WARREN — In a surprise, Julia Shutt beat Marleah Campbell by a single vote on a second ballot to win the race for Trumbull County Republican Party chair.

Shutt, of Leavittsburg, won 27-26 on a second ballot Tuesday, just a day after she decided to run for the party’s top spot. The first vote was 27-27, but Allan Banner, a precinct committee member from Girard, left after that initial vote and didn’t stay for the second round.

There were 55 of the party’s 86 members in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting at the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library. One person didn’t vote in either round.

The party has been divided for the past couple of years and Shutt, who moved to Trumbull County four years ago from Cleveland and got involved in the local party three years ago, said she would work to unite the factions.

“My biggest concern is the friends I have in the party who voted for Marleah, including Marleah, I don’t want to lose those friendships,” Shutt said. “I want to work with those people. I like working with those people. I’m being authentic — I truly think that I can be part of unifying them. I’m like Switzerland. I don’t have a history of war on either side.”

Shutt is a member of the LaBrae Board of Education and is on the Warren Township zoning board.

Campbell, who is party secretary, said she would have won had more precinct committee members showed up. She also said some committee members in attendance Tuesday hadn’t been at a party function in two years.

“I didn’t find out until (Tuesday) that Julia was running,” Campbell said. “But Julia’s a good person. We’ve worked well together before. I’m anxious to see how she’s going to get that group to unify.”

Among Campbell’s most vocal detractors is county Commissioner Denny Malloy, who is also a leader in the faction that is critical of the party officers.

Malloy nominated Shutt at Tuesday’s meeting. He went over the one minute allotted for him to speak and spent most of his time airing past grievances with the party, including questioning the legality of electing Kenneth Kline as chairman at the June 10, 2022, meeting and other party officers because they weren’t registered Republicans for the prior four years as required by the party’s bylaws.

“I was told to sit down and shut up,” Malloy said. “That started the destruction of our party. We don’t follow the rules.”

Shutt said she wasn’t recruited by Malloy and his allies to run for the party’s leadership and is friends with people in both factions.

Shutt said she made the decision to run for chair after talking with her husband. After that, Shutt said she talked with Malloy and Regina McManus, a Republican political consultant.

Shutt said: “Did they communicate with me as word kind of spread? Yes, but the decision was already made. I know them just from going to other public meetings. I’ve gotten to know Denny just a little bit. I went to one fundraiser at Regina’s establishment, her office. That’s all I know of them. I’m kind of an outsider to the community.”

Campbell said the infighting in the party started with Malloy, who said Campbell’s tactics in picking and choosing what Republicans to support is why she lost.

Asked if she would remain as party secretary, Campbell said she was unsure as she planned to resign at the end of the year before Mike Bollas, who succeeded Kline, resigned, effective Nov. 8, as chairman.

“I’m debating,” Campbell said. “Julia’s going to need help. I’m going to think about it. If Mike would have stayed, I would have resigned.”

Campbell said the vote wasn’t a rebuke of the party establishment, and the vote was the result of the party’s divide.

As secretary, Campbell ran the party during its historic victories last month that saw Republicans win every contested race on the ballot in Trumbull County. Campbell raised funds and said she helped with the recruitment of candidates and volunteers.

For the first time in about 90 years, Trumbull is a strong Republican county. Starting next year, nine of the 11 executive branch seats will be held by Republicans.

But Malloy and his allies say the party excluded a number of Republicans — including Randy Law, clerk of court-elect, and Agostino Ragozzino, county treasurer-elect — during the campaign and his group stepped in to help.

After winning the chair election, Shutt said, “It’s all about getting along and understanding we’re different, but working together and finding the things that we have in common. My feeling is that we have more in common than we have that separates us as Republicans.”

Shutt will serve until June 2026 in what was initially Kline’s four-year term. Including Bollas, who served from Aug. 4, 2022, to this past Nov. 8, and two interim chairs, five people have led the Trumbull Republicans in the past 30 months.