Former candidate’s husband to run as a write-in candidate in local Ohio Senate race

In the Nov. 3 general election, only two names will appear on the ballot for the 4th Ohio Senate District race, Ohio Rep. George Lang, R-West Chester Twp., and Democrat Kathy Wyenandt, of Liberty Twp. If Kent Keller is certified as a write-in candidate, his name will not be on the ballot. Voters must write in his name.

On Facebook, Kent Keller said he will “promise to be the primary sponsor for ‘stand your ground’ (legislation) in the Senate. I will defend your right to protect yourself and your family.”

Candice Keller lost her bid for the Ohio Senate in the 2020 primary election. Lang won the Republican nomination with nearly 50 percent of the vote in the three-candidate GOP primary.

Lang said voters in the spring primary “made it very clear where they stand on a Keller candidacy after rejecting it by two-to-one.”

“I’m confident that voters will view this new write-in campaign as more of the same,” Lang said.

Wyenandt said she would “welcome Kent Keller to the race."

“I look forward to continuing to work to earn the voters’ trust by focusing on the issues that matter most to families: jobs, healthcare, and education, and cleaning up the corruption in Columbus,” she said.

Candice Keller told the Journal-News her husband decided to run because “clearly we are unable to vote for a candidate who was indicted on federal charges of perjury by the FBI.”

Lang was acquitted of a perjury charge for allegedly lying under oath in federal court during the Orlando Carter trial. Carter was the owner of the now-defunct fiber optics company Dynus, which took out loans in Butler County’s name without county approval. Carter was released early from federal prison, though an official reason was not released. Many federal prisoners were released early due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“We just don’t want any more FBI stuff happening in Butler County, so he said, ‘You know what, I’m running.‘ He’s defining himself as the only honorable man running.”

Cedarville University political science professor Mark C. Smith said the political system, which is designed by those in power, “make it hard for those outside a major party."

“Allowing for a write-in candidate is an acknowledgment that forces and people outside the system should at least have an outlet,” he said. “This is similar to the initiative process, where voters can put legislation on the ballot in circumvention of the legislature.”

Historically, write-in candidates are unsuccessful with few exceptions, such as the late former U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, who won a write-in campaign for a U.S. Senate in South Carolina seat in 1954. In 2010, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Arkansas, won a write-in candidate campaign in her state’s general election after she lost in the primary.

In both cases, the candidates had high name recognition.

Rep. Keller would not have been able to run as a write-in candidate. Ohio prohibits any candidate who loses a primary race from running in any race later in the subsequent general election.