With nearly eight years under his belt as Muskingum County Commissioner, Jim Porter won’t be leaving the courthouse anytime soon.

With Muskingum County Board of Elections precinct results in, Porter unofficially won the race for Muskingum County Commissioner, 18,382 (64.78 percent) votes to Bates’ 9,994 votes (35.22 percent).

Prior to Porter’s days as County Commissioner, he was a Perry Township Trustee for 19 years which he attributes much of his experience to.

While the results are still unofficial, voting is over.

“I’m pleased so far,” Porter said just before the Board of Elections released individualized precinct data. “Looking forward to four more years of what we’ve been doing.”

Porter was out, with some help, cleaning up his campaign signage while results were rolling in Tuesday night. He wasn’t sure about pulling an all night event, so some “Re-elect Jim Porter” signs may still be spotted throughout the county Wednesday morning.

While Porter wasn’t intently watching the polling results, he said as of the absentee ballot results, he was looking forward to continue making Muskingum County the best community that it can be.

Pending the official results, Porter will begin his third term as Muskingum County Commissioner in January.

These results reflect the initial tallies turned into the Muskingum County Board of Elections and only reflect unofficial polling results from Muskingum County. Final results will be announced by the end of the month.

Meet the candidate: Jim Porter, a “budget watchdog”