John A. Bechtold (September 2, 1924 – September 6, 1978) was a Republican

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

politician who served in the

Ohio General Assembly The Ohio General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio. It consists of the 99-member Ohio House of Representatives and the 33-member Ohio Senate. Both houses of the General Assembly meet at the Ohio Statehouse in Colu ...

. An attorney, Bechtold initially won a seat in the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in ...

in 1966, following the

1965 Voting Rights Act The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movem ...

's allocation of districts in Ohio. Winning reelection in 1968 and 1970, Bechtold had aspirations to succeed Charles Kurfess at the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives. In 1972,

redistricting Redistricting in the United States is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. For the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures, redistricting occurs after each ten-year census. The U.S. Constitution in Art ...

weakened Bechtold's chances for reelection, and he was challenged for the nomination by Helen Fix. While it looked initially like Bechtold had secured the nomination, a recount declared Fix the winner by one vote. As a result, Bechtold's time in the legislature ended after three terms. Following his time in the House, he returned to Cincinnati and private practice. He died on September 6, 1978, of a heart attack.

References

Republican Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives 1924 births 1978 deaths 20th-century members of the Ohio General Assembly {{ohio-OHRepresentative-stub