The Hamilton County Board of Commission remains in Democratic hands after Tuesday's unofficial vote totals.
Former Cincinnati council member and state representative Alicia Reece garnered 51% of the vote to fill the seat previously held by the late Todd Portune. Her opponents, Republican Andy Black and Independent Herman Najoli, tallied 45% and 4% of the vote, respectively.
Reece says she plans to spend the next two months getting up to speed on the county's financials.
"I don't get sworn in until January, so I'll be able to read up, look at where we're spending our money and try to move forward with some of the things that we talked about in this campaign," she says. That includes "making investments to help families in Hamilton County bounce back and look at what we can do to in terms of invest(ing) in things that will help create jobs and move forward in the future."
She joins fellow Democrats Stephanie Summerow Dumas and board President Denise Driehaus, who fended off a challenge from first-time candidate, Republican Matthew Paul O'Neill, 58% to 42%.
Driehaus calls this an exciting time for Hamilton County.
"I think what we will see is more forward progress with economic inclusion and some of the work that we have started kind of level-setting the county and making sure that we're delivering services and responding to the needs of everybody in Hamilton County," Driehaus says. "I'm especially excited about some of the criminal justice reform that I think we will be able to enact given some of the changes over in the courthouse."
