Despite going door-to-door all across the county and meeting more than 25,000 people, Democratic candidate Kelly Wicks came up short to his Republican opponent, Commissioner Tim Brown, in the race for the Ohio House.
With all 97 precincts reporting, Brown defeated Wicks 30,146 votes to 25,444 votes, giving Brown 51 percent of the vote to Wicks’ 43 percent.
“You can only work so hard,” Wicks said. “I’m a first-time candidate going against a county commissioner that’s been re-elected four times; we were underdogs from the start.”
While Wicks took a lead with early voting, he soon fell behind when 45 percent of the precincts reported Brown leading Wicks 17,542 votes to 15,174.
Mike Zickar, chair of the Wood County Democrats, said Wick’s campaign has been the closest he’s seen in years.
“Kelly’s campaign was amazing as a first-time runner, and it was a great team effort against someone who has been on the ballot for some time,” Zickar said.
Tim Brown has been Wood County Commissioner for 14 years.
“It’s hard to beat that name recognition,” Zickar said.
Even though they were defeated, Wicks and Campaign Manager Sam Melendez said they wouldn’t have done anything different.
“It’s been a good race,” Melendez said. “We engaged the voters and talked to 25,000 citizens. We did it the right way and did not waste money on annoying TV ads, phone calls or hate mail.”
Besides going door-to-door across the county, the campaign also encouraged voting by implementing golf carts taking students on campus to the Board of Elections to vote early, he said.
“We knew early voting was going to be important and we wanted to make it as easy as possible,” Melendez said.
It was just as much as about raising awareness to vote, he said.
Wicks said the support of the community was able to pull the team together and make the race a real game with him as a first-time candidate.
“I had a great time and I am proud of the team,” Wicks said. “We were able to put real pressure on [the Republicans].”
While the race may be over, the coffee shop owner said he has a good business to fall back onto.
“Grounds For Thought opens at 6 a.m.,” Wicks said. “Come in and buy a cup of coffee.”
