Tuesday's election for Hilliard City Council was a historic one.
All four Democrats running in the seven-person race for four seats on the City Council won.
That makes the seven-member Hilliard City Council all Democrats for the first time.
And leading vote-getter Nadia Rasul will become the first Muslim woman and first of Palestinian descent on the City Council.
Rasul, a retired pharmacist, said Wednesday her election reflects how much Hilliard has transformed since she came to the city more than three decades ago.
"The community that I have grown to love since I built my home here in 1991 has changed and has grown more diverse and more welcoming," Rasul said Wednesday.
"Now the community is reaching out and they want our council to reflect that and that鈥檚 why they chose me as the top vote-getter," Rasul said.
Rasul and fellow Democrats Andy Teater, Kathy Parker-Jones and Tina Cottone all won. Cottone is the current Hilliard City Council president and Teater is the current vice-president. Teater is a former Republican.
Republicans Bevan Schnenk, Jim Martin and current City Councilmember Les Carrier all lost.
Carrier, who is completing his third four-year-term on City Council, said he is glad Rasul won. Carrier said his family has known her family for years.
"She worked the hardest too, by the way. She had a damn army," Carrier said.
Carrier said he wasn't surprised by the overall results. He said Franklin County has been becoming more Democratic for years.
He also said that national politics is affecting what is happening at the local level.
Rasul said political change starts at the grass-roots level such as her campaign. She talked about campaigning and how people were happy that she was running.
She said one woman came out of her house in tears saying, "We need you, we need you, and I can't wait to vote for you."
"And that seriously gave me chills," Rasul said.
"What I've heard, and I've heard from the young Democrats, is people are disgruntled with the way our government is right now, and they realize that if we really need to make a change federally, we need to start locally," Rasul said.
Rasul and two other Muslim candidates 鈥� Dorothy Hassan and Samer Bazerbashi 鈥� ran in the Democratic primary in May. Hassan and Bazerbashi lost.
