Hayes wins GOP race for Greene County prosecutor; Perales tops commission

David Hayes received the most votes in the Republican primary race for Greene County prosecutor and Rick Perales is back on the Greene County Commission, according to unofficial election-night results.

Hayes bested Alice DeWine 11,605 to 8,122, while Perales tallied 10,961 to 5,751 for Ron Geyer and 2,196 for Deborah Wallace.

No Democrat has filed to run for prosecutor, so the winner of the primary should succeed Prosecutor Stephen Haller.

Hayes, an assistant prosecutor in the Greene County prosecutor’s office for 15 years, was appointed chief trial counsel of the office’s Criminal Division by Haller.

DeWine, the daughter of Gov. Mike DeWine, worked as a Greene County assistant prosecutor for a decade. She left that post last April and began working in the Clark County prosecutor’s office.

DeWine said she left in April out of frustration after returning from maternity leave.

Haller dropped out of the election after a Virginia-based group, America Rising Corp., requested public records from his office regarding Alice DeWine, placement of security cameras and leave time policies for nursing mothers.

He said he didn’t drop out because of any issues with DeWine, but because “someone very close to me had a health issue.”

DeWine’s campaign for her dad’s former job benefited from Protecting Ohio Action Fund, a federal super political action committee based in Washington, D.C., whose donors are undisclosed, federal records show.

RELATED: National super PAC money shows up in Greene County prosecutors race

Perales, a former county commissioner and Beavercreek mayor, is serving his fourth and final term in the Ohio House of Representatives, representing District 73.

Geyer has owned and operated Geyer’s Office Supply in Xenia for 45 years. He ran for the commission four years ago

Wallace was inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Greene County Women’s Hall of Fame in 2018.

Colin Morrow, a Democrat from Fairborn, will face Perales in November.

Also in a GOP primary, incumbent Greene County Clerk of Courts AJ Williams defeated former Beavercreek Twp. Fiscal Officer Christy Ahrens, 9,088 to 8,141, according to unofficial results posted Tuesday.

Williams should retain his office, since no Democrat has filed to run.

County board of elections have until May 19 to certify the officials results of the election.

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