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It wasn't that long ago that Mahoning and Trumbull counties were Democratic strongholds that could be counted on to deliver solid victories for that political party's candidates.
But even Valley Democrats acknowledge those days are over and the two counties have become battlegrounds between the major political parties.
"After generations of the Valley being Democratic controlled, it's becoming more balanced," Thomas McCabe, chairman of the Mahoning County Republican Party, said. "The southern portion of (Mahoning) is red and will be red for years to come. It's not an aberration. We're in for a new era where local races will be more competitive."
As recently as 10 years ago, it wasn't uncommon for a Democratic candidate to beat a Republican 65 to 35 percent in Mahoning County or 60 to 40 percent in Trumbull County -- and for some wins to be even more lopsided.
"I think we're in a purple area," Joyce Kale-Pesta, Mahoning County Democratic Party chairwoman, said. "It used to be 65-70 percent and now it's 55-60 percent. That (Commissioner Anthony) Traficanti got 60 percent is shocking. With all the people voting, I thought it would be a bigger margin. This was a mandate for the Democratic Party that they better get their act together in Ohio."
In Mahoning County, all incumbents were elected except J.P. Morgan, a Republican county court judge. But the margins of victory were significantly smaller than in previous years.
In Trumbull County, Commissioner Dan Polivka, who also is the county Democratic Party chairman, and state Rep. Gil Blair, D-Weathersfield, lost their election bids. State Sen. Sean O'Brien, D-Bazetta, won in Trumbull County, but not by enough to stop his defeat in the rest of the Ohio Senate 32nd District. Also, Democrats who won received vote totals in the low 50s.
Niki Frenchko will be the first Republican commissioner in Trumbull County in about four decades.
For years, the Valley's state Legislature delegation was six Democrats and no Republicans. In January, it will be two Democrats and four Republicans.
The two state senators representing Mahoning and Trumbull won't be residents of either county, even though those counties make up the majority of the population of the districts. Republican Michael Rulli of Salem in Columbiana County was elected two years ago to the 33rd District, of which Mahoning County is the largest county, and Republican Sandra O'Brien of Lenox Township in Ashtabula County will represent the 32nd District, of which Trumbull is the largest county.
Also, President Donald Trump, a Republican, won in Trumbull County, as he did in 2016, and in Mahoning, becoming the first Republican there since 1972 to win the county.
PURPLE AREA
"Over time, the Mahoning Valley has changed into a purple area," state Rep. Michael J. O'Brien, D-Warren, said . "It could be due to economics and loss of jobs, reducing the population. Trumbull County is not the county when my mother (Margaret, the longtime county clerk of courts) was a candidate 25 years ago."
Several local political leaders said Trump's coattails helped Republicans in the Valley unlike when he ran in 2016.
"Trump has realigned our party; that blue-collar worker has come to our party," McCabe said. "That's what started things. You're also seeing more people get more involved at the local levels. We're riding that wave of Donald Trump, but we're also going a good job on the ground."
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, said he was "disappointed" Mahoning Valley voters backed Trump after the closing of the General Motors plant in Lordstown, adding he was "a bit puzzled" by the results.
He acknowledged that Ohio is "clearly a state that's difficult for Democrats," but "it's still a winnable state."
McCabe points to a decade of Republican dominance on the state level when he said, "Ohio is a red state. It used to be a swing state. It isn't anymore."
Jeff Goodman, Trumbull County Democratic Party parliamentarian, said calling the area "purple would probably be giving the Democrats too much credit. If you look at the numbers, a lot of people in Trumbull County voted a straight Republican ticket."
Kathy DiChristofaro, Trumbull County Democratic Party vice chairwoman and head of the Ohio Democratic Women's Caucus, said she was "very disappointed in the outcome in Trumbull County. We've become more of a purple area because of a loss of manufacturing."
DiChristofaro and Kale-Pesta also said national Democratic officials failed to provide the support needed in the Valley.
"The national party didn't contact us, and there was just no interest," Kale-Pesta said. "People volunteered, but it wasn't enough. I got literature from Joe Biden a week before the election. Before that, there was nothing."
Bill Binning, retired chairman of the Youngstown State University political science department and former Mahoning County Republican Party chairman during the 1980s, said when he ran the party "our targeted vote was in the high 30s (percent) for a state or presidential candidate if they wanted to carry the state. There's a new political force in the Valley. This is something we'll see for years even if Trump loses the presidential election."