Antonio, Skindell Win Primaries In Lakewood Election

LAKEWOOD, OH — Nickie Antonio received 54 percent of the vote to become the Democrats nominee for State Senator in District 23 on Tuesday. It was the same night Mike Skindell won the party's nomination to become State Representative for District 13 by securing 55 percent of the vote.

Antonio and Skindell are currently serving as State Representative and State Senator, respectively. If everything goes according to plan in the general election, the two will switch roles next year. All of this despite not receiving the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party's nomination.

The Cuyahoga County Democrats instead threw their support to their opponents: Martin Sweeney and Lakewood City Councilman Tom Bullock.

While the two men proved to be stiff competition for Antonio and Bullock, respectively, they both fell short of securing their party's nomination. Sweeney proved a particularly troublesome foe, with he and Antonio trading the lead as precincts reported in. It was only in the late evening that Antonio pulled away.

Patch tracked the results of the primary election throughout the night. Those results, which are unofficial until they are verified by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, are below.

State Representative results:

State Senate results:

Polls opened at 6:30 a.m. and closed at 7:30 p.m. Voters had a sunny, clear election day. Temperatures topped out at about 67 degrees during the day and dipped toward 53 degrees in the evening, according to the National Weather Service.

Voter turnout in Cuyahoga County was at about 23.4 percent at the time of the polls closing, according to unofficial numbers from the county Board of Elections. Mike West, a spokesperson for the Cuyahoga BOE, said he was hoping for turnout to get closer to 26 percent, slightly above average for a primary.

Photo from Ashley Ludwig, Patch