CINCINNATI — In addition to becoming the first woman ever elected as Hamilton County's top prosecutor, Democrat Connie Pillich ended the 92-year reign of Republicans in the position.
Pillich did not have the prosecutorial experience or the big campaign coffers of her opponent, Republican incumbent Melissa Powers, but she still won with 51% of the vote.
It marked the end of an era for Republicans who once controlled Hamilton County but have gradually lost all but a handful of offices. Now Democrats control 10 of the 11 nonjudicial county offices, including the board of county commissioners.
“Republicans very much want to forestall the inevitable, which is the loss of an office that historically they've held and that historically has been a very important part of their brand locally,” University of Cincinnati political science professor David Niven said in an April 2023 interview.
Like urban areas across Ohio, Democrats now control the vast majority of elected power in Cincinnati and Hamilton County, picking off seats that were once controlled by Republicans in each election cycle.
Name recognition and a strong brand kept former prosecutor Joe Deters in office for 25 years, although by shrinking margins.
Gov. Mike DeWine appointed Deters to the Ohio Supreme Court, and then the Hamilton County Republican Party tapped Powers to take over for him in January 2023. The GOP had hoped she could preserve the last prestigious stronghold office against a rising tide of blue voters.
Powers had the financial advantage, with more than $2.1 million in total funds available, compared to Pillich’s $662,309, according to the most recent campaign finance report.
Plus Powers had the high-profile pulpit to introduce herself to voters through news conferences and prosecutions over the past year and a half.
But voters still chose Pillich.
“Of all the county offices to switch hands in recent years, this is the most consequential. The size of it, the culture, the importance and high-profile nature of its work, and the influence on broader politics,” said David Pepper, a former Hamilton County Commissioner and former chair of the Ohio Democratic Party.
Pillich never served as a prosecutor but is an Air Force veteran and a former state representative, who also studied law. She started private practice, filed civil cases and served as a public defender for some criminal felony cases.
She said she decided to run because there is an abundance of illegal guns on the streets, too many shootings and violent crimes in the community, and the prosecutor's office, as it is currently structured, is not equipped to properly handle it all.
“It's the same old playbook, the same old boys club that has been running this office for decades, and my opponent is just another face on that, complexion on that group,” Pillich told WCPO in an interview two weeks before the election.
Pillich said she had four plans of action if elected: to train the county's lawyers, audit their casework, double down on ethics and "professionalize the office."
“To end 92 years of the same old boys club running things in the same old way, it's going to allow me to bring a fresh new perspective … and to end the politicization of that office,” Pillich said. “It’s really been used as a political tool for many, many decades and I think that’s an abuse of people’s tax money.”
WCPO reached out to Powers but a spokesperson declined comment on her behalf.
