Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Kelly Kraus Mencke
Kelly Kraus Mencke (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Ohio House of Representatives to represent District 55. Mencke lost in the general election on November 6, 2018.
Mencke completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2018. Click here to read the survey answers.
Elections
2018
General election
General election for Ohio House of Representatives District 55
Gayle L. Manning defeated Kelly Kraus Mencke and W. Daniel Fichtel in the general election for Ohio House of Representatives District 55 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Gayle L. Manning (R) | 55.0 | 24,261 |
 | Kelly Kraus Mencke (D)  | 42.5 | 18,751 | |
| W. Daniel Fichtel (L) | 2.5 | 1,092 | ||
| Total votes: 44,104 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Ohio House of Representatives District 55
Kelly Kraus Mencke advanced from the Democratic primary for Ohio House of Representatives District 55 on May 8, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kelly Kraus Mencke | 100.0 | 5,757 |
| Total votes: 5,757 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Ohio House of Representatives District 55
Gayle L. Manning advanced from the Republican primary for Ohio House of Representatives District 55 on May 8, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Gayle L. Manning | 100.0 | 5,154 |
| Total votes: 5,154 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Green primary election
No Green candidates ran in the primary.
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Andrew Smith (G)
Campaign themes
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Kelly Kraus Mencke completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Mencke's responses.
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
There are three key issues in our community: good-paying jobs; great schools; and transparency and accessibility in Ohio's government.
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?
Transparency and accessibility will be with my truthful leadership and constant contact in the district. In my campaign, I welcome all discussion and will remain transparent and accountable to the people of Ohio. Ultimately, ending pay-to-play politics in the 55th Ohio House District.
What is something that has been a struggle in your life?
One struggle that I recall when I found incorrect information on my credit reports. I was shocked and realized it was preventing us from refinancing our home mortgage. I put in a lot of time researching lines on my credit reports and researched professional services to help. It was hard work to track down the source of incorrect information on my credit reports. Currently, it is being corrected and I'll have to review my credit reports to make sure the correction populated. I would, one day, like to be a part of improvements to our credit reporting industry, as errors, like what I encountered, happen every day.
What do you perceive to be your state’s greatest challenges over the next decade?
We facing important decisions for the future of Ohio. Currently, there is a one sided State House that is misrepresenting the make up of Ohio's people
Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.
Relationships with legislators are key to successfully representing the people of Ohio. It is how we can overcome party politics making laws as a supermajority sees fit.
What process do you favor for redistricting?
Ohio is gerrymandered from State Legislature to Congress. A solution is in process to redistrict by 2020. In order for this to be drawn fairly, Ohio's state legislation must model fair districts to requirement a balance after the U.S. Constitution. Where each Representative in Congress represent an equal number of citizens and mandates a census to determine the number of citizens and apportion seats to each state.
If you are not a current legislator, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?
If elected, I would appreciate the opportunity to serve on the Ohio House Community and Family Advancement, Government Accountability and Oversight, and Transportation and Public Safety committees.
Both sitting legislators and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?
Most memorably, I remember talking with Tara, after knocking on her door to introduce myself. She moved back to Ohio for some years, moved out, wondered why Ohio hadn't moved forward. I appreciated her perspective. Her daughter recently opened a small business. Tara was there to help with her granddaughter. Her granddaughter didn't speak much. I related that reminded me of my 2 year old. We talked about health care and how important it was in their house. Tara was concerned for her own medical bills increasing and wondering what the road to helping her granddaughter speech would look like. I understood. I want Tara to help her granddaughter and find the right services and I'll do that for my son, too. Families are sacrificing too much of their home budgets for rising health care costs in Ohio. It's time to make health care affordable.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2016
Elections for the Ohio House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election was held on March 15, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was December 16, 2015.
Incumbent Nathan Manning defeated Kelly Kraus Mencke in the Ohio House of Representatives District 55 general election.[1]
| Ohio House of Representatives, District 55 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Nathan Manning Incumbent |
60.64% | 30,937 | |
| Democratic | Kelly Kraus Mencke | 39.36% | 20,077 | |
| Total Votes | 51,014 | |||
| Source: Ohio Secretary of State | ||||
Kevin Watkinson ran unopposed in the Ohio House of Representatives District 55 Democratic primary.[2][3]
| Ohio House of Representatives District 55, Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Kevin Watkinson (unopposed) |
100.00% | 8,786 | |
| Total Votes | 8,786 | |||
Incumbent Nathan Manning ran unopposed in the Ohio House of Representatives District 55 Republican primary.[2][3]
| Ohio House of Representatives District 55, Republican Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Nathan Manning Incumbent (unopposed) |
100.00% | 11,253 | |
| Total Votes | 11,253 | |||
See also
- Ohio House of Representatives
- Ohio House of Representatives District 55
- State legislative elections, 2018
- Ohio House of Representatives elections, 2018
- Ohio House of Representatives elections, 2016
- Ohio State Legislature
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- Ohio House of Representatives
- Official campaign website
- Kelly Kraus Mencke on Facebook
- Kelly Kraus Mencke on Twitter
Footnotes
