The only executive branch seats up for grabs in next year’s election in Trumbull County are for auditor and one of the three commissioner spots.

With a Feb. 4 filing deadline for the May 5 primary, no one has submitted nominating petitions for any of the seats, but there are a number of people interested.

Auditor Martha Yoder, a Republican first elected to the job in 2022, said she will run for reelection.

Two other Republicans declared their candidacy for Trumbull auditor.

They are Stacy A. Marling, Bazetta fiscal officer and Mahoning County chief deputy auditor, and Mike Loychik, a former two-term state representative.

Also, Niki Frenchko, a former county commissioner, pulled petitions to run for auditor, commissioner and for the 14th Congressional District in the Republican primary.

Before Yoder beat Democrat Tod Latell by 3.4% in 2022, Democrats held the auditor seat for decades. But, largely due to President Donald Trump’s popularity, the county has gone from being reliably Democratic to solid Republican in the past few years. Every Republican on the 2022 and 2024 ballots in contested races won in Trumbull.

Loychik served four years in the Ohio House and was chairman of its Armed Services and Veterans Affairs Committee during his final term. Loychik unsuccessfully ran in the 2024 Republican primary against incumbent state Sen. Sandra O’Brien, R-Lenox, with the Republican Senate Campaign Committee giving $452,587 to the latter’s campaign.

Marling has worked for the Mahoning County auditor’s office since 2004 and has served as its chief deputy auditor since 2015.

She has been Bazetta fiscal officer since her April 2021 appointment. She was elected to an unexpired term in November 2021 and then to a full four-year term two years later.

The dynamics between Yoder and Marling are interesting, as they are two key figures in a dispute over $80,857 in tax money stolen by hackers.

The 11th District Court of Appeals on Oct. 29 unanimously affirmed a Trumbull County Common Pleas Court decision that the county auditor’s office was responsible for the missing money and had to pay it to the township.

The county treasurer settled accounts with the county auditor in August 2024 for taxes collected since February of that year, including money owed to Bazetta.

But hackers broke into Marling’s email when multifactor authentication was off, and using that email, the criminals told the auditor’s office to switch the township’s deposit bank. A county auditor employee made the change and, over several weeks, more than $160,000 of township funds went to the wrong account. The township discovered the scam when expected payments never arrived.

All but $80,857 was recovered, with the appeals court upholding the April ruling of Judge Sarah Thomas Kovoor of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court that Yoder had to pay the township the remaining money.

While Frenchko pulled petitions for auditor, Congress and commissioner, if she runs for elected office, I presume it would be for commissioner.

Frenchko was first elected county commissioner in 2020, beating longtime incumbent Dan Polivka.

Frenchko pulled petitions in the 2024 Republican primary for both county commissioner seats on the ballot. She chose to seek reelection, losing the primary to Rick Hernandez by 18.6%.

The commissioner post up for election next year is held by Republican Denny Malloy.

Malloy, elected in 2022 to his first term, pulled petitions from the board of elections for Republican and as an independent. He lost a 2020 commissioner’s race by 7.9% as an independent.

But Malloy said he has no intention of running as anything but a Republican. “I’m solidly Republican,” Malloy said. “It was a strategy thing. What if so-and-so does this, and what if Niki won the primary, who would be there in the fall to challenge her? It was a game of chess, and we’re moving the first couple of pawns. I’ll be a big piece on the board as a Republican. I’m not wavering. I’m a Republican. Someone asked me to get independent petitions to compare them to previous ones and see how many signatures are needed. They’re not going to run.”

Also pulling petitions to run as a Republican for commissioner was Jason Miner, the former Vienna fiscal officer, who resigned Oct. 31 after a year on the job.

There is talk that Bazetta Township Trustee Michael Hovis is considering a run for commissioner.

No Democrats have pulled nominating petitions for the position or declared their candidacy yet.

Kathy DiCristofaro, the party’s vice chairwoman and political director, said party officials have had discussions with a person who might be interested in running for auditor.

David Skolnick covers politics for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.