Former Licking County Commissioner and Harrison Township Trustee Mark A. Van Buren will return as a county commissioner after nearly two decades, based on preliminary results from the Licking County Board of Elections.
Van Buren, a registered Republican, will fill the seat held by commissioner Rick Black, who is retiring after 12 years in office.
“I am happy,” Van Buren said. “I am very fortunate for all the different people that have helped me and a lot of good friends I’ve made in the last year.”
Van Buren received 58.63% of the vote across the county against Democrat candidate Kathy McLeish, who received 40% of the vote. Write-in votes for candidate Brian Belcher comprised another 1.37% of the vote.
Van Buren said the first thing he started doing after the polls closed was pulling signs across the county at polling places. Van Buren said he is thankful for voters who trust in him.
Van Buren was previously appointed to the Licking County Commissioners in 2008 after one commissioner vacated their seat. He then lost his reelection campaign for the seat later that year.
“I’m still excited about the job. I’m excited about working for the public. There’s different issues now than there were in 2008 that the commissioners are dealing with.”
Van Buren has lived in Licking County his entire life, leaving only for a few years after high school to earn a bachelor’s degree in business from The Ohio State University in 1990. He co-owns Van Buren Acres, a family farm south of Kirkersville, with his wife and brother and earned a master’s degree in finance from Mount Vernon Nazarene University in 2011.
In a previous interview with The Reporting Project, Van Buren said he would step down from the Ohio Township Association, Licking County Township Association, the Transportation Improvement District and the West Licking Joint Fire District if elected.
Van Buren said he had the “utmost respect” for this fellow candidates, McLeish and Belcher, who were willing to put the work in getting their name out there.
McLeish called Van Buren after preliminary results were released to congratulate him on the win.
“I told him to please not forget about Licking County citizens and make sure they have a safety net,” said McLeish. “He assured me that he wouldn’t forget about the people and that made me relieved.”
McLeish thanked her husband, Tom McLeish, her campaign team, whom she endearingly calls the “blue-shirt brigade,” and all the other democratic candidates who came up short of a few thousand votes this evening.
McLeish also gave a shoutout to Belcher for his campaign; even though she felt it is often hard for write-in candidates to run, she congratulated Belcher for working hard on his campaign every step of the way.
“It was a good clean race; I felt good about it,” she said. “Campaigning is hard, harder than it should be, but [Van Buren and Belcher] have given a lot and it shows.”
Write-in candidate Brian Belcher received 1,001 votes.
Belcher was running with the goals of increased communication, government transparency and growth management, or “growth with guardrails,” as he put it.
Belcher, did not run for election during the May primary and filed his declaration of intent to run as a write-in candidate with the Licking County Board of Elections in early summer after hearing concerns from his friends, neighbors and residents across the county.
At the polls, Belcher and his campaign team canvassed outside– making sure voters knew how to spell his name correctly if they wanted to write him in.
In a previous conversation with The Reporting Project, he said if elected his first goal as County Commissioner would be to get everyone at the same table to figure out where the gaps are.
To combat the communication issue he was seeing with residents and in his place of work, he created an online resource called Who Do I Call?. The resource breaks down potential issues and directs the user to the person they need to call to get it sorted out. He also has been working on a countywide construction project and infrastructure map.
Tyler K. Thompson, Shaye Phillips and Ella Diehl write for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.
Thompson is one of two Kirtley Mather Fellows at The Reporting Project. The fellowship in memory of Kirtley Mather, Denison Class of 1909, provides students with opportunities to engage in service for the common good.