By Rieley McDonnell, Newswire Intern

Last Tuesday, much attention was paid to election results at the federal level. At the local level, however, some of the races most relevant to the people of Hamilton County played out with high drama.

Every fall semester, sophomore Philosophy, Politics, and the Public (PPP) students in the Power and the Politics block of the program have the opportunity to intern on a local campaign. 

PPP interns worked for both major candidates for county prosecutor race between Connie Pillich and Melissa Powers. Pillich, a Democrat, won the race by just over 8,000 votes. 

“I wasn’t too surprised by the results,” Tim Regan,who worked on the Pillich campaign, said. “Hamilton County has gotten more Democratic over the years.”

“A Republican has held the prosecutor’s office for 92 years prior to Connie Pillich being elected,” Megan Cooper, who also worked on the Pillich campaign, said. 

Powers currently serves as County Prosecutor. However, she had never been elected to the office as she was appointed by former County Prosecutor Joe Deters. Deters had to leave the office as he was appointed to the Ohio Supreme Court. 

“She didn’t have the name recognition Joe Deters did, and so it was going to be a close race no matter what,” Emma Rehse, who worked on the Powers team, stated. 

Other students worked on Virginia Tallent’s campaign for Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Judge. She finished second in the race, winning 20,000 fewer votes than Robert Winkler. However, because the race was between five candidates, the top two would win seats, so Tallent was victorious.

When looking at the local election results for county-wide positions like sheriff, auditor, county commissioner and recorder. All races were won by democrats. This statement emphasizes a point that Regan, Cooper and Rehse all made. 

“Party still matters in local elections,” Regan said. “They look at party instead of beliefs.”

“I think in some ways it (party) matters more (in a local election),” Rehse said. “You have your name on the Republican slate or Democratic slate and people vote straight down.”

“Party plays a bigger role (in a local election),” Cooper said. 

In the national election Hamilton County voted in favor of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, with 57% of the vote.

“People always focus so much on the national level, but don’t understand how influential local politics are,” Regan said, reflecting on his campaign experience.

“Local elections get stuff done,” Cooper said. “not as many things are going to get done or impact you as much more than your local elections.”

“You should really get to know who you are voting for in local elections,” Rehse said. “Figure out who you are actually voting for, and vote for people that are actually going to do what you need them to do.”