ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Thursday, November 9, 2006

By MICHAEL J. MAURER
ThisWeek Staff Writer

Incumbent U.S. Rep. Deborah Pryce, an Upper Arlington Republican, ended election night locked in nearly a dead heat with Democrat challenger, Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy.

"Our party has to do some rebuilding, and I'm going to be there every step of the way to help that," Pryce said shortly before 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, before telling her supporters to go home for the night. "I'm not going to keep you here until two in the morning."

Pryce called her brief talk at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Columbus a "semi-victory" speech, and Fox News projected Pryce the winner of the race, with 51 percent of the vote to Kilroy's 49 percent. CNN had not projected the winner at midnight Tuesday, but also showed Pryce ahead.

With 425 precincts of 434 counted in Franklin County, Kilroy was ahead by more than 4,700 votes there. However, Pryce was ahead by a similar vote total in Union County, taking 10,788 votes to Kilroy's 5,518 votes with 100 percent of precincts reporting. Pryce had a similar lead in Madison County, with 8,077 votes to 4,921 votes for Kilroy, with 100 percent of precincts reporting.

Kilroy campaign manager Scott Kovar said the race would not be settled Tuesday night.

"It's too early to call," Kovar said. "There's at least 30,000 votes to be counted. At least 10,000 of those are absentee ballots."

Kovar said Democrats had staff at the polls to track provisional ballots.

"There are still outstanding counts," he said.

Voters leaving precincts in the 15th Congressional District had mixed comments about the race.

Grove City resident Kevin Boyd had supported Pryce, but this time voted for Kilroy.

"I voted for Kilroy and I'll tell you why," Boyd said. "When Deborah Pryce first ran, she said she would quit after two terms. She believed in term limits. She seems to have forgotten that."

Brent Featherolf supported Pryce, but was not committed.

"Personally, it's a toss-up," he said. "It's just a toss-up."

Clintonville resident Lorraine Bieber, a voting activist who helped monitor precinct stations, was enthusiastic about Kilroy.

"Mary Jo Kilroy is a leader and she's going to do a great job representing this district," she said. "I never felt that Pryce represented me."