Republican Mark Benjamin will have competition this fall in the race to become the next Lodi Town supervisor, as Democrat Kyle Barnhart will run against him in the Nov. 5 election. While he admits a competitive race is good for the community, his goal remains steadfast to improve overall quality of life in Lodi.
“I’ve always been involved in giving back to the community—it’s always been in our blood for me and my family,” he said, speaking to the process his family undertook to determine that the time was right for a run for office. “It just seemed like a natural process, as we got into this year, and I sat down with the current town supervisor—we had a nice chat and I let him know about my intentions.”
As for the issues that prompted his candidacy, there wasn’t any specific catalyst beyond his desire to get involved in the town he calls home.
“You know, as we were looking at the issues, and the world it was just an organic process,” he explained. “Some folks had mentioned some things to me that they thought I might be a good person to do that, or take the reins on some issues, and that led us to start doing some homework.”
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