EDITOR’S NOTE: This is No. 2 of the Top 10 stories of the year as voted on by newsroom staff.

In three presidential election cycles, Mahoning and Trumbull counties have changed from primarily being represented by Democrats in countywide elected offices to Republicans.

While several Republican leaders expected the county’s change in political leanings to be long-lasting, perhaps even generational, Democratic party leaders are taking a more wait-and-see approach.

Most local Republicans credited President-elect Donald Trump with opening the door to the idea for some long-frustrated former Democrats to switch parties and bring voters with them.

Trump has been winning Trumbull County by ever-widening measures since 2016 and Mahoning County since 2020.

Trump, in November’s election, beat Democrat Kamala Harris in Ohio 55.14% to 43.93%, winning the state for a third consecutive election.

The president-elect’s percentages were better in Trumbull County than the state on his way to winning the county for the third time­ — something no Republican has ever done. Trump received 57.6% of the Trumbull vote to 41% for Harris.

Trump also won Mahoning County for the second consecutive time, making him the first Republican to do so since Herbert Hoover in 1928 and 1932. Trump won 140 of Mahoning County’s 212 precincts and 120 of Trumbull’s 158 precincts.

Republicans won every contested race on the ballot in Trumbull County. Nine of the 11 executive branch seats will be held by Republicans starting Wednesday.

Mahoning County Republicans won four of the six contested county executive branch races. Republicans will control six of the 11 Mahoning County executive seats in 2025.

The races won by Republicans in Mahoning County — a county commissioner seat, prosecutor, clerk of courts and recorder — were by less than 2% in three cases and by 3% for recorder.

A majority of Democratic incumbent county officeholders in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, including longtime Mahoning County Commissioner David Ditzler and veteran Trumbull County Sheriff Paul Monroe, were unseated by Republican challengers.

Trumbull Commissioner President Denny Malloy, a first-term Republican county commissioner, said, “This is a result of the direction the national Democratic party has gone. People are seeing they are not representing values the party once held.”

A former Democrat, Malloy described himself as always being conservative, Catholic and anti-abortion.

“The national Democratic party has been taking positions that are not representing values I hold,” he said. “The national party has gone too far to the left.”

Malloy said many people have been Democrat in name only that voted Republican in recent elections.

“Donald Trump and the Republican party have been welcoming us since 2016,” he said. “It is not that we agree with everything that Donald Trump says, but we believe he is taking the country in the right direction.”

Malloy said there are individual members of different groups — unions, blacks and Hispanics — who have been looking at what the Republican Party is offering today and deciding to go against how they may have voted in the past.

“It is the Republican party that’s more diverse and welcoming,” he said.

Commissioner-elect Rick Hernandez agrees the red wave in local candidate races is the result of the direction the national Democratic party has taken in the past 12 years.

“Local Democrats are losing seats and being ostracized because of how people are judging the direction of the national Democratic party,” he said.

Julia Shutt, recently elected Trumbull County Republican Party chairwoman, described the county as being a microcosm of what has been happening nationwide.

“A lot of people are waking up,” she said. “They are doing their own research and the messaging of President-elect Trump has been registering,” she said.

Shutt and her husband, Byron, moved to Leavittsburg about four years ago.

“We quickly saw the area turning redder and redder,” Shutt said. “People really know what their values are and what they want and don’t want. In the most recent election, every contested seat went red.”

As Trumbull GOP’s new chairwoman, Shutt’s goal is to unite the party and build on the momentum that has already started.

“I want to internally try to repair any broken relationships,” she said. “I want people to forgive old grievances and treat one another like we want to be treated. I want the party to start acting as winners in word and in deed.”

In building the future of Trumbull’s Republican Party, Shutt will aim at getting more high school and college-age people involved.

Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman Chris Anderson emphasized that in several of the seats, their candidates lost to Republican candidates by single-digit margins, while the president-elect’s margin of victory was more than 10%.

“What we need to do as a party is to better educate voters to vote the entire ballot,” he said. “In Mahoning County, we had long ballots,” Anderson said. “There was ballot fatigue. Some voters did not vote in the down-ballot races.”

Anderson said it is up to all voters to make sure Republicans elected to office during this election fulfill their campaign promises.

“If they don’t deliver on promises, changes will have to be made,” he said.

Trumbull County Democratic Chairman Mark Alberini described voters this year going to the polls and voting party lines.

“Unfortunately, Trumbull County did not elect the most qualified, experienced and proven candidate in all cases,” Alberini said. “That’s clear.”

In spite of this year’s disappointing election results for Democratic candidates, Alberini said the party will continue to recruit what the party believes are the best-qualified candidates to run.

“Everyone should want the best-qualified candidate to be elected,” he said. “The principles of the Democratic party will remain the same. We still believe in workers’ rights, women’s rights, providing the atmosphere for the creation of good jobs with living wages. We will not not be changing directions.”

Alberini, however, admits the Democratic Party may have to look at its messaging and branding to better appeal to those casting votes.

“There were a lot of promises made this year,” he said. “In two years we will see if they deliver on those promises and commitments. If they don’t, everyone should step back and look at what was said and what was done.”

The long-time Democrat emphasized he wants what is best for the Valley and the nation.

“We are going to watch how this plays out,” Alberini said.