Supreme Court okay's Ungaro run for state representative

Eric Ungaro

A decision by the Ohio Supreme Court has opened the way for Poland Township trustee Eric Ungaro to run for state representative as an independent candidate.

The Justices on Thursday issued an opinion finding that the Mahoning County Board of Elections abused its discretion in denying Ungaro a spot on the November ballot.

The elections board had ruled against Ungaro after someone in the 59th District sent a protest letter claiming Ungaro had not made a good faith effort to disaffiliate himself from the Democrat party.

“The good guy finally won,” Ungaro said in an emailed statement. “I want to move forward. We’re under a time crunch. I want to talk about the issues.” 

Democrat Lauren McNally won her party's nomination to run for the 59th District this Fall.  No Republican filed petitions to run.

Ungaro ran as a Democrat against the late Don Manning in 2018 and lost.
After redistricting put Youngstown in the same district as Poland, Ungaro says he saw an opportunity.