With over 70% of the vote, State Sen. Iris Martinez won Tuesday’s Cook County Circuit Court clerk race, making her the first Latina to lead the office.

“I’m tired, but excited,” Martinez told “Chicago Tonight.”

She is currently a Democratic state senator whose district represents Chicago’s Northwest Side, and a state party committeewoman. Martinez was the first Latina elected to the Illinois Senate in 2002. Since then, the country has seen a growing number of Latinas running for office.

“I think sometimes it’s a matter of us being understood and heard,” Martinez said about challenges Latinas face when seeking public office. “We’re very passionate and I think we bring so much to the table when it comes to family, when it comes to community.”

Martinez ran on a promise of reform to an office plagued by a reputation of inefficiency and corruption.

“I plan to bring in a very strong team of very highly qualified individuals that are going to start addressing these issues and making that office open and transparent to the public,” Martinez said.

The court clerk’s office keeps records of one of the largest court systems in the nation.

“We’re really basically the records keeper,” Martinez said. “Anybody that files judicial paperwork has to go through the clerk’s office.”

She plans to modernize the office, making sure its system is user friendly, and that everyone who needs to use it, knows how to use it.

“You have to start with the technology,” Martinez said. “Sometimes the software and the technology isn’t the issue as long as people having proper training.”

Martinez is also chair of the Democratic National Committee’s Hispanic Caucus. During the presidential election on Tuesday, some communities with large Latino populations, such as in Florida and Texas, didn’t turn out for Biden the same way they turned out for Hilary Clinton in 2016.

“I really think the Democratic Party has to do a much better job in making sure that we are connecting and that we are hearing and that we are trying to take everything in, and finding ways where we engage more on the ground in these states where the Latino population is so strong,” Martinez said.