LORAIN — State Rep. Joe Koziura won’t have to run too hard to keep his job.

His Republican opponent, Sean Stipe, has dropped out of the race and the deadline to replace him on the ballot has run out, said Lorain County Republican Party Chairwoman Helen Hurst.

Stipe, a 36-year-old entertainment consultant, said he wants to concentrate on the problems in Lorain’s 2nd Ward, where he lives.

“I can’t leave my neighborhoods the way it is and the direction it’s going without doing something about it,” he said.

Stipe said he backed out of the race about a month ago.

Koziura, D-Lorain, said he’s happy not to have the opposition, but still plans to actively campaign for what will be his fourth and final term in the State House of Representatives before term limits force him from office.

“I campaign every year,” he said. “I go to functions. I’m around. I don’t really worry about whether I’m opposed.”

Koziura, the 62-year-old former mayor of Lorain, has faced opposition in the past, but not since 2004.

Hurst said the Republicans always like to have a candidate, even if the heavily Democratic make-up of the district makes it an uphill battle.

“You like to give the public a choice, but unfortunately we can’t do that this time,” she said.

Stipe said he may consider a run for public office at a later time, including possibly running against Councilman Dennis Flores, D-2nd Ward. Flores has been weakened politically by his arrest on drunken driving and solicitation charges earlier this year.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

 

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