COLUMBUS (WCMH) – Ohio’s 12th Congressional District’s incumbent has won his third election in just over two years.
Republican Troy Balderson defeated his second Democratic opponent, Alaina Shearer, to represent a portion of central Ohio in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to the Associated Press.
Balderson initially won the seat in a special election on Aug. 7, 2018, beating Democrat Danny O’Connor 50.1 percent to 49.3 percent, or by 1,680 votes.
Three months later, Balderson again defeated O’Connor 51.4 percent to 47.2 percent during the 2018 general election on Nov. 6.
Balderson replaced Patrick Tiberi, who left Congress to lead the Ohio Business Roundtable.
From his website, Balderson’s pitch to voters is, in part:
It is going to take real leadership to help our communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. As a member of the Small Business, Transportation & Infrastructure, Agriculture and Science, Space, and Technology Committees in Congress, Troy has helped lead our national response to this crisis to protect our jobs and our livelihoods.
From expanding telehealth & broadband internet access, securing America’s supply chains, and providing tax credits for small businesses purchasing PPE, Troy has worked tirelessly on behalf of his constituents to weather this storm.
Shearer ran for her first seat in government on any level. Part of her pitch to voters, from her website:
After her award-winning career as a radio journalist, Delaware native Alaina Shearer became a single mom who against all odds built a small business and then a national movement for women in digital and tech. Today, she is ready to join her neighbors to reclaim their power by flipping Ohio’s 12th Congressional District. Her goal is to move forward, faster on issues hard working Ohioans can not afford to ignore.
After the race was called, Shearer took to Twitter, saying, “Now is a good time to talk to your kids about gerrymandering and democracy.”
District 12 represents a portion of central Ohio, including Delaware, Licking, and Morrow counties as well as portions of Franklin, Marion, Muskingum, and Richland counties.
