At the Dec. 5, 2020, meeting, Lehigh County Commissioners Percy Dougherty and Marc Grammes, both Republicans, have announced they will not run for office in 2021.

Both cited health reasons for their decision.

This makes the race for county commissioner a wide-open contest with a total of five seats up for election. Geoff Brace’s and Amy Zanelli’s seats will also be on the slate, but neither Brace nor Zanelli were ready, when contacted, to announce their plans.

At the Dec. 9, 2020, meeting, commissioners appointed a replacement for Nathan Brown, also a Republican (5th District), who announced his resignation from the board of commissioners in October 2020. Emmaus resident Jeffrey Dutt will replace Brown.

Dutt will have to run in his own right for office in 2021.

This leaves the Republican seats all up for grabs in 2021.

The current mix is three Republicans and six Democrats. The strong showing by Democrats last year unseated Republicans Marty Nothstein and Brad Osborne giving Democrats the majority on the board for the first time in many years. Some Democrats largely credited Amy Zanelli with being the spark boosting turnout for the Democrat sweep.

Percy Dougherty, 77, has served as a Lehigh County commissioner since January 1994. He will stay on the board until he is replaced by the candidate elected in 2021. That transfer will happen in January 2022.

Dougherty represents Lehigh County District 2, which includes the townships of Upper Macungie, Lower Macungie and South Whitehall and Alburtis Borough.

Dougherty said he has had health issues including a suspected stroke that may have contributed to a fall. Subsequent blood poisoning hospitalized him earlier this year.

Dougherty is a former professor of geography and of geology at Kutztown University. Dougherty said he and his wife, Anne, have been married since 1966. He said they enjoy traveling the world, so they planned a trip to Antarctica for 2022, a trip that had been planned for 2020 until plans were changed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marc Grammes, 62, a former merchant seaman officer and engineer, said he, too, is resigning because of health reasons.

Grammes represents Lehigh County District 1, which includes the communities of the boroughs of Coplay and Slatington and the townships of Whitehall, Washington, Weisenberg, North Whitehall, Heidelberg, Lowhill and Lynn.