Jefferson County Sheriff-elect Regina Marinelli is first woman to lead the agency, and first Democrat in almost a century

The new Jefferson County Sheriff-elect is making history as the first Democrat in 98 years, and the first female sheriff there ever.

According to the National Sheriff's Association, women make up around 2% of the elected sheriffs in the United States, so the accomplishment of being the first in Jefferson County isn't lost on Regina Marinelli, known best as "Reggie."

"The first female, yes, that was brought up many, many times during the campaign, but it wasn't something I ran on," said Marinelli. "We didn't want to run on the gender, we wanted to run on the qualifications," she said.

Within the first 10 weeks of her campaign, Marinelli cut ties with her campaign manager to run her campaign for sheriff, solo. After 36 years working for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, she knew what it would take to lead it. With support from her colleagues, she began to make plans.

"A lot of the deputies and the sergeants started mentioning to me, 'Why don't you consider this?' and so I did."

It took five years of planning, but Marinelli secured the seat and won with 54% of the vote.

"I think it was just time for change and people saw me as the change agent," she said.

She also has the experience. She has worked in every major division in her 36 years with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. Her past work included teaching and leading conferences, specializing in investigative techniques of sex crimes.

Marinelli believes her commitment to more mental health resources helped tip the scales against Republican Ed Brady, the current Arvada Police Department deputy chief.

"The mental health of the people in our jail, the addictions and the mental health of our staff," said Marinelli.

Staff wellness has been a key part of her platform and making sure there are appropriate internal resources is a priority.

"If there's somebody out there struggling deputy-wise and they just need a little tune-up, we need to be able to  provide that."

"One of the things I really liked about her and her campaign was her slogan, it was she cares, and it wasn't just a slogan that is how she is with the community with the folks that work here, with the inmates up above in our facility," said Jefferson County Sheriff's Lt. Scott Eddy.

Eddy has worked in law enforcement with Marinelli for more than 30 years. His knowledge of wildfire mitigation along with his extensive background in emergency management is the reason Marinelli selected him as undersheriff.

"We complement each other in that way," he said.

"He [Eddy] has the ability to stop me and tell me when he thinks I'm wrong sometimes my Italian heritage makes me a little stubborn," Marinelli chuckled.

Marinelli says she has already begun to transition into her new role. She will be officially sworn in as the Jefferson County Sheriff on Jan. 10.