The 2008 Summit County, Ohio Executive election took place on November 4, 2008. County Executive James McCarthy, who won the 2004 election, resigned from office in 2007,[1] and Russ Pry, the chairman of the county Democratic Party, was selected to replace him.[2] Pry served out the remainder of McCarthy's term and ran for a full term in the 2008 election.
Pry was challenged in the Democratic primary by former Akron City Councilman Joe Finley, who had recently lost the 2007 election for Mayor of Akron, and campaigned on a reform platform. Pry won renomination with 59 percent of the vote, and advanced to the general election, where he faced Republican nominee Jim Laria, the Akron Municipal Court Clerk. He won re-election in a landslide, receiving 61 percent of the vote to Laria's 39 percent.
Pry announced on October 24, 2007, that he would seek a second term as County Executive.[3] He campaigned on his accomplishments in office, including negotiating with Goodyear Tire to construct a new worldwide headquarters in the city.[5] Finley, meanwhile, who narrowly lost the Akron mayoral election several months earlier, argued that voters in the area wanted reform. He criticized Pry as too closely connected to the local political establishment, and campaigned against "bossism."[6] Pry, meanwhile, distanced himself from McCarthy, who was personally popular but had a contentious relationship with local officeholders.[5] Owing in large part to Pry's former role as county party chairman, he was endorsed for re-election by the Summit County Democratic Party, with the central committee voting for Pry over Finley, 154–3.[7]
