ALBEMARLE COUNTY, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- The highly contentious race for the Albemarle County School Board at-large seat came to an end Tuesday night, with Allison Spillman defeating Meg Bryce by a comfortable margin.

Spillman, the Democratically-endorsed candidate, ended up winning the race by roughly 10,000 votes.

She said her win showed that the community shares her values.

She campaigned on mental health resources, student freedoms and collective bargaining for staff.

"I’m excited to get to work the county and make sure our kids are safe to learn and our teachers are safe to teach. I want to make sure the processes are working and so kind of get my hands dirty and get in and see how I can make our system run efficiently, effectively so the maximum amount of resources are in the classroom and with our teachers so our students can thrive and succeed," Spillman said.

Bryce said she was extremely proud of the campaign she ran because she changed some minds.

“My hope from the beginning was to run a campaign that educated people on our school system. I think that we've been kind of like flying under the radar and people still assume that we're the best district in the region and we're not. And so, I think I’ve shed light on that,” Bryce said.

She said she hopes her campaign will cause the school board to start to listen to the community’s grievances.

The reason this race got so much attention was the heated nature of the campaigning and the huge amounts of money raised by both sides, which were well over $100,000 apiece.