Republican State Auditor Jim Petro defeated Democratic State Sen. Leigh Herington in the state attorney general race yesterday.
Petro, a 53 year-old Columbus resident, defeated Herington in a landslide, 64 percent to 35 percent with 99 percent of the precincts reporting.
Petro was quick to thank all of the volunteers who worked on his campaign.
“We all have had a good election year because of great people,” Petro said. “All of you that have helped the Republican ticket, you’ve done an outstanding job and we give our thanks tonight.”
The office is now held by Republican Betty D. Montgomery. Montgomery and Petro essentially traded offices as Montgomery took the state auditor’s race.
The state attorney general is the state’s top lawyer. Petro will give legal advice to the state of Ohio and defend Ohio in court. It will also be Petro’s job to make sure environmental laws are enforced and complied with. In addition he will be in charge of investigating accusations of consumer fraud made by Ohio citizens.
Petro has also served on the House Judiciary Committee and is a former county commissioner. He has been the current state auditor for eight years and is closing out his term this January when he will become Ohio’s new top attorney.
Just minutes after conceding, Herington was already thinking of his next attempt at election.
“We need to look at this as a basketball game,” Herington said. “I can tell you that we started in the fourth quarter and we outscored them, outhustled them and outpositioned them. But this is a fourth quarter game. We are going to start a new game. We are going to start in the first quarter and are going to get the team and the people together because the future of the State of Ohio is at stake and we are going to make a difference in this state in 2004.”
