Republican Becky Doherty defeated democrat Eugene Muldowney for the judge seat in the Portage County Court of Common Pleas General Division.

Doherty won the seat with 55.76 percent of votes, according to the Portage County Board of Elections.

“No one works harder than Becky, she has been pounding the pavement for three long weeks,” said Tia Paoloni, campaign manager for Doherty. “The voters came out, and her hard work payed off.”

Doherty is a Chief Criminal Prosecutor with the Republican Party. Doherty attended the University of Akron School of Law and has 22 years of trial experience. She has more than 200 jury trial experiences and prosecuted thousands of cases.

She has worked with violent crime and organized crime units and also as a drug task force prosecutor. Doherty is a certified Police Academy instructor at Kent State University, and this allows her to work with different police agencies.

“I am the most qualified person for this job,” Doherty said.

Newly elected Doherty is looking to pursue a drug court in Portage County to combat the heroin epidemic.

Contact Rob Rompala at [email protected].