DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — Former state Rep. Don Mottley won't challenge Kettering City Council Member Peggy Lehner in a Republican primary race for the 37th Ohio House seat.

He's leaving Montgomery County, after living here for a half-century, but is not ruling out running for office — perhaps even the congressional seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio — from his new home in Columbus.

"I wish Don the very best in whatever he chooses to do in Columbus," said Lehner, who was endorsed in July by the Montgomery County Republican Party central committee.

Mottley on Thursday confirmed that he is now a registered voter in Franklin County.

He's to be married in January to Marianne White of Columbus, a former Senate staffer now working for the Ohio Department of Education. She and Mottley have dated seven years, with him commuting from West Carrollton to his law offices in Columbus and Cincinnati.

Maintaining a residence in one city makes more sense, said Mottley, but admitted, "My first choice was always to run for re-election to my old House seat in Montgomery County."

He is not sure if a Ohio House seat is an option for him because the Franklin County Republican Party has endorsed Bill Schuck for the 22nd Ohio House seat. But Mottley said no one is endorsed for Pryce's 15th Congressional District seat.

"No one in authority has asked me to consider that," he said.

Related: Get more political news