Candidates set for central Ohio races
With Brad Mccloud retiring after three terms, Reynoldsburg will select a new mayor in November: either Joseph Begeny or Barth Cotner.
Begeny, a Democrat, is the president of the Reynoldsburg Board of Education, while Cotner, a Republican, is a City Council member.
Elsewhere in Franklin County, Gahanna Mayor Tom Kneeland faces a primary challenge from three people: City Councilman Stephen Renner, Laurie Jadwin, who is the executive director of the Gahanna Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Ryan Jolley, who ran unsuccessfully in the 2015 primary. The top two vote-getters in the nonpartisan primary advance to the general election.
Two-term Whitehall Mayor Kim Maggard will face a challenge in a nonpartisan race from Alexander Mitchell, who has twice run unsuccessfully for the City Council.
In Delaware County, state Rep. Kris Jordan will challenge Municipal Court Clerk Cindy Dinovo, a fellow Republican.
Attorney Melissa Riggins will face off against fellow Republican Kyle Rohrer, a Delaware city councilman and assistant county prosecutor, for an open Delaware County Municipal Court judgeship.
In Licking County, Republican Newark Mayor Jeff Hall faces a challenge from Democrat Jeremy Blake, a Newark City Council member.
Hall was first elected to the office in 2011. If he wins November’s general election, he would be the second mayor in the city’s history to be elected to three consecutive terms.
Blake, a former schoolboard president, announced his intention to run for mayor in a video he posted on Twitter in January. He has been a council member since 2014 and ran unsuccessfully last year for a seat in the state legislature.
In Madison County, five Republicans are running for three at-large seats on the London City Council. Carla Blazier, Shirley Litchfield, Michael Norman and John Stahl are competing with incumbent Joshua Peters.
London voters also will choose between incumbent Joe Russell and fellow Republican Henry Comer for council president.
In Pickaway County, the mayor of Circleville will face a challenger in the May Republican primary. Tom Spring, an at-large councilman, filed on Wednesday to run against Mayor Don Mcilroy in the county-seat city. Mcilroy was first elected in 2011 and won a second term in 2015.