Fairfield County commissioner Jeff Fix defeats Reed Bailey to win second term
LANCASTER − Commissioner Jeff Fix and auditor Carri Brown were the big winners Tuesday in races involving Fairfield County officials.
Republican Fix defeated Democratic challenger Reed Bailey, 37,441 (65.72%) to 19,527 (34.28%) votes. Brown ran unopposed and earned 43,875 votes.
Fix, 57, will start his second term in office.
"I really pleased with the results," he said. "I'm humbled by the numbers. I guess the people of Fairfield County feel like I'm doing a good job and want to give me four more years to keep doing what we're doing."
Fix said the commissioners want to attack poverty and move people to jobs and prosperity.
"I know that it's much deeper than having jobs," he said. "We're working on workforce housing and we're working with Commissioner (Steve) Davis on his transportation ideas. There's a lot of work to do yet. But we feel good about the direction Fairfield County's headed in and just really want to keep moving everything forward to make it a great place to raise your family, go to to work and make it a great place to be a citizen."
Bailey failed for the third time in his bid for a county commission seat. He lost to Davis in 2012 and 2020. Bailey released a statement to the Eagle-Gazette late Tuesday night and called Fix a "phony opponent" and said he wants the opposite of everything Fix supports.
“My opponent supports state level office holders who take away voter rights, take away away women’s right to choose, take away children’s public education, take away health insurance, take high taxes from working people, give low taxes to the rich and big business, and failed to harshly prosecute white collar crime in Ohio government," Bailey said.
Bailey also said "everyone of us loses rights and liberty when the people who are elected don’t support rights, liberty and freedom.“
The county Republican Party tapped Brown, 58, to replace the retired Jon Slater in October 2021. She was formerly the county administrator. This was her first time actually running for office and unlike most other government offices, her term begins in March.
"I'm so honored and I'm excited to continue to serve as county auditor," Brown said. "I know the future is bright for Fairfield County and I'm very appreciative of the other elected officials and all the team members. They're working together to make Fairfield County the best that it can be."
Brown said she's already established some goals for the next for years, including goals for customer service and technology.
"With those two things in our focus we'll be able to improve our office on a continual basis," she said.
jbarron@gannett.com
740-681-4340
Twitter: @JeffDBarron
This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: County commissioner Jeff Fix defeats Reed Bailey to win second term
