"I really believed that win or lose, I had won in my journey," she said. "Being able to meet the people in this community, their incredible goodness - I think I was optimistic and hopeful about the vote, but meeting everyone was a win in itself."

Once election results started to come in, there was no doubt. Richardson was a winner - a big winner. The first-time candidate piled up some pretty convincing numbers - she defeated appointed incumbent councilman Mike Aquillo 1,132 votes to 423 votes - 73 to 27 percent, according to unofficial results from the Union County Board of Elections.

It was a true landslide victory by any standard.

Richardson's win allows her to serve the remaining two years of former Ward 1 councilman John Marshall's term. He resigned in June to accept a position with the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company in the Pacific Northwest.

Richardson said the win was bittersweet, however, considering the failure of Marys-ville's city income tax issue.

"It was a sweet and kind of sad victory for me," she said. "That was really hard. There were a lot of folks that worked really hard for the levy."

A Chiprock Drive resident, Richardson said she devotes much of her time to community volunteerism. She and her husband, Chris, have three children.

Richardson said that during the election, she was worried that some voters would see her as "just a mom."

"To some I may have just looked like a mom, but here I was a parachutist (in the U.S. Army) and swam with sharks (in the corporate world)," she said. "I'm hoping to take advantage of that experience on council."

In addition to graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point, Richardson has an extensive military background with the U.S. Army and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for outstanding combat performance during Operation Desert Storm.

She has also spent a summer in Africa as part of Operation Crossroads to Africa, a nonprofit organization that works to build links between North America and Africa by sending groups of volunteers to work on projects in Africa.

Her military background and upbringing helped Richardson decide it was time to give back to her community, and set the same example for her children, she said.

"That's the way I was taught, and that's what we teach our kids, you have to give back," she said.

Richardson added that she believes communicating in a plain, sincere way with the residents of Ward 1 and her other council members is one of her top priorities.

"I think the real key to being an effective leader is communication," she said. "I'm a sincere person and I believe in telling the truth about the facts in our city. I hope to be a strong, effective member of an already competent, caring team of council members."