Ohio Primary Elections See Pro-Life, Pro-Abortion Candidates Advance 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 3, 2006
Columbus, OH (LifeNews.com) — November general election battles for statewide and Congressional offices will feature many battles pitting pro-life candidates against those who favor abortion. That’s because leading pro-life and pro-abortion candidates won primaries throughout the state on Tuesday.
In the race for governor, Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, a pro-life Republican who is African-American, won the GOP nomination after a hard fought battle with state Attorney General Jim Petro.
After the votes were counted, Blackwell had 435,478 votes, or 56 percent, compared with 338,606, or 44 percent, for Petro.
Blackwell will face pro-abortion Congressman Ted Strickland in the November elections, as Strickland handily defeated a former state legislator for his party’s gubernatorial nomination.
In his election night victory speech, Strickland called Blackwell’s pro-life views "far outside the mainstream," and claimed a majority of Ohioans will not support him.
Meanwhile, pro-life Sen. Mike DeWine, who had helped lead the fight in the Senate against partial-birth abortions and the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug, will face Rep. Sherrod Brown, who consistently supports abortion in Congress.
In another statewide race, Sandra O’Brien, the Ashtabula County auditor, defeated incumbent state Treasurer Jennette Bradley. O’Brien credited her pro-life views with helping her win the primary against Bradley, who backs abortion.
"I am the one who represents mainstream Republican values," O’Brien told the Associated Press.
In the state’s 13th Congressional district, Brown’s seat, former state Rep. Betty Sutton won Tuesday’s Democratic primary. She will face Lorain Mayor Craig Foltin, the Republican primary winner.
Sutton’s win is a key victory for EMILY’s List, a pro-abortion political action committee that both spent heavily and sent personnel from their organization to run her race.
In another Congressional race, pro-life Rep. Jean Schmidt, the former president of Cincinnati Right to Life, held off a fierce challenge from former U.S. Rep. Bob McEwen in the GOP primary in southwest Ohio. She will have an easier time in the general election in a seat that is traditionally Republican favored.
