “on cutting taxes with property taxes and income taxes, as well as keeping the Cincinnati Open here for the next 25 years.”
But he wants to build on “those great victories. We have more to do to help everyday Ohioans.”
As part of the “more to do,” includes increasing the supply and affordability of housing so “everyone can reach the first wrung of the American Dream, as well as retire with dignity.”
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