Incumbent GOP state Sen. Nathan Manning wins primary race

Incumbent state Sen. Nathan Manning, R-North Ridgeville, survived a primary challenge for his seat from state Board of Education member and Lorain County Tea Party Chair Kirsten Hill on Tuesday. According to incomplete and unofficial results from the Ohio secretary of state's office, which compiled results from three county boards of elections — Lorain, Erie and Huron — Manning had 8,865 votes to Hill's 4,482 votes in the Senate District 13 race as of 10 p.m. That gave Manning more than 67 percent of the vote to slightly more than 32 percent of the vote for Hill. With all of Lorain County reporting in, Manning had 7,771 votes to Hill's 3,658. With all of Erie County reporting in, Manning had 576 votes to Hill's 362. With all of Huron County reporting, Manning had 518 votes to Hill's 262. Manning said the race was "interesting" because it was the second primary in Ohio this year and low turnout was expected. But "we ran it like we run any race," he said. "I'm really proud of the work we put in and the results show that." Manning will face first-time political candidate Anthony Eliopoulos, a Lorain Democrat, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary and who has secured the endorsement of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland. Manning said he would start campaigning for the November general election immediately. "This is a tough general election as well," he said. "We need to keep working. The people we're engaging with might change but the work doesn't. "I'm really appreciative of all the people that helped us, appreciative of the voters, and I'm always surprised by the amount of the support we're able to get but at the end of the day," Manning said. "There's some great people in Lorain, Huron and Erie count(ies) and at the end of the day I'm happy to represent them." Hill said she ran as a team with Mike Witte, who appeared to have bested incumbent Republican State Central Committeeman David Arredondo and challenger Pete Aldrich in that race. She said she also supported likely winner Marty Gallagher of Avon Lake, who defeated Sarah McGervey in the Ohio 53rd House District Republican primary. "I think that the motivation to come out and vote wouldn't have been as high if I hadn't filed to run," Hill said. "I'm glad to see how well the others did, that turnout was motivated by me running and we got the conversation going here in Lorain County.'' She noted that Manning brought in state Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted in the past several weeks to stump for him "so there must have been some fear" in Manning's camp, Hill said. She said her supporters were "just wonderful." "People really stepped up from making donations to the campaign to helping with voter outreach and just getting the vote out at the end here, so I'm humbled by the amount of support we got across our supporters," Hill said. Reporter Carissa Woytach contributed to this story. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @DaveOBrienCT.