The win will move Fought, 62, of Springfield, forward to the Nov. 8 general election to face U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Troy, in Ohio’s 8th Congressional District race.
One vote — actually the first vote — was enough to win the special election for Fought.
“So far what I’ve done is to go around and talk to groups of people,” Fought said. “Democrats in the 8th Congressional District frankly are elated that there’s a candidate running against the incumbent tea party member.”
The district incorporates all or parts of Butler, Clark, Darke, Mercer, Miami and Preble counties, which will be reimbursed by the state for costs. The special June 7 election, in which Davidson handily won, cost taxpayers more than $506,000.
The Ohio legislature will consider a change in state law that mandated Tuesday's election.
Fought joined the race in late July, just days after the withdrawal of Corey Foister, the 26-year-old Fairfield man who dropped out to take an out-of-state job opportunity.
Former House Speaker John Boehner, who represented the 8th District for 25 years, resigned in October, 14 months before the end of his term. That put into motion a special election to fill his unexpired term. Davidson was one of 15 Republican candidates to run for the unexpired term that was elected in June, as well as seek the full two-year term to be elected this November. Foister was the only Democrat to run.
Davidson said he’s not taking the election for granted. He’s been touring the 8th Congressional District since he’s been a candidate, and has attended some 100-plus events.
“Over the course of a year, I wore out one pair of dress shoes,” Davidson said. “A whole lot of miles on the car, lots of cups of coffee.”
The 8th Congressional District is considered one of the most Republican congressional districts in the state. Still, Fought said “anything is possible” in this election year.
“This is the toughest year in memory for Republican candidates,” he said. “Anything can happen, and 2016 has proven that to us already and we’re still two months away from the election.”
While Fought said he hasn’t interacted with his November opponent, he said he looks forward to debates “and people can make the decision if they want to vote for a tea party extremist or if they want to vote for someone who’s going to move the interest of the 8th District forward.”
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