WARREN — Former State Rep. Michael Loychik won a commanding victory for the Republican nomination for the Trumbull County auditor seat over incumbent Auditor Martha Yoder and Bazetta Fiscal Officer Stacy Marling.

Loychik received 51% of the vote, according to unofficial and final results from the Trumbull County Board of Elections. Yoder received 32% of the vote and Marling received 17%.

Loychik won the nomination over two candidates that each had experience in running a county auditor’s office.

The former state auditor emphasized that his experience in state government, including working on the Ohio House’s finance committee, provided him insight on government finances. He knows how to read tax legislation and understands tax policy.

“We were dealing with multi-billion dollar appropriations throughout the state,” Loychik said during an endorsement interview last month.

Loychik described the auditor as being a watchdog.

The Republican nominee will compete against Democrat Edward Stredney, who is a longtime Niles 3rd Ward councilman, who recently was elected to be a councilman-at-large in Niles. He also served as Niles service director from 2017-2018.

Stredney holds a degree in business administration and accounting and has “extensive experience working with government budgets.”

Although she ran as the incumbent, Yoder faced an uphill battle to win the Republican nomination because of a cyber attack that led to the county’s auditor office sending $160,857.18 to a fictitious bank account number. The county was able to recover nearly half of the funds, but not the rest.

Yoder initially fought against her office having to return the money to Bazetta, noting the attack began in Bazetta. After failing to convince judges in Trumbull Common Pleas and the 11th District Court of Appeals, Yoder’s office returned the funds.

After the election results were announced, Yoder noted her disappointment, but said she intends to spend the remainder of her term continuing to improve the office.

“Thank you to all those who have voted for and supported me,” she said.

Marling, a Mahoning County deputy auditor, described the campaign for the auditor’s seat as a lot of work.

“I got to meet a lot of wonderful people,” she said.