The victory wasn’t much of a surprise to Commissioner-elect DiFabio | News, Sports, Vacancies

YOUNGSTOWN — Even though Geno DiFabio was among three Republican candidates for the county seat whose victory Tuesday was unexpected, DiFabio said it was the late surge in votes that put him ahead of County Commissioner Dave Ditzler, who was elected three terms was not a surprise.

DiFabio, a Youngstown truck driver who narrowly lost to Commissioner Carol Rimedio Righetti two years ago, said after the first results came out Tuesday, he realized he was playing better against Ditzler than against Rimedio Righetti, who beat DiFabio is only 130 votes away in 2022.

“Two years ago, when the first numbers became known, I lost almost 10,000 votes. I dropped 7,000 last night,” he said by phone Wednesday morning.

He said early voting results are released first, followed by results for Youngstown precincts, and then precincts “further away” into more rural areas away from Youngstown where a larger percentage of Republican voters live. He noted that results take longer to reach the Mahoning County Board of Elections from rural areas of the county, so they are the latest to arrive.

DiFabio said knowing he was doing better than two years ago was encouraging, but he was still nervous when the first results were released. He and Lynn Maro, the Republican candidate for district attorney, also endorsed their Democratic opponent as multiple sets of results were released.

“I was nervous. I thought: God, here we go again. It should have been close, but I was sure I was happy when we won,” he said. Maro also won the race late, behind DeGenova as most of the results were posted.

“My numbers and Lynn’s were pretty much the same… all night long, with 60-70 percent (of precincts) reporting,” he said of trailing his opponents.

“We knew where our votes were in the western and southern parts of the county, so (I said), ‘Just stay calm. We’ll be fine. And that’s how it happened.”

According to him, the final results concern the last 13% of polling stations.

“I got 4,000 votes,” he said. “Wherever these voices came from, I got them all, including Lynn.”

While DiFabio’s win over Ditzler may have surprised some people, DiFabio said, “Absolutely,” he thought he would win.

He said he has a goal to win the election: “I’m going to set a goal and work towards it. This is not just talk. It’s not just chatting about what you’re going to do.

He said the goals he sets for himself as a county commissioner will be based on action, not just talking about it.

“That’s what we’ve had for years,” he said. County commissioners “talk about different problems, and while they’re talking about it, they think the problem is solved and move on to the next one. Well I’m not going to do that.

“In the real world, in the business world, this is not true. In our store, we can’t see a problem, look at it and say it’s difficult. We’ll put it aside and do something else that’s easier” and “just tell them we’ll fix it later. People depend on fixing and repairing their things.”

He said the current commissioners “hold a press conference and say, ‘It’s decided.’ We had a press conference.” He mentioned these criticisms of current commissioners while campaigning on areas of the county that lack adequate ambulance service.

DiFabio said Wednesday that he “has this idea of ​​bringing together a lot of different organizations and seeing what we can do. It might be a crazy idea, but if we can make it happen, I’d like to try it.”

He also said he believes as the new commissioner he will be better able to provide the public with what they want. The public is “tired of the same old, same old, nothing changes,” he said.

DiFabio said he was surprised by some of the election results he saw in Tuesday’s election and said they could be described as a “red wave,” which USA Today defined Wednesday morning as “when Republicans win elections and gain or maintain control over the government.” »

DiFabio said he doesn’t have an “exact answer” to why this happened: “But I just think people are tired of seeing the same faces over and over again, and they said, ‘If we don’t change something, nothing will happen. will change.”

Due to a lawsuit filed two years ago regarding DiFabio’s “best friend”, Ricky Morrison, who was fired and then rehired as a county maintenance worker, allegedly due to Morrison’s support of DiFabio against Rimedio Righetti, DiFabio said he plans to meet with county officials. Department heads and district employees.

He said he was going to “talk to as many staff as possible and tell them they don’t have to look over their shoulder worrying about who they support. They are just here to do their job. There are people walking on pins and needles… thinking someone is watching them,” he said.

“It’s not a good way to spend your day when you’re serving the public and you’re worried about someone thinking you’re supporting someone else. Just do your job and serve the public and you won’t have to worry about anything. They are trying to instill the fear of God in 1,500 employees.”

Ditzler did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday about his election defeat.