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0000017a-3b40-d913-abfe-bf44a4f90000Howard Wilkinson joined the WVXU news team as the politics reporter and columnist in April 2012 , after 30 years of covering local, state and national politics for The Cincinnati Enquirer. On this page, you will find his weekly column, Politically Speaking; the Monday morning political chats with News Director Maryanne Zeleznik and other news coverage by Wilkinson. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Wilkinson has covered every Ohio gubernatorial race since 1974, as well as 16 presidential nominating conventions. Along with politics, Wilkinson also covered the 2001 Cincinnati race riots, the Lucasville prison riot in 1993, the Air Canada plane crash at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in 1983, and the 1997 Ohio River flooding. And, given his passion for baseball, you might even find some stories about the Cincinnati Reds here from time to time.

Wenstrup Breezes To A Fourth Term In Congress

brad wenstrup
Gary Landers
/
AP
Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, center, greets supporters during an election night watch party Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018, in Cincinnati.

Rep. Brad Wenstrup won a fourth term in the U.S. House with a large margin over Democratic challenger Jill Schiller Tuesday.

The final result was Wenstrup at 58 percent and Schiller 41 percent. 

It was the toughest race that Wenstrup had encountered since 2012, when he up-ended the incumbent Republican congresswoman, Jean Schmidt, in the Republican primary.

This year, for the first time, Wenstrup ran an ad that criticized his Democratic opponent.

His ad smacked Schiller for favoring a $15 per hour minimum wage, citing a conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, as saying it will cost the U.S. seven million jobs.

It was a sign to some that the Wenstrup campaign was worried about Schiller, a 42-year-old who worked for 18 months as a special assistant in President Obama's Office of Management and Budget.

Despite the loss, Schiller is considered by Democratic party leaders as an up-and-comer in the party, and it would not at all be surprising to see her run again – for Congress or another office.

Wenstrup has one of the more interesting resumes in Congress. He is a podiatric surgeon who joined the U.S. Army Reserves, rose to the rank of colonel and ran the military hospital at Abu Ghraib in Iraq.

He made national news when a gunman opened fire on a group of Republican congressmen as they practiced for the annual Congressional baseball game. Wenstrup ran out onto the field and applied a tourniquet to House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, whose injuries were the most serious. Scalise credits Wenstrup with saving his life.

As a congressman, he has been a reliable vote for the Trump administration.

The 2nd District stretches from eastern Hamilton County to Pike County and Scioto County in southern Ohio.

Howard Wilkinson is in his 50th year of covering politics on the local, state and national levels.