Illustration by Chanelle Nibbelink
It’s been nearly a year since Melissa Powers and Connie Pillich announced their campaigns for Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney, and in that time the local race has become one of the most critical on the ballot. The prosecutor’s seat is valuable; one of only two countywide elected offices held by the GOP—for 92 years—it holds enormous sway when it comes to public safety and criminal justice.
Running as the incumbent, Republican candidate Powers was tapped in early 2023 to finish the term of Joe Deters when the former prosecutor was appointed to the state Supreme Court. Democrat Pillich is a former state representative, Air Force captain, and public defender who is now CEO of her own law firm. Regardless of party, the victor will be the first woman ever elected to the position.
The two have different ideas for how to lead the office: Pillich intends to “professionalize” it through increased prosecutor training, auditing, and a commitment to ethics and de-politicization; Powers aims to modernize it while maintaining the restructuring and new programs she’s started. There’s one thing the pair can agree on: Curbing crime starts with playing an active role in the community.
In general, violent crime is already on the downswing. In Cincinnati, incidents decreased 5.8 percent in the first half of the year compared to last year, according to the Cincinnati Police Department. The trend is apparent across the nation. “Community involvement and community outreach from this office working with organizations is critical to helping find solutions,” says Powers.
During her tenure in the prosecutor’s office, she has spearheaded a number of new community-based programs. These include the Elder Justice Unit, which works to protect seniors, and the Veterans’ Treatment Court, which provides veterans who’ve committed certain felony offenses the opportunity to plead guilty in exchange for admission into a five-phase treatment program. The treatment court has graduated more than 275 veterans, according to Powers’s office.
“I’ve been a very strong proponent of any kind of treatment court and diversion to redirect and rehabilitate, says Powers. “We don’t want them to come back in the system. We want them to get on a better path in their life.”
She also maintains a staunch “zero-tolerance” policy for violent offenders. “Community involvement is key, but also there has to be accountability,” she says. “We have to protect the child who may be carrying guns by taking them into custody.”
The significance of community involvement is not lost on Pillich. She’s been attending public meetings to address juvenile crime and putting together a strategy for how to prevent youth from getting involved in violent behavior in the first place.
She points to an instance when the Urban League, funded by 3CDC, paid to have supervisors monitor the Government Square bus station following a felonious assault by a group of teenagers. A month later, she says the supervisors had developed bonds with the high school students who waited for their bus there—teenagers she says just need “adults who show up on a regular basis.”
With that impact in mind, Pillich says she’d like to get federal funding to supervise juvenile-populated areas in 10 different neighborhoods. “There are a lot of kids who have a difficult youth, and left on their own they grow up and it’s very hard for them to come back from that and lead a law-abiding life,” she says. “The prosecutor needs to be aware that all these factors impact what’s going on.”
Pillich says her past experience drives her campaign. Once a victim of a violent assault herself, the episode jumpstarted her passion for criminal justice. “My goal is to make sure we have justice for everyone: the victims, their families, the accused,” she says. “If that means the accused goes to prison, that’s justice.
Election Day is November 5.
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