ARCHBOLD WEATHER

Latta Wins GOP Primary; Faces Weirauch Dec. 11





Robert Latta, state representative (R-Bowling Green), won the Republican Party nomination for the Fifth Congressional District in a special primary election held in conjunction with the Tuesday, Nov. 6 general election.

The special primary will be followed by a special election for the Fifth District seat on Tuesday, Dec. 11. The two elections were made necessary by the death of Paul Gillmor (R-Tiffin), who died Sept. 5, 2007, after a fall in his Virginia apartment.

The GOP primary featured many negative television advertisements.

The Wood County Board of Elections, which handles the final vote count for the 16-county congressional district, said Latta won the overall vote with 32,095 votes.

Steve Buehrer, state senator (R-Delta), collected 29,548 votes. The other challengers and their vote totals were Mark Hollenbaugh, 4,905; Fred Pieper, 4,214; and Michael K. Smitley, 2,721.

The percentages work out to about 43.68% of ballots cast for Latta to 40.21% for Buehrer.

Fulton County went solidly for Buehrer, 4,507 votes to Latta’s 1,077.

Wood County, Latta’s home turf, went solidly for him, turning in 9,853 votes to Buehrer’s 2,312.

Of the 16 counties, Buehrer defeated Latta in 10. In addition to Fulton, Defiance and Williams counties chose Buehrer. Henry County went to Latta.

The closest race between the two was in Huron County, where Buehrer defeated Latta by a mere 29 votes; 1,457 for Buehrer to 1,428 for Latta.

In the Democratic primary, Robin Weirauch handily defeated challenger George Mays, 31,803 to 12,282 district-wide.

Weirauch, who has made two runs for the Fifth District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, defeated Mays in every county. The closest race between the two was in Ashland County, where Weirauch’s 312 votes gave her a 24-vote victory over Mays, who had 288.

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Mirth is better than fun, and happiness is better than mirth.- William Blake


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