Miller, Strouse victorious in Holmes commissioner races

With an unusually large number of candidates running for two Holmes County commissioner seats in the Tuesday, March 19 Republican primary election in Holmes County, the competition to secure those two seats has been quite fierce over the past many months as each candidate did a tremendous job of trying to earn votes.

The importance of the primary was critical because there will be no Democratic opponent running against them in the general election in November, so it was quite unusual to see such an anemic voter turnout, one that included only 25% of the registered voters in the county.

Regardless, the race for each seat became very tight early on and never let up, and when the tabulations were completed by the hard-working Holmes County Board of Elections crew, it would be incumbent Joe Miller retaining his seat at the table while current West Holmes Schools Board of Education member Eric Strouse emerged the victor in the race to replace retiring Ray Eyler.

According to Lisa Welch, Holmes County BOE director, there are now 22 provisionals and 20 absentee votes to be counted and added into the mix, but those votes will not be enough to sway the final results as they now stand, meaning that as 2024 turns to 2025 next January, Miller will retain his seat and Strouse will begin his four-year term in replacing Eyler.

Joe Miller

The longtime incumbent found a way to pull off a win and gain another term, but he received a stiff challenge from newcomer Ervin Yoder.

Miller collected 1,801 votes (51.46%) to Yoder’s 1,699 votes (48.54%).

For Miller, the victory marks an opportunity to complete projects he has started as a commissioner and also to complete his legacy of a journey that began a decade ago, since Miller has let it be known this will be his final term in office.

“I am going to take down my signs for the final time and throw them away,” Miller said. “But seriously, I am so grateful to the people of Holmes County who trusted me to represent them for one more term. I’m glad I can serve one more term. I made a choice some years ago to devote myself to making a positive difference for the people of Holmes County in serving in this way. I devoted myself to the commissioner role full-time, and that won’t change.”

Miller has been involved with some large ventures during his tenure including the closing of the Holmes County landfill, the newly created Holmes County Health District building, working with those who have developed the Holmes County Rails to Trails and many others.

“For me, this job is all about working for the people of Holmes County, and working with and supporting the elected officials who do such a great job is a big deal to me,” Miller said. “It’s important we fund them properly. We have some good people in office.”

Eric Strouse

With five candidates running for the Eyler seat, this marked a multi-person race that Holmes County rarely experiences.

The race went down to the wire, with Strouse capturing 922 votes (24.75%), fending off Dave Crilow (856 votes/22.98%), Dustin Kaufman (839 votes/22.52%), Holley Johnson (758 votes/20.52%) and Steve Johnson (350 votes/9.4%).

“I’m really thankful,” Strouse said. “Everyone was well qualified, and that’s why it was so close, so I am very thankful for the support I got.”

Strouse said the chase for the seat was intense because each candidate poured their heart and soul into running, and he said everyone had their game face on, which made the race exciting from the moment this process began months ago.

From the candidate’s nights to sharing through the media outlets, he said each candidate had their specific strengths that appealed to each individual.

One advantage Strouse had over the other candidates is he had the experience of running for the seat prior to this election, having run and performed admirably against current commissioner Dave Hall.

“That gave me a little more idea of what people react to,” Strouse said. “When I ran against Dave, I didn’t do a mailer, and I think a mailer is a little more personal. There’s definitely name recognition, and people see my name and see I was out there before and I’m serious about making a difference and putting forth the effort.”

Having captured just shy of a quarter of the votes may not seem like enough to win an election, but Strouse said it was enough in a highly competitive field to land him the seat, and he is now eager to work with the current board of commissioners to strengthen Holmes County and serve the people to the best of his ability.