After two decades of running unopposed, Clerk of Courts Jim Spaeth is to be challenged by Michael Gilb, a Mason city councilman, according to a final list of candidates posted Tuesday.
There is still time for a candidate to withdraw, according to the Warren County Board of Elections.
“It’s not my personal seat. It’s the people’s office,” Spaeth said Tuesday.
“Some people might say,’You’ve been there too long,’” he said. “I think we do a good job in this office.”
Gilb could not be reached for comment.
The filing deadline was Dec. 18.
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Spaeth is the only countywide officeholder up for re-election on March 17, and he’ll face opposition in Warren County.
Unopposed are commissioners Dave Young and Shannon Jones, Coroner Russell Uptegrove, Engineer Neil Tunison, Prosecutor David Fornshell, Recorder Linda Oda, Sheriff Larry Sims, Treasurer Barney Wright and judges Robert Peeler and Joe Kirby.
Incumbents in the Republican-controlled county are often unopposed until their retirement from office.
“I am not retiring,” Spaeth said. “I can’t tell you why people within my own party without directly talking to me at all might think I’m not doing the job they want.”
Spaeth, a former four-term Deerfield Twp. trustee, has held the Clerk of Court’s office since 1996.
The son of Les Spaeth, former county auditor and long-time Warren County Republican Party chief, Jim Spaeth won a three-way primary race in the March 7, 1996 primary and was unopposed in the November general election for the office left open by the retirement of Paul Harrison, a Republican.
Gilb was most recently elected by 53 votes to the fourth and final seat open on the Mason Council in the November 2017 election. He also served as a state representative for Findlay from 2001-2007 before moving to the area.
By appointment, he served on the Mason council from February 2009 – November 2011, but finished fourth in a race for three seats in 2011.
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He was the subject of an Ohio Supreme Court ruling allowing him to run, despite a claim that he should be barred due to term limits.
Also by appointment, he served as a Warren County Common Pleas Court judge in 2015-2016 before being defeated by Judge Tim Tepe.
Gilb rents space in the Batsche law office in Mason.
In the 2016 Republican primary, Clouse, a candidate supported by the party’s Right to Life branch, lost to Kirby by about 9% and 3,000 votes.
On Tuesday, she said she withdrew on Friday rather than run against Spaeth and Gilb but intends to run again for judge.
“This wasn’t the right time for me,” she said.
“There are a lot of options I’m discussing,” she said. “It’s difficult to make your way in this county.”
Party leaders indicated Clouse and Gilb could have split the Right to Life vote, possibly throwing the race to Spaeth.
The Gilb-Spaeth race would be a different test of the importance of votes from Mason and Deerfield Twp., the county’s most populous community.
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Past races have pitted candidates from the area with incumbents from other parts of the county.
In this race, Gilb could draw from younger segments of the population and the Right to Life branch of the party. Spaeth remains strong with Republicans who have known him and his family for decades.
The party chief backed Spaeth, while declining to comment on the party policy on running against incumbents.
“Jim is a strong clerk of courts and will be reelected regardless of who’s running against him,” Warren County Republican Party Chairman Jeff Monroe said Tuesday.
GET READY FOR ELECTION DAY
- The deadline to register to vote for the Ohio primary election is Feb. 18.
- Early voting starts on Feb. 19.
- The Ohio primary is set for March 17.
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