Meadows won the election with 62 percent of votes, leading Republican and Meridian Township Supervisor Susan McGillicuddy’s 38 percent.

Meadows, the incumbent, watched the results come in at Reno’s East Side Sports Bar, 1310 Abbot Road, in the company of about 100 supporters.

In Michigan’s House of Representatives, Meadows is chair of the House Judiciary Committee and sits on the Great Lakes and the Environment and Urban Policy committee.

McGillicuddy has spent the past decade in her current position as Meridian Township supervisor. This was her first run for a state-level position.

McGillicuddy said she attributed her loss in part to the heavily Democratic area she attempted to represent.

“I’m not surprised,” she said. “We worked hard.”

McGillicuddy will continue to serve as Meridian Township Supervisor. She does not know if she will attempt to run again in 2012 when Meadows will be unable to hold the position because of term limits.

Political theory and constitutional democracy sophomore Lauren Hall, an intern for the Meadows campaign, said she supports Meadows because he is a “true Democrat” who listens and takes views outside his own into account.

“He listens to the Republican’s side,” Hall said. “He makes things work. When things are so one-sided, that’s when we get gridlock and nothing gets done.”

As a student, Hall said she would like to see jobs increase within the state.

“Students here are in a tough situation, there are not a lot of jobs here,” Hall said.

“I’d like more jobs to be created so I could stay here when I graduate.”

Meadows said in the next two years, he plans to focus on tax reform that will attract business — and dollars — back to Michigan. Tax reform will help him achieve his goal of putting people back to work and getting the economy in better shape, he said.

“I have the same goals I’ve had for the last several years,” Meadows said. “Put Michiganians back to work. I think that’s No. 1 for everybody.”

Concerning college students, Meadows said it would be difficult to bring the Michigan Promise Scholarship back after its elimination last fall. The termination of the Promise scholarship upset many students.

But Meadows said there is the possibility of bringing back the scholarship if it is altered to become needs-based — given exclusively to students in need of financial assistance.

“With the Michigan Promise, we had a hard time defending it because it went to everybody,” Meadows said. “With a need-based program, I think we’ll be able to target the money in and help some of the people who need assistance.”