In a bitter Republican primary battle for the 32nd Ohio Senate District nomination, incumbent Sandra O’Brien turned back the challenge of state Rep. Mike Loychik.

O’Brien, R-Lenox, will face Democrat Michael Shrodek of Warren, who ran unopposed Tuesday, in the Nov. 5 general election.

“They say politics is a full contact sport and that was certainly true in my race,” O’Brien said. “I’m really delighted with the outcome.”

The Senate district includes all of Trumbull and Ashtabula counties and most of Geauga County. It is considered a safe Republican district, favoring that party by about 10.5%, according to partisan statewide voting trends during the past decade.

O’Brien won all three counties, according to unofficial results Tuesday.

O’Brien had the backing of the Republican Senate Campaign Committee, which aired commercials critical of Loychik, R-Bazetta, contending he ignored his fellow military veterans — he served eight years in the U.S. Air Force — and for a supposed connection to Larry Householder, the former Ohio House speaker sentenced in 2023 for his role in the largest political corruption scandal in the state’s history.

Loychik was critical of the commercials saying it showed O’Brien and the Ohio Republican establishment was “weak, desperate and that my honorable service to our state and country is something they cannot compete with.”

The RSCC spent $254,616 on commercials and campaign literature against Loychik, a two-term House member, in the primary as of Feb. 28, the most recent reporting date. It likely spent even more than that in the final days leading to Tuesday’s primary.

Also, O’Brien, who was elected four years ago to her first Senate term, received the endorsement of the Ohio Republican Party on Jan. 27.

The party typically backs incumbents. On top of that, the party censured Loychik in January 2023 for being among 22 House Republicans who joined forces with Democratic representatives to vote for Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, for Ohio House speaker against the House GOP majority’s choice for the position.

O’Brien pointed out Loychik’s censure during the campaign and said he’s “been a failure as a state representative while I’ve been a success as a state senator.”

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