MANSFIELD -- Democrats see Jay Goyal as a promising young candidate set to enter the Ohio House at a time when his party's influence is bound to rise.

The 26-year-old won the 73rd District seat Tuesday, defeating Republican Phil Holloway by a final, unofficial count of 22,695 to 13,164.  The district includes all but the southwestern portion of Richland County.

Goyal is an engineer and vice president of his family's business, Goyal Industries.  He said his top priority in the legislature will be to deal with the loss of jobs in Ohio.

With Ted Strickland elected governor, Democrats will have a political advantage they lacked before, he said.  "That will be a change.  You'll see Democrats able to assert themselves and influence things in the legislature," Goyal said.

Holloway had drawn criticism for approving ads which Democrats said misrepresented Goyal's views.  Then, in a bizarre turn of events last week, Holloway admitted himself to MedCentral/Mansfield Hospital after acknowledging suicidal thoughts borne of a lifelong battle against depression.

No one had a bad word to say about Holloway on Tuesday night.  He turned heads at Democratic headquarters when he walked in midway through the evening to congratulate Goyal on what looked like a certain win.

"I have great respect for somebody who would come over to Democratic headquarters after losing and congratulate somebody like that.  A lot of people wouldn't do that,"

Richland County Commissioner Gary Utt said later. "You build bridges by shaking hands."

"Classy, classy guy," Goyal said.

State organizations for both parties poured big money into advertisements for the 73rd House candidates.  The district appeared up for grabs, since state Rep. William Hartnett, hit term limits and could not run again.

But Democrats see a bright future for Goyal, noting that he is about the same age as Sherrod Brown was when he was elected to the general assembly.

They attributed Goyal's win partly to persistence; he knocked on 12,000 doors during the campaign.

"I think Jay has been through three pairs of shoes," Mayor Lydia Reid said.

Kay Bixler said she first met Goyal when he rose to lead the local John Kerry campaign in 2004.  Mystified at first that such a young person had taken a leadership role, she came to admire him.  Bixler was impressed by Goyal's ability to look at figures and formulate a sound plan.