2002Final resultsIncumbent defeated
2002 election for Ohio House District 72
Ohio House of Representatives · Ohio
Merle Grace Kearns (R) won with 57.2% of the vote, defeating Ron Rhine (D) by 14.3 points.
Merle Grace KearnsRepublican · winner · incumbent
57.2%15,293
Ron RhineDemocrat · incumbent
42.8%11,463
26,756 votes
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 2002
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET