Heidi Eisenhour spent all day Sunday doing what she's done during her whole lifetime in Jefferson County.

Thinking of others.

With her campaign for the District 2 position on the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners coming to a close, Eisenhour devoted the day to making tamales.

The tamales — hundreds of them — were for gift bags she was stuffing for 30 or so of her campaign workers.

"I've lived in this community for 40 years and I've made thousands of tamales," she explained, for a multitude of events and celebrations, big and small. 

When Eisenhour realized she couldn't have a campaign party because of COVID-19 concerns, she decided to make tamales for her volunteers instead. It was a dash of meditation mixed with a big batch of gratitude.

Even so, on Election Night, Eisenhour wasn't ready to savor her victory in the race for a commissioner's seat.

Still, the table was indeed set during the first vote tally on Election Day. Eisenhour was the clear winner in the District 2 race, finishing with 58.04 percent of the vote.

Lorna Smith, a fellow Democrat also seeking the seat now held by four-term Commissioner David Sullivan, had 39.98 percent of all ballots cast, according to the first count on Nov. 3. Sullivan decided early on not to seek another term.

"I'm, of course, thrilled. I am humbled by the support of my community and it feels really good," Eisenhour said.

Eisenhour thanked those who supported her run for the board of commissioners and the incredible amount of work they put into her campaign.

"Time and time again I've seen people showing up for my run for county commissioner in ways I couldn't have even imagined," she said.

Eisenhour recalled one volunteer who spent every day going door-to-door to leave door-hanger cards for Eisenhour's race.

"She just did it every day after work as her exercise. Here we are in these cray COVID times where everything is locked down, and this was a way to get out of the house and do something meaningful in our community.

"Every day I'd get a call and she'd say, 'Can I have more door-hangers?'"

It was a tough race, as well, one that started with a three-way primary race but ended with a distinctly negative tone.

A total of 17,513 ballots have been counted in the race.

Smith, who advanced to the General Election as the number-two candidate out of the Primary Election, did not return calls for comment to The Leader Tuesday night.

"I had a challenging opponent," Eisenhour said. "I just kept focusing on my community and who we are as a community here in Jefferson County." 

"I was pretty focused on our campaign," added Eisenhour, who never ran before as a countywide candidate but had volunteered in earlier years in other campaigns. "I definitely was losing sleep. That's fine, I guess."

Eisenhour said she looked back to the Primary Election to find what had worked to put her in first place.

It was the ground game, she said.

"It was doors and getting out ... and making phone calls. It's just the hard work of campaigning."

"I've done that time and time again with races in our county," she added. "David Sullivan's campaign, and knowing you have to do the work."

"We just did the work," Eisenhour said.