Ohio State Representative Lou Gentile (D-95th) will become Ohio State Senator Lou Gentile in just a couple weeks after being appointed by the Ohio Senate Democratic Caucus to fill the seat recently left vacant by Jason Wilson.
Gentile, a 32-year-old from Steubenville, is serving his first term in the State House. The popular young legislator will be vacating his 95th District seat prior to being appointed as the Ohio senator representing the 30th District.
The Senate seat came open when Wilson stepped down to take a job in Gov. John Kasich’s administration as the director of the Governor’s Office of the Appalachia. Wilson had earlier opted not to run for re-election when his home area in Columbiana County was cut from the 30th District he represents.
Wilson’s father, Charles, recently announced that he would enter the race to get his old job back. The elder Wilson, a Democrat, had moved through the chairs of the state legislature before being elected as the U.S. House Representative for the 6th District in Ohio. A successful businessman in Eastern Ohio, the elder Wilson was defeated in a re-election bid in 2010 by current District 6 Rep. Bill Johnson (R).
The younger Wilson replaced his father in the state legislature and continued to represent his District until the recent move to fill the post for Gov. Kasich.
Gentile is one of Ohio’s prized up-and-coming legislators who have become very popular with the public. While new in the House and Senate, Gentile has been around. He served as an assistant director in the Governor’s Office of Appalachia under then-Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and worked as a field director for Strickland during his term in the U. S. Congress.
Gentile has indicated that he will seek re-election in 20121 for the District 30 Senate seat he will soon fill.