Tight race between Derek Dieter and Oliver Davis for commissioner's seat

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind--- Republican Derek Dieter and Democrat Oliver Davis are vying for the District 2 St. Joseph County Commissioner's seat.

We spoke with both candidates after the polls closed but before a winner was declared.

“A long night. We’ve been prepared for a long tomorrow and we understood that the battle would be fierce. From early numbers we know it’s been neck and neck all the way through and that’s what we expected. We recognize that we’ve been running a good race,” Davis said.

 “I’ve been out since 4:30 this morning we were at all the polls early. I think the feed back I’ve gotten from the citizens at the polls all day has been encourage so I’ve been very upbeat about that so we’re just waiting for the numbers initially from absente and early voters,” Dieter said.

Derek Dieter

Republican Derek Dieter is a former South Bend Police officer and sat on the District 1 seat of the South Bend Common Council for twelve years.

In 2015, Dieter ran unsuccessfully for city clerk losing against Kareemah Fowler.

He is a graduate of Saint Joseph High School in South Bend as well as IUSB. 

Dieter currently is the owner and CEO of Dieter Security.

Oliver Davis

Democrat Oliver Davis is a licensed clinical social worker and sat on the District 6 seat of the South Bend Common Council for 12 years.

In 2019 Davis stepped down from is his position on the Common Council to run for mayor but was defeated in the primary by current mayor James Mueller.

Davis is a graduate of Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama and earned his doctorate in social work from USC.

He currently does social work for South Bend Schools.