He was beaten by Republican Steve Stolte, who hasn't been challenged since. They say good candidates are ignored in races when they declare themselves Democrats. People like a candidate, know he's the best candidate, but there are people in this county who just simply won't vote for a Democrat,'' said Bill Nibert, Richwood's mayor. Since he unseated an incumbent Republican in 1995, Nibert has been the only Democrat elected to a partisan office anywhere in the county. I'm kind of like the Lone Ranger, I guess,'' he said.
Union County is historically one of the most partisan counties in the state.
Since 1901, the county has voted Republican in 35 of 39 gubernatorial elections. People remember when some powerful Democrats emerged here, but that day is long gone. William L. Coleman, a Union County prosecutor, in the early 1960s was credited with breathing new life into the Ohio Democratic Party as chairman. Also in the 1960s, Democratic judges reigned in Union County's probate and common pleas courts. But it was in the 1930s that a Democrat last held a seat on the board of county commissioners.