Many races down to the wire on Super Tuesday in northeast Ohio, including president & school levies

CLEVELAND - Super Tuesday turned into a nail-biter kind of night in northeast Ohio, as many races from a national scope down to school levies were too close to call early in the night.

Of course, the big one was the race for Republican nominee for president. All of the national media outlets, including the Associated Press, did not call this Ohio race before 97 percent of precincts were reporting, which ended up being at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. Mitt Romney was neck-and-neck with Rick Santorum, with each having a narrow lead at some point in the night. In the end, Romney pulled off a narrow victory with 38 percent of the vote, compared to Santorum’s 37 percent.

Another next race with a lot of attention pointed its direction was the newly-redrawn 9th District for the U.S. House. Both the Democratic and Republican contests were fairly tight and too close to call early.

For the Democratic side, Rep. Dennis Kucinich conceded the nomination to Rep. Marcy Kaptur just before midnight. Kaptur captured 56 percent of the vote, while Kucinich ended up with 40 percent. A lesser-known challenger, Graham Veysey, earned 4 percent of the vote.

On the Republican side, Samuel Wurzelbacher – better known as Joe the Plumber – defeated Steven Kraus. Only a 2 percent margin and 864 votes separated the two candidates.

The closest of the state representative races in northeast Ohio was the 16th District, where Andrew Meyer and Todd LaVeck were facing off for the Democratic nomination. In the end, Meyer defeated LaVeck by an 8 percent margin.

Many of the tax and school levies were very tight across the region, too, with some only winning or losing by a few votes.

Here are the results of the closest races:

Ashtabula City income tax ordinance
Yes – 1,345 (51%)
No – 1,301 (49 %)
** Difference of 44 votes **

Jefferson Local School District 1.5 mil renewal levy
For – 1,133 (51%)
No – 1,074 (49%)
** Difference of 59 votes **

Cuyahoga Heights Local School District additional tax levy
For – 982 (51%)
Against – 958 (49%)
** Difference of 24 votes **

Garfield Heights City School District emergency tax levy
For – 3,019 (51%)
Against – 2,886 (47%)
** Difference of 133 votes **

Mayfield City School District additional tax levy
For – 4,428 (53%)
Against – 3,963 (47%)
** Difference of 465 votes **

Rocky River City School District additional tax levy
Against – 3,488 (51%)
For – 3,358 (49%)
** Difference of 130 votes **

Strongsville City School District levy renewal
For – 7,231 (53%)
Against – 6,425 (47%)
** Difference of 806 votes **

Eastlake City Fire additional levy
Against – 2,361 (52%)
For – 2,158 (48%)
** Difference of 203 votes **

Mentor Public Library current expenses levy
For – 6,074 (50%)
Against – 5,998 (50%)
** Difference of 76 votes **

Avon Local School District construction bond levy
Against – 2,957 (51%)
For – 2,816 (49%)
** Difference of 141 votes **

Lorain County Health District renewal levy
For – 16,023 (51%)
Against – 15,094 (49%)
** Difference of 929 votes **

Portage County Commissioner (GOP)
Larry Solak – 5,505 (52%)
W. Roak Zeller – 5,097 (48%)
** Difference of 408 votes **

Norton Fire & EMS levy
Against – 1,566 (52%)
For – 1,454 (48%)
** Difference of 112 votes **

Woodridge Local School District emergency tax levy
Against – 2,326 (53%)
For – 2,077 (47%)
** Difference of 249 votes **

Wayne County Sheriff (GOP)
Travis Hutchinson – 8,050 (51%)
Charles Hardman – 7,882 (49%)
** Difference of 168 votes **

Stay with newsnet5.com for latest Decision 2012 information.