Two Montgomery County Commissioner seats are being challenged in 2016. Four Republicans hope to unseat current democratic commissioners, Judy Dodge and Debbie Lieberman. But, they’ll have to make it through the March primaries first.
The four republican candidates for Montgomery County Commissioner include former Dayton mayor Gary Leitzell and former Englewood City councilman Don Birdsall. Both men are running against Commissioner Debbie Lieberman.
Leitzel, who has traditionally run as an independent, is running as a Republican in the race but says he’s still more of a centrist.
“At least the Republicans are gonna have choices for county commissioner—which is something that’s almost unheard of in Montgomery County. Usually the party puts up one person each and there's no choices,” he said.
In contrast, Birdsall is a former president of the Dayton Tea Party. He says his credentials as a Republican are life-long but he agrees with his primary opponent that Montgomery County government needs a change.
The current director of marketing for Hogan Manufacturing said, “I do think that the voters have been under represented, and I try to be a spokesperson for them and accessible to them.”
In a separate primary Miami Twp. Board of Trustees vice president Robert Matthews will face Centerville resident, Charlotte McGuire, who worked for the city of Dayton for 13 years. The winner of that primary will run against current Commissioner Judy Dodge.
Initially, all four candidates filed to challenge Dodge for her seat but Leitzell and Birdsall withdrew their petitions and refilled to challenge Lieberman.
