Democrat who almost scored upset in congressional election has strong ties to Dayton area

Danny O’Connor, the Democrat who nearly scored an upset in Ohio’s 12th District special congressional election Tuesday night has strong ties to the Dayton region.

O’Connor lost the special election in the Columbus-Zanesville area district by a fraction of a point, but did not declare defeat Tuesday. Thousands of absentee and provisional ballots have yet to be counted.

The district is a traditional Republican stronghold. President Donald Trump won the district by 11 points over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

Here’s some things to know about O’Connor:

1. He grew up in Sidney

O’Connor graduated from Lehman Catholic High School

2. He graduated from Wright State University

O’Connor got his BA in political science at WSU. He went on to graduate law school at Syracuse.

3. He was president of Wright State’s College Democrats

4. If he is elected to Congress at 31, he will be the youngest member from across the country

5. He was first elected to public office in 2016

He was elected as recorder for Franklin County.

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