Congressional Races: Dems Gain At Least One Seat

Spirited challengers John Cranley (D-Cincinnati), Vic Wulsin (D-Indian Hill), and Bob Shamansky (D-Bexley) have each come up short in their efforts to oust Republican incumbents Steve Chabot (R-Cincinnati), "Mean Jean" Schmidt (R-Loveland), and Pat Tiberi (R-Westerville) in the 1st, 2nd, and 12th Districts. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Columbus) is behind Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Upper Arlington) in the 15th District by about 3,000 votes, so her race will not be officially decided until the 20,000 or so absentee ballots are counted.

However, the Democratic delegation to Congress increased from six to at least seven because Zack Space (D-Dover) soundly defeated State Sen. Joy Padgett (R-Coschocton) for the 18th District seat of disgraced felon Bob Ney (R-Heath), by about 60% to 30% of the vote.

UPDATE: Schmidt has declared victory, but Wulsin will not concede defeat pending counting of the provisional ballots. With 100% of the precincts reporting she is only down by 2,865 votes!