Turnover was assured on Summit County Council this election.
Still, as it turns out, voters kept the 11-seat council solidly Democratic, based on preliminary results Tuesday. The lone Republican incumbent, Gloria Rodgers, appeared to win a solid victory – and she got a Republican colleague, council newcomer Ron Koehler, who won the District 1 seat.
Two of the three at-large seats were up this year, as were the eight district slots. Of the district seats, two had no incumbents running, while one council member ran unopposed. Members are elected to four-year terms.
To probably no one’s surprise, the heavily Democratic council will stay solidly on the Democratic side, based on precincts reporting in as of 11 p.m. plus the counting of absentee ballots.
With 420 of 420 precincts reporting, the two at-large races showed the two Democratic candidates with solid wins over their Republican rivals.
Democrat Elizabeth Walters had 121,143 votes to Republican Chris Parker’s 99,141.
Democrat Clair Dickinson had 121,317 votes to Republican Alex Pavoloff’s 97,052.
In the other council races:
• District 1: With 62 of 62 precincts reporting, Republican Koehler was narrowly ahead of Democrat Rita Darrow, 16,158 to 15,597.
• District 2: With 55 of 55 precincts reporting, Democrat John Schmidt won with 15,474 votes to Republican Nick R. Subak’s 9,164.
• District 3: With 61 of 61 precincts reporting, incumbent Gloria J. Rodgers, Republican, won with 21,364 votes to Democratic challenger David Worhatch’s 12,358.
• District 4: With 57 of 57 precincts reporting, Jeff Wilhite had 17,232 votes to Republican challenger Michael Kormushoff’s 8,866.
• District 5: With 56 of 56 precincts reporting, Democrat David Hamilton had 19,765 to Republican John Sans’ 8,826.
• District 6: With 52 of 52 precincts reporting, Jerry E. Feeman, Democrat, won with 14,873 votes to Republican Cole Muzio’s 8,835.
• In District 7, incumbent Democrat Tim Crawford of Norton was unopposed. With all 49 precincts reporting, he had 17,977 votes.
• District 8: With 51 of 51 precincts reporting, Democratic incumbent Paula Prentice’s 14,168 votes was slightly ahead of Republican challenger James R. Carr’s 14,014.
The heavily Democratic council — the party holds 10 of the 11 seats — lost three Democrats this year:
• Ilene Shapiro became county executive following the July 31 death of Russ Pry.
• Sandra Kurt became county clerk of courts after Dan Horrigan was elected Akron’s mayor.
• Frank Communale took a county job.
Another Democratic member, Tamara Lee, faces federal corruption charges and is barred from attending meetings. She lost in this year’s Democratic primary and won’t be back in 2017.
No incumbents ran in the District 1 and District 5 races.
District 1 pitted Democrat Darrow against Republican Koehler. Both are from Macedonia. The district covers Twinsburg, Northfield, Macedonia and Richfield in the northern part of the county.
Darrow previously served one term on Macedonia council. Koehler, a former Springfield Township trustee, served on the county elections board.
District 5 — Lee’s district — had Republican Sans versus Hamilton. Both are from Akron. The district includes Fairlawn, Copley Township and parts of Akron and Bath Township.
Hamilton is a prosecutor with Akron. Sans is a research chemist for BASF in Independence.
In the at-large races, Democrat Walters of Akron squared off against Republican Parker of Copley Township. They sought to complete Kurt’s unexpired term that runs through 2018.
Walters was appointed to replace Kurt.
Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him @JimMackinnonABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/JimMackinnonABJ.