Republicans win all three North Ridgeville City Council at-large seats

NORTH RIDGEVILLE — Incumbents Martin DeVries and Jacob Jacobs won reelection to North Ridgeville City Council and will be joined by Georgia Awig as Republicans took all three at-large seats up for election Tuesday. Unofficial results from the Lorain County Board of Elections showed Jacobs was the top vote-getter overall with 3,180 votes, or 23 percent of the total votes. Voters could choose up to three candidates on their ballot. A nursing home administrator by trade, Jacobs will enter his first full term on Council at the start of 2022. He was appointed to the seat this January. "I feel great," he said, after results from all precincts had been reported Tuesday. "I'm glad all the campaigning is done and (I'm) ready to put all that hard work and effort toward continuing to be a good representative of the city." Jacobs said he was looking forward to participating in the city's appropriations and budget discussions beginning Wednesday morning for the first time. DeVries was the second-highest vote-getter with 2,885 votes, or 21 percent of all votes cast. The current Council president attributed his performance to campaign tactics including social media pages, mailings and walking the streets. He said his campaign took the high road, and "we did not get down in the mud, we did not do nasty, dirty things to make our opponents look bad." DeVries said he thinks the community recognized that and voted for him. January will be the start of Awig's tenure on Council, and she said she's looking forward to working with her fellow Council members and members of the city administration. She previously ran for the 3rd Ward Council seat in the 2015 Republican primary but lost after a tie vote meant the contest would be decided by a coin flip between her and Bruce Abens. The coin landed in favor of Abens. No such luck was needed this year, as she earned 2,808 votes, 20 percent of all votes cast. Awig said she probably worked a little harder this time around, and she appeared to be rewarded for the connections she made with residents. "During the campaign process, I certainly met a lot of awesome North Ridgeville residents who care about the future of our city," she said. With Tuesday's election results, Republicans still occupy six of the seven seats on Council. Dennis Boose, D-2nd Ward, is still the only Democrat. The two Democratic candidates in Tuesday's election — Paul Wolanski and John Kevin McNulty — looked to be ahead at first when just early absentee votes had been reported. At a Lions Club election night event at Bullfrog's Sports Cafe, they kept an eye on results while socializing with supporters and other candidates affiliated with the Lions Club. However, the Democrats' lead eroded after the unofficial precinct results were posted to the Board of Elections' website. Wolanski ended up receiving 2,544 votes (18 percent) and McNulty received 2,359 votes (17 percent). After results were in, Wolanski said he was disappointed with the outcome but wished the winners the best. He said he needs to "digest what happened" but was not ruling out the possibility of running for a position in the future. Wolanski previously ran for mayor in 2019. McNulty was pleased with his performance in his first run at political office and said he is confident the winners will do a "wonderful job" for the city. "I still ended up with 2,300 votes that I didn't know I'd have in the beginning," McNulty said. Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @drey1357.