Welch elected to 2nd term in 60th District

Walking into the Fountain Square Mall Ballroom, election night headquarters for the Monroe County Democratic Party, Democrat Peggy Welch, received a long round of applause from party supporters.\nWelch was chosen to serve a second term as state representative for the 60th District. She received 58 percent of the vote in Monroe County to Republican opponent John Shean's 42 percent.\n"With each of my campaigns I've had the tendency to stay really focused on remaining positive," Welch said. "My goal was to try and focus on who I am, what I have done and what I want to do for the citizens in District 60."\nOne of the major concerns of Welch's entry into the campaign was that a presidential election year would bring out more Republican voters.\n"Typically, that would not have helped me," she said. "But it seems like it hasn't hurt us. We won Republican precincts we didn't win two years ago."\nShean was unavailable for comment. At about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night, Shean's campaign manager, John Russell said they were still waiting for complete results.\nWelch said she will enter her second term with the advantage of already being acclimated with her colleagues and staff.\n"I have a 2-inch file of legislative ideas," she said. "I'm ready to jump right into getting legislations written up. This time, I'll have some ideas ready for the first day."\nOne of the major issues in the short term will be a property tax reassessment bill. Welch said she hopes to either carry the bill or work closely with the chosen author. \nWelch said she is looking forward to working on the upcoming state budget process. During her first experience with the budget hearings, Welch said she was impressed with the pointed questions other representatives posed to agencies who came "to sing and dance about how wonderful things are." Two years of experience later, she is ready with questions of her own.\n"I have a little file now, posing potential problems and asking 'what would they do?'" Welch said. "I have more of an understanding of the agencies."\nChip Burpee, Welch's campaign manager, said he felt the campaign was a positive one.\n"Probably the second thing Peggy said to me the first time we met was she did not want to run a negative campaign," he said. "We stuck to that, too, especially when the other campaign started to really attack. Welch has been all over the district, and I think the voters saw through a lot of the tactics the other campaign used"