Election 2018: Democrat Theresa Gasper will take on Congressman Mike Turner this fall

Credit: Tom Williams

Credit: Tom Williams

U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, will face Bevaercreek businesswoman Theresa Gasper in November’s General Election, according to the results of Tuesday’s primary.

Turner, who is seeking his ninth term, won 79 percent of the votes among Republicans. John Mitchel and John Anderson split the remaining vote.

“I appreciate voters’ support in the 10th Congressional District,” Turner said in a statement. “I intend to continue my work and focus on supporting Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, growing jobs, and protecting our national security.”

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Gasper won with 68 percent of the votes among Democrats, according to the Ohio Secretary of State. Robert Klepinger received 24 percent of the vote, and Michael Milisits took 7 percent.

“I have been proud to call the Dayton region home my whole life, and I am honored to be given the chance to fight for my friends and neighbors, to demand a raise in wages, affordable health care and more good-paying local jobs,” Gasper said in a statement.

“I want to thank Mike Milisits and Rob Klepinger for their courage in putting their names on the ballot and look forward to earning support from others no matter their place on the political spectrum,” she said.

Shortly after Gasper’s victory, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party’s U.S. House-focused arm, issued a memo detailing what it called “The Case Against Rep. Mike Turner.”

“Mike Turner is in for a serious challenge. Theresa Gasper is an accomplished leader with deep ties to the district who is running a strong, well-funded campaign – a combination that Turner has not faced in some time,” the memo said.

Gasper is making her first foray into politics. She runs Full Circle Development, a company company that has focused on restoring Dayton’s South Park neighborhood. Her husband, Dave Gasper, sold an ATM software company to NCR Corp. in 1999, according to a Dayton Foundation profile of the couple.

Turner, a former Dayton mayor, has represented the district since 2003. Turner has won all of his elections since 2002 with more than 58 percent of the vote. In his last election in 2016, Turner won 64 percent of the vote.

Recently, two independent political analysts downgraded the outlook for Turner’s re-election. The Cook Political Report moved the seat from “solid” to “likely” re-election for Turner, in part due to “unflattering headlines related to his ugly ongoing divorce from an energy lobbyist he married in 2015.” Sabato’s Crystal Ball, an analysis from the University of Virginia, downgraded the race with similar justifications.

Turner will be interviewed Wednesday on AM 1290 News 95.7 WHIO’s Miami Valley Morning News.

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