Yellow Springs candidates fall short of election victory

The three Yellow Springs hopefuls running for office fell short of their goals on Election Day.

U.S. Representative, District 7
Yellow Springs resident Sharen Neuhardt fought hard but lost her race as 7th District Congressional representative to her opponent and longtime Republican politician Steve Austria. Statewide Austria received 58 percent of the vote, while Neuhardt garnered just 41 percent.

Greene County voters echoed that sentiment, giving Austria 41,281 votes, or nearly 65 percent, and giving Neuhardt 22,301 votes, or 35 percent of the total.

Austria campaigned for cutting taxes for property owners and businesses and making healthcare more affordable while he also promised to decrease government spending and lower gas prices.

Neuhardt lives on Whitehall farm with her husband Dave and their children Ann and Rob. She and David are attorneys in Dayton. If elected, she hoped to be able to improve the regional economy by retooling the Midwest’s automotive industry, and she promised to work to draw down the war effort in Iraq.

State representative District 84
The voters in Madison, Clark and Greene Counties who encompass District 84 voted a similar 10 to 6 ratio for Republican Robert Hackett over Democratic candidate Connie Crockett as their state representative. Overall, Hackett received 31,050 votes, or over 61 percent, versus Crockett’s 19,427 votes, or 38 percent. In Greene County Hackett won 10,327 votes to Crockett’s 6,441.

Hackett is a lifelong resident of the central Ohio district and has said that his top priority will be to improve the area’s economy through marketing, restructuring taxes and improving infrastructure.

Crockett has been a Yellow Springs for 36 years and lives in town with her husband Mike Groeber. She is an Antioch College graduate and a former Yellow Springs Village Council member. She had campaigned on investing in education and green transportation initiatives.

Greene County Commission
Greene County was all about Republicans in Tuesday’s results for Greene County Commissioner, and Rick Perales and Marilyn Reid easily regained their seats over their Democratic opponents Eddie Bauman and local resident Jerry Sutton. Reid had 33,238 votes, or 54 percent, to Sutton’s 27,980 votes, or 45 percent. Incumbent Perales garnered 38,909 votes, or almost 64 percent, over Democrat Bauman, who got 21,932 votes, or 36 percent.