for Ohio State Treasurer in 1966. Applegate supported Representative Wayne Hays during the 1970 gubernatorial election and wanted to be the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor. Applegate was one of the candidates included in a straw poll conducted by the Democratic Party in Clark County which was won by Robert E. Cecile. Anthony O. Calabrese Jr. won the lieutenant gubernatorial nomination, but lost in the general election to Republican nominee John William Brown. In 1965, Applegate was named as one of America's outstanding young men by the U.S Junior Chamber of Commerce and was also nominated for the Ohio League of Young Democrat Clubs for their John F. Kennedy award. U.S. House of Representatives Elections Applegate announced in 1975, that he would run for a seat in the United States House of Representatives from the 18th congressional district in the 1978 election after Representative Hays announced that he would run for governor in the 1978 election. Hays withdrew from the 1976 election following a sex scandal and later resigned from the house. Fourteen of the eighteen Democratic leaders in the 18th congressional district voted in favor of Applegate, who was running against Alan Sherry and Joseph Loha, to replace Hays on the first ballot and then voted unanimously on the second ballot to give the nomination to Applegate on August 16. Applegate initially sought reelection to the state senate in the 1976 election, but Kinsey Milleson was later selected to replace him following Applegate's replacement of Hays. Representative John Wargo accused Applegate of having been selected by Hays to succeed himself, but Applegate stated that Wargo was overreacting and that he had no political debts to Hays. He selected former Representative Robert T. Secrest to serve as his honorary campaign chair. Applegate defeated Republican nominee Ralph R. McCoy and independent candidate William Crabbe, who was the mayor of Steubenville, in the 1976 election. Applegate announced that he would seek reelection on January 13, 1978, and won against Republican nominee Bill Ress. Hays, who had been elected to the state house, considered running against Applegate in the 1980 Democratic primary, but chose not to citing his health and pleas from Applegate's supporters. He defeated Republican nominee Gary L. Hammersley in the 1980 election. Applegate won reelection in the 1982 election against Joseph Holmes' write-in candidacy. He defeated Republican nominee Kenneth Burt Jr. in the 1984 election. Applegate defeated Michael Palmer, a