Democratic Rep. Richard Brown to return to Ohio House next year after recount upholds victory

Democratic state Rep. Richard Brown is headed back to the Ohio House next year after automatic recount results released Monday upheld his razor-thin margin of victory in the fall election.

Brown’s win over Republican Ronald Beach IV, of Obetz, makes the tiniest of dents in the veto-proof supermajority with which Republicans were projected to control the House for the next two years. Their advantage is now 67-32, rather than 68-31.

The GOP also won a supermajority in the Ohio Senate.

Beach had a 96-vote lead in unofficial Election Night results reported by the Franklin County Board of Elections, but once absentee and provisional ballots were counted, Brown was declared the winner by 145 votes. That triggered the automatic recount concluded Monday.

Board spokesperson Aaron Sellers said the recount didn’t change the outcome.

Brown, the outgoing assistant minority whip, will represent central Ohio’s newly drawn District 5.