{"id":1759,"date":"2023-05-04T10:43:46","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T14:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=1759"},"modified":"2023-05-04T10:43:49","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T14:43:49","slug":"dyer-fends-off-challenger-focuses-on-general-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/04\/dyer-fends-off-challenger-focuses-on-general-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Dyer fends off challenger, focuses on general election"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DANE FUELLING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the three main races for Decatur City Council in this week\u2019s republican primary, only one incumbent held on to his seat. Matt Dyer, with nearly two decades on the council, beat challenger Tim Ehlerding in the city-wide race. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawing from the entire population of the city rather than one district may have helped Dyer\u2019s chances, but one thing the Decatur businessman would like to see in the November general election is a higher voter turnout. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was shocked at the pathetically low voter turnout,\u201d says Dyer. \u201cThat voter apathy is just sad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dyer noted that personally he has voted in every election he could since he was 18 years old and eligible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI value the fact that we get to vote for our representatives,\u201d he told WZBD in an interview after his victory. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t ever want to take that for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dyer began his interview by thanking the voters of Decatur. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to thank each and every person who voted, not just for me, but anyone who voted in the election.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also thanked his family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI come as a family package,\u201d he noted. \u201cFrom my ads to holding conversation, my family comes with me. My wife and my children put their time into my campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After coming through the primary campaign, Dyer says he is very excited to have survived a primary challenge, especially after fellow republican incumbents Wylie Sirk and Craig Coshow were defeated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTim (Ehlerding) is the strongest opponent I have had in my tenure on the council,\u201d he pointed out. \u201cTim is a good person and I look forward to moving ahead with the next phase.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dyer says he will take the next few weeks to regather his thoughts and game plan for going forward in the general election. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like starting all over again,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will work hard over the summer and go into the fall to win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dyer\u2019s spring campaign had broad support from 13 donors, according to campaign finance reports, which are public record in Indiana. His campaign listed contributions of over $11,000, of which he spent just over half in the primary. The largest donations came from Doug Florence ($3000) and Riggs Florence ($2500) of Coldwater, Ohio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dyer is set to face Jennifer Hitchcock, a Democrat who ran unopposed in Tuesday\u2019s primary, for the at-large seat on the council. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DANE FUELLING WZBD.com In the three main races for Decatur City Council in this week\u2019s republican primary, only<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14,15,21],"class_list":["post-1759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-decatur","tag-featured","tag-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/photoless-header-template-news.jpg?fit=252%2C144&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}