Melanie Miller wins race for Ohio House District 67

Republican candidate Melanie Miller won the race for the 67th District of the Ohio House of Representatives, according to unofficial election results from the general election on Tuesday. Miller was running against Democratic candidate Drew Burge for the seat. District 67 covers part of Medina County and all of Ashland County. The unofficial election results are from all 121 precincts in Medina County and all 39 precincts in Ashland County. From both counties, Miller received 31,159 votes, or 70.2 percent of the vote. Burge had 13,325 votes, or 29.8 percent of the vote. "This is not about me personally, this is about the people, the 'we the people,' giving them a voice," Miller said. "The fact that I won with such a large margin shows the confidence and the trust that the people of the 67th District have in me as their next representative. I'm just so thankful." Throughout her career, she has worked as the executive director of the Ashland Pregnancy Center and in the fields of communication, digital media and ministry. Also, she is a former Miss Ohio 2006 and Mrs. Ohio America 2011. The mayor of the city of Ashland is her husband. "I know that this is a big responsibility, and I don't take this lightly," she said. "I know it is an honor and a privilege to serve, and so I look forward to doing it with grace and with transparency. I want to be the type of representative that is available to the people." Burge has nearly 20 years of experience in management. He said he was disappointed by the results but stressed the importance of people standing up for their beliefs even if they are not the most popular. "Obviously the people of the district have spoken, and all I can do is wish Melanie Miller the best and hope she does good work for us in Columbus," he said. Miller said one of her priorities in Columbus will be improving infrastructure in the district. She attended many local government meetings as part of her campaign and noticed that many communities were in need of infrastructure repairs and upgrades, which can come at a significant cost. Therefore, she wants to funnel state resources back to the community for these projects. "I want to go to bat for our communities, and in return infrastructure improvements are also going to impact economic development," she said. "That's going to be a priority. It impacts everything that we do in our life." Contact reporter Madisyn Woodring at (330) 721-4049 or mwoodring@medina-gazette.com.