First candidate emerges in 2026 Muscogee County School District Board elections
While a flurry of candidates have announced their campaigns to be Columbus mayor or a Columbus Council representative during the past several months, no candidates had declared their intention to run during the 2026 election season for a seat on the Muscogee County School District Board.
Until now.
Robert Roth filed Feb. 6 his declaration of intention to accept campaign contributions to run for the school board’s District 6 seat.
Five of the board’s nine seats will be on the May 19 nonpartisan ballot. No candidate is official until the qualifying period in the first week of March, but Roth is the first MCSD board candidate to make his plan to run publicly known.
Roth was a candidate for the District 6 seat eight years ago, but he dropped out of the race after the ballots were printed and received 6% of the votes. Mark Cantrell, the incumbent, won the election with 56%, and Eddie Obleton received 38%.
Cantrell and the other incumbents in the board’s seats up for election this year — Nickie Tillery of District 2, Naomi Buckner of District 4, Margot Schley of District 8 and Kia Chambers of countywide District 9 — haven’t announced whether they will seek re-election.
The Ledger-Enquirer didn’t reach Roth for comment before publication, but here’s what we know about him based on his disclosure form and our previous reporting:
Roth is a retired U.S. Army colonel who has worked from his home as director of government business development for Vertex Solutions, a learning development and services company based out of Urbana, Ill.
His last position on active duty was at Fort Benning, where he was director of training and doctrine for the Maneuver Center of Excellence.
Cynthia Roth (relation unclear) is chairing his campaign and serving as its treasurer.
