Fired assistant district attorney is leading her old boss in southwest Michigan’s district attorney race

SF. JOSEPH COUNTY, MI — The County of St. Joseph, in southwest Michigan, will have a new county attorney and sheriff in 2025, voters decided in the Aug. 6 primary election.

Fired assistant DA Deborah Davis beat her former boss and another challenger in the DA’s race. In the sheriff’s race, newcomer Chad Spence defeated the undersheriff and three others.

Because no Democrats have filed for either office, Davis and Spence will win in November, barring write-in campaigns.

The five candidates for sheriff were Dennis Allen, Undersheriff Jason Bingaman, Joe Bingaman, Gordon L. Evilsizor and Spence.

Incumbent Sheriff Mark Lillywhite, elected in 2020, chose not to seek a second term after pleading guilty to driving while intoxicated following a 2023 crash.St. Joseph voted in August 2023 to ask Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to remove Lillywhite from office, but she did not make a decision.

Spence received 5,549 votes Tuesday, representing 49.29 percent of the votes cast. Undersheriff Jason Bingaman was the closest challenger with 30 percent of the vote.

Spence, 50, of Three Rivers said he went to Mendon High School and received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Ferris State University. He began working at the Sheriff’s Office in St. Joseph after college and held various roles, including Detective Sergeant, and retired there after 25 years.

In the district attorney’s race, District Attorney David Marvin ran for re-election, facing former District Attorney John McDonough and Davis.

All three candidates have a history with the role. Davis was fired from the DA’s office earlier this year amid allegations she made false statements in court, which she denies. Marvin defeated McDonough in the 2020 district attorney’s race.

Davis won the primary with 6,061 votes (56%), unofficial tallies show. Marvin was the closest with 31% of the vote.

Davis, an attorney, was raised in Centerville and attended Centerville Public Schools from kindergarten until graduation in 1999. She attended Western Michigan University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in communications with a minor in psychology in 2003, she said , and attended Thomas M. Cooley School of Law, graduating in May 2007. He passed the bar and was sworn in as a fully licensed attorney in 2007.

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