Edwards garnered 12,107 votes in the primary Tuesday.
Now that the primary election has passed, uncontested Republican candidate Jay Edwards finally knows who he will be facing for the general election in November — Democratic candidate Sarah Grace.
Edwards received 100 percent of the 12,107 votes cast in Tuesday's primary for the Republican nominee running to be House District 94's state representative to the Ohio Statehouse this fall.
Edwards, originally from Nelsonville, attended Ohio University to study mathematics after he played quarterback for the Nelsonville-York High School football team. He comes from a family of local business owners, primarily in the cable business.
“Cable goes out at 3 o’clock in the morning, my dad put on his boots and went out and worked on the cable,” Edwards said. “Even though he didn’t have to, that’s just the way he chose to run his business.”
He said his grandfather was one of the hardest working men he has known. Edwards’ grandfather is also the top donor to his campaign so far with a single gift of $10,000.
Vice President of OU College Republican Aric Kaskey said the group is looking forward to working with Edwards.
"Yes, (Edwards) has met with us," Kaskey said. "He attends our meetings whenever he can (and) seems like a nice guy."
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="53961262-eaed-11e5-8453-73389c41404e"}}
Kaskey added that the contested Democratic primary wasn't as close as he thought it would be.
"We thought (Smith) would get a lot of support from the college considering he was a grad student here," Kaskey said.
Edwards, on the other hand, said before tonight he wasn't sure which way the race would go.
"I followed them ... and stayed up on the talking points that were going on during their race," Edwards said. "Seems like they had a really good race."
Edwards added that he appreciated the issue-focused approach both candidates took during the contested primary and hoped it would continue that way through the rest of the race leading up to the November general election.
And now Edwards is looking forward to continue getting his message out there, he said, as well as for Grace to have her message heard.
When someone shows up to the polls, he said, he would like voters to be informed about both people on the ballot, so that they can make an educated decision.
@kaitfoch
