Home-state win propels Kasich campaign forward

BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Declaring “a whole new ball game,” Ohio Republican John Kasich’s presidential campaign is looking to its future after he scored a key home-state win against billionaire businessman Donald Trump.

The two-term governor won all 66 delegates in the winner-take-all primary on Tuesday and ended the evening as one of only three remaining GOP contenders in the once vast field.

Kasich told supporters his job is to represent all Americans without stooping to some of the vitriol that has marked the Republican primary dominated by Trump thus far.

“I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land,” he said.

Kasich received 47 percent of the statewide vote (953,846) to 36 percent for Trump (726,769).

Ted Cruz was third with 13 percent (267,002).

In Hardin County, Kasich picked up 2,265 votes (42 percent) to 1,953 (36 percent) for Trump and 917 (17 percent) for Cruz.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, won the swing state’s Democratic nomination from rival Bernie Sanders, despite the Vermont senator’s last-minute campaign push in the state.

Clinton received 56 percent (676,597) of the statewide vote to 43 percent (511,903) for Bernie Sanders.

In Hardin County, Clinton got 771 votes (52.6 percent) to 669 (45.6 percent) for Sanders.

For Kasich, a popular governor, Tuesday’s victory marked his first state win and a crucial signal of his durability into the next phase of the contest.

His position was improved further as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio suspended his campaign after a loss to Trump in his home state.

In the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, former Gov. Ted Strickland easily bested challenger P.G. Sittenfeld, a 31-year-old Cincinnati councilman who ran a hard-fought campaign focused on gun safety.

Strickland received 65 percent (717,548) statewide, compared to 22 percent (248,010) for Sittenfield.

In Hardin County, Strickland picked up 998 votes (71 percent) to 211 for Sittenfield.

Strickland is viewed as one of Democrats’ best chances nationally to win a Republican Senate seat, by beating Republican incumbent Rob Portman this fall.

Portman advanced with a lopsided win over Don Eckhart, 1,310,962 (82 percent) to 283,975 in the GOP primary.

The percentage was similar in Hardin County where Portman received 83 percent of the vote, 3,971, to 791 for Eckhart.

A novice politician backed by conservative advocacy groups won the dual Republican races to succeed former House Speaker John Boehner in his western Ohio district.

Army veteran and businessman Warren Davidson of Miami County topped the 15-candidate 8th District field with 32 percent of the vote according to unofficial returns.

In key state legislative races, former House Speaker Larry Householder won the Republican primary for his old district, the 72nd, positioning him for a likely Statehouse return in November.

Anti-abortion activist Janet Folger Porter, of Hinckley, lost her bid to unseat Republican Sen. Larry Obhof, of Medina, in the 22nd Senate district.

Few major election problems were reported throughout the day.

The exception was when a federal judge ordered polls in four southwest Ohio counties to stay open for an extra hour because of a traffic problem in the region, which includes Cincinnati.

By JULIE CARR SMYTH
Associated Press