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No 'blue wave' in deep red Southwest Ohio

Posted at 12:19 AM, Nov 07, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-07 16:05:03-05

CINCINNATI -- The Democratic Party "Blue Wave" in deep red Southwest Ohio turned out to be a wash.

Based on unofficial election results in the eight counties that make up the region, voter turnout appeared slightly higher than in past midterms, according to the Ohio Secretary of State website. Those counties include Adams, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, Highland and Warren.

An average of 55.33 percent of registered voters from those counties participated in Tuesday's polling. That's compared to 41.80 percent of voters from the region who took part in the 2014 midterms and the 51.49 percent in 2010.

All but Hamilton County in Southwest Ohio overwhelmingly voted for Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine for the state's next governor. Democrat Richard Cordray received 171,781 votes compared to DeWine's 145,164 in Hamilton County. DeWine, meanwhile, received more than 60 percent of votes cast in each of the region's seven remaining counties.

RELATED: DeWine wins Ohio governor's race, GOP sweeps other state offices

Overall, DeWine took 55.11 percent of the popular votes in Southwest Ohio versus Cordray's 41.28 percent. The Governor-elect received 50.9 percent of votes statewide compared to Cordray, who garnered 46.2 percent of the popular vote, according to unofficial results.

The same division between Republican and Democratic voter turnout were reflected across the board in Southwest Ohio when it came to statewide office races. Conservative candidates outperformed their liberal counterparts at the polls in the region outside of Hamilton County.

The same can be said for the region's Congressional elections. A prime example is the outcome of the contentious race between incumbent U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot and his Democratic challenger, Aftab Pureval in Ohio's First Congressional District. The district represents parts of western Hamilton County and portions of Warren County.

RELATED: Reflections on the Aftab Pureval race from others who lost to Steve Chabot

Pureval won 53.66 percent of the vote in Hamilton County, where he and Chabot both live. Chabot though soundly defeated Pureval in Warren County with 65.81 percent of the popular vote. Chabot's strong showing in Warren won him re-election with 51.80 percent of the votes cast between the two counties.

RELATED: Hamilton County voters elect first African American woman as commissioner

Even Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, who won statewide re-election, lost to Congressman Jim Renacci in the eight-county region by more than 36,000 votes.

Renacci, a Republican, received 52.51 percent of the more than 685,000 votes cast in Southwest Ohio in that race.

Despite only receiving 47.13 percent of the vote in the region, Brown soundly defeated his challenger by taking 53.2 percent of the votes cast throughout the Buckeye State.