Max Miller wins Rep. primary in US 7th District, will face Dem. Matt Diemer in November
Max Miller won Ohio's Republican primary on Tuesday for the 7th Congressional District and claims the GOP spot on the general election ballot in November.
The former-Trump aide captured nearly 72% of the Republican vote and will face Matthew Diemer, who won the Democratic primary with 55% of the votes, for the open seat in the newly-formed district this fall.
Latest updates: May 3 primary: Polls are closed, check back here for the latest election results
The 7th U.S. District consists of Wayne and Medina counties, a northern slice of Holmes County and the southern half of Cuyahoga County.
Miller scored a final unofficial tally of 42,728 votes from the four counties, easily defeating his opponents — Jonah Schulz with 8,230; Charlie Gaddis with 5,515 and Anthony Alexander with 3,004 votes.
Among Wayne County voters, Miller came out on top with 7,066 votes. Schulz claimed second place with 1,630 followed by Gaddis with 629. Alexander trailed with 588 votes, according to unofficial final results from the Wayne County Board of Elections.
Diemer racked up 12,481 votes among the four counties in the Democratic primary by the end of the night. The runner-up, Tristan Rader, had 7,368. Patrick Malley has 2,844 votes.
In Wayne County, Diemer led Rader by 415 votes.
Votes went to two candidates not actively campaigning
Rader and Malley were not actively campaigning but appeared on the Democratic ballot Tuesday.
Malley had called the cleveland.com editorial board to declare that he was dropping out of the race earlier in the campaign. Rader announced his withdrawal on Twitter.
Battle for top spot: Primary Election: Democrats and Republicans battle for top-party spot in US 7th District
Despite both apparently having dropped out of the race, they never filed to withdraw their names with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, according to Mike West, community outreach for the board.
"The Plain Dealer newspaper said they dropped out, but until we have something in writing from them they will remain on our candidate list," West had told The Daily Record.
Searching for the right candidates
Some Wayne County voters in the Democratic primary, such as Deb Jenkins, were disappointed with so few options on the ballot.
"There aren't enough Dems running in this election," Jenkins said. "We need younger people to get involved."
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She said it was a shame that two of the Democratic candidates were not actively campaigning but still appeared on the ballot.
Judy Underberg and her husband voted in the Republican primary in Wayne County to get the "right conservative in."
Underberg did her research and looked for which candidate aligned with her policy goals.
"We were looking for someone who was tight on border control, wouldn't let woke-ism into our schools and would secure our elections with voter IDs," Underberg said.
At the end of the day, Jonah Schulz and Max Miller best aligned with what she wanted, but she would not say which one she voted for.
Reach Bryce by email at bbuyakie@gannett.com
On Twitter: @Bryce_Buyakie
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Rep. Miller and Dem. Diemer win 7th Congressional District
