Marguerite B. Lehner (born August 5, 1950) is the current Mayor of

Kettering, Ohio Kettering is a city in Montgomery county in the U.S. state of Ohio. Almost entirely in Montgomery County, it is an inner suburb of Dayton, Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 57,862 (down slightly from 58,453 in 2010), maki ...

. Formerly, she also served in the

Ohio Senate The Ohio Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly. The State Senate, which meets in the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, first convened in 1803. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the se ...

, Ohio House of Representatives, and on the Kettering City Council. Her Senate district was located entirely in Montgomery County, and included Vandalia,

Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

, Kettering, Centerville, Miamisburg and

Germantown Germantown or German Town may refer to: Places Australia * Germantown, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region United States * Germantown, California, the former name of Artois, a census-designated place in Glenn County * Ger ...

. Lehner is a Republican.

Career

Having attended

American University of Paris The American University of Paris (AUP) is a private, independent, and accredited liberal arts university in Paris, France. Founded in 1962, the university is one of the oldest American institutions of higher education in Europe, and the first to ...

and graduating from

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) is a private Roman Catholic liberal arts college in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. Originally a college exclusively for women, it is now coeducational. It is the oldest Catholic college in Indiana a ...

, Lehner was a three-term city councilwoman in Kettering, sat on the Ohio Ethics Commission from 1991 to 1997, served as a board member for the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority and has been active in efforts to address issues facing Dayton-area suburbs for decades. While Lehner was originally elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 2008, she came first to the Statehouse as a member of the

. When Senator Jeff Jacobson resigned his seat early, he left a vacancy in an important lame duck session. Since Jacobson's elected successor Jon Husted was at that time serving as

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

of the Ohio House, he was unable to resign and take his new seat in the Senate. Therefore, Senate leadership appointed Lehner to temporarily take a seat in the Senate to fill out the remainder of Jacobson's term. Following a month-long tenure in the Senate, Lehner then began her term as in the House. With incumbent and Speaker of the House Husted unable to run due to term limits, Lehner opted to succeed him. She faced Democrat Andi Eveslage in the general election, and won with 64% of the vote. She easily won reelection in 2010 with 70% of the vote, but only would serve about a week of that term.

Return to the Ohio Senate

After Senator Husted was elected as Ohio Secretary of State on November 2, 2010, he was required to resign his seat in the Ohio Senate. Lehner, who preceded Husted (albeit for only a month-long tenure), was named as a potential successor once the seat had been vacated. Lehner was up against five other potential appointees, including former state Representative Seth Morgan. On December 13, 2010, it was announced that the Senate Republicans had decided to appoint Lehner to fill the remaining two years of Husted's term. In a homecoming of sorts, Lehner was sworn into the seat she previously held on January 11, 2011, resigning from the House to do so. Lehner won a full term in the Ohio Senate in 2012, defeating Democrat Rick McKiddy with 63% of the vote. In 2013, she began serving as Chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee. Lehner, as Chairwoman, was influential in education policy, including charter school reform. Although she is pro-charter, she has advocated for stronger charter school oversight and reform.

Electoral history

References

External links

The Ohio Senate: Senator Peggy Lehner (R) - District 6Peggy Lehner for Ohio
official campaign website
The Ohio Ladies' Gallery: Peggy Lehner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lehner, Peggy Living people Republican Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives Women state legislators in Ohio 1950 births Republican Party Ohio state senators Politicians from Cleveland People from Kettering, Ohio Ohio city council members Women city councillors in Ohio 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians