STEUBENVILLE–Voters in Jefferson County decided to give Commissioner Dave Maple another four years on Tuesday night.

“Obviously, we’re very happy with the results,” he said. “We’re ready to get moving. We have a lot of work in front of us with the budget from next year, the challenges with COVID. We’re really appreciative of the support we got.”

Maple, the Republican incumbent, decisively fended off a challenge from Democrat Bob Smith, with preliminary results showing him winning 65.8 percent of the 30,862 votes cast in the race to Smithás 34.2 percent.

Those results will be certified after the 10 day period for military ballots to come in and for official canvassing.

Maple, who has held the office since 2004, said the message from the voters was one of reassurance. His campaign focused on the accomplishments during his more than 15 years in office, such as a lowering the unemployment rate, development at the Jefferson County Industrial Park and the recent formation of the Airport Zoning Board to protect the county airpark.

In another commission race, Republican Tony Morelli will join the board in January after coming out on top in a four-man-race for the seat long held by Commissioner Tom Gentile.

Morelli emerged victorious on Tuesday night, defeating Democrat Edward Littlejohn and Independents Daniel Cermak and Patrick Murphy.

Some 31,927 votes were cast in the race, with Morelli, a local businessman, taking 16,914 of the county’s vote total according to preliminary results. Littlejohn finished with 39.42 percent of the vote, while Cermak took 5.09 percent and Murphy 2.51 percent.

The results will be finalized after the 10 day period for military ballots to be received and official canvassing.

Morelli ran his campaign focused on preventing new landfills in the county, improving treatment for county residents struggling with addiction, expanding economic development with shovel-ready sites and expanding high-speed Internet coverage in the county.

Finally, for the first time in 20 years, Jefferson County will start the year without a Corrigan in the Clerk of Court office.

Republican newcomer Andrew Plesich easily outpaced his Democratic challenger, Darrin Corrigan, to claim victory.

Unofficially, Plesich scored 19,427 votes to 11,984 for Corrigan in the Jefferson County race.

“I’m very excited,” Plesich said. “I just want to give thanks and praise to the Lord. He surrounded me with so many great people to make this happen. It feels amazing for me and my family.”

Corrigan said he was disappointed, “but I’m happy to see people came out and voted.”

“I want to congratulate my opponent, I wish him all the luck,” he said. “And I want to thank the people who voted for me, my family and my friends for their support and sticking with me.”