(CNN) -- In different year, the race for attorney general in Pennsylvania might have been just a footnote to the presidential election. 

But more people in the Keystone State voted Tuesday for Kathleen Kane to be their attorney general than voted for Barack Obama to be their president. And much of that may be attributed to the furor over the Jerry Sandusky child sex case. 

She beat the Republican challenger, David Freed, by almost 15 points, and the overwhelming support makes her the first woman and the first Democrat elected to the job in Pennsylvania. 

What may have pushed Kane over the top was her strong stance on the Sandusky scandal. She promised to look back to November 2008, when the first victim came forward, and carry out an independent review into why Sandusky was not charged until three years later. 

"We need an independent investigator to look at what happened," Kane told CNN. "Over 3 million people feel that I am that independent investigator." 

Her promise means she'll be taking on the state's sitting governor, Tom Corbett. And her review into the Sandusky case investigation will delve into the years that Corbett was the attorney general. He launched the Sandusky investigation before he ran for governor. 

Despite some criticism, Corbett has denied that politics had anything to do with investigative decisions. Instead, he accused Democrats of politicizing the case when two leading state Democratic lawmakers wrote a three-page letter asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to look into how the Sandusky investigation unfolded. Holder's office says the letter is under review. 
What might have helped Kane get elected?
What may have pushed Kane over the top was her strong stance on the Sandusky scandal.