Ney keeps uncontested Congress seat

by David Laber
Senior State Writer

The results already are in for the 18^th Congressional District though voters still are punching ballots for their candidates in the primaries today.

Rep. Bob Ney, R-St. Clairsville, is running uncontested in the new district, which now includes Nelsonville and parts of northwest Athens County. No party could muster a candidate to oppose him in the November election.

Rumors had circulated that Warren Davis, United Auto Workers Region 2 director, was seeking to run as a Green Party candidate against the incumbent, Ney.

But Davis had not accumulated the necessary 1,776 signatures by 5 p.m. yesterday to appear on the ballot in November, according to the Tuscarawas County Board of Elections. Davis was not available for comment.

“I was in shock,” Ney said. “I have had some tight competition in the last 11 years.”

In the past three Republican primaries, Ney has run uncontested. And the closest general election race came in 1996 against Robert Burch, D-Dover. Ney took 50 percent of the votes and Burch took 46 percent. An independent candidate, Margaret Chitti, took 3.5 percent of the votes.

Without campaign plans, Ney has found spare time to go and meet the residents and city officials of his new district, said Jim Forbes, Ney’s spokesperson.

“I don’t mind competition, it comes with this business, but it is nice to go and meet people,” Ney said.

But Ney does not see this year’s empty list of opponents as any indication of what future elections might hold.

“One thing I have learned is it could be mine one year but not the next,” he said.

Some of Ney’s priorities for this term include bringing jobs and federal education funding to the district.

In past years, Ney worked with city governments to generate a list of needs, such as sewer repairs, and helped write grant proposals, he said.

Ney also wants to expand health care to all U.S. citizens and provide prescription drugs for senior citizens.

The new 18^th District stretches from Ross and Jackson counties in the south to Tuscarawas and Carroll counties in the northeast. The district lost Monroe and Noble counties and most of Ney’s home county of Belmont — except for a small sliver extending into St. Clairsville surrounded by the 6^th District.

Ney said he moved to a more Republican-friendly region following the redistricting process based on voting rates for the 2000 presidential election.