“This is such an honor,” Benson-Taylor said on Tuesday during her swearing-in ceremony, where she was surrounded by family and colleagues. “It’s our mission to serve the community as a whole.”
Benson-Taylor has worked alongside McClain as the chief deputy recorder since 2021.
Prior to then, she worked as a leader in the AFSCME union and a paralegal at the Montgomery County Public Defender’s office. She also ran for a seat on Dayton city commission two years ago.
Benson-Taylor said she’s grateful for McClain’s leadership and said he’s a “role model for how we should serve our citizens.”
The Montgomery County Democratic Party will name a longer-term replacement. The party has 30 days to appoint a person to the seat.
“We’re very appreciative of all of the hard work he did,” said Montgomery County Democratic Party chair Mohamed Al-Hamdani.
McClain was first appointed to the recorder’s office in 2018 after the seat was left vacant following the death of Willis Blackshear. He later was elected to the office that same year, and he was re-elected to the seat in 2020.
“I’ve been so fortunate to serve this community,” McClain told the Dayton Daily News. “And I look forward to serving it in a different way in this new chapter.”
McClain is a graduate of the University of Dayton School of Law and has worked in private practice and as an attorney with the Montgomery County Public Defender’s Office. He is a veteran, who achieved the rank of sergeant in the Army National Guard.
McClain said the judge seat was another step he was seeking in his career path.
The term left vacant by McClain is set to expire in 2024.
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