Army veteran and recent transplant running for Lewis County commissioner

A previously unknown candidate for Lewis County commissioner filed for the office with an address in the far eastern reaches of the county in Packwood and says he brings a "global perspective" to the race.

Tim Toerber, an aviation startup member, U.S. Army reservist and Lewis County transplant, filed to run for Lewis County commissioner last month, broadening the commissioner race to five individuals.

Toerber believes he would bring valuable experience and perspective to the role of District 3 commissioner that his competitors don't offer.

"I think there's a big industrial change coming that's going to affect all industries, which is advancement and integration of artificial intelligence, and the county needs to have a plan to be able to react and adopt that," Toerber said. "I don't see the skillsets in the current candidate pool to be able to manage that well."

In a recent interview with The Chronicle, Toerber spoke about his hopes to improve public safety and essential services to the east side of Lewis County and bring new ideas on how to speed economic development and business across the county.

Toerber is running as a Republican and says he sees himself as a relative centrist. He argues the biggest issues in Lewis County are beyond partisan politics.

Toerber is a very new resident to Lewis County, moving to the Packwood area just this year and wrapping up construction on a new property in the area. But he espouses a deeper connection to the area than that recency might suggest.

According to Toerber, he is originally from a rural community in northern Illinois. He first came to Washington in 2009 when he was sent to Joint Base Lewis-McChord during his 10 years of active duty service with the U.S. Army. Toerber, who has had a lifelong interest in aviation, served as a helicopter pilot.

During his service, Toerber met his wife in Gig Harbor while bouncing around the sound on his boat and committed to setting down roots in the region.

According to Toerber, he and his family have been visiting the Packwood area for many years, spending weekends, long summer trips and even Christmas in the area. The family purchased a house in the area in 2024 to help accommodate their frequent visits. Toerber said he's been visiting the area as a "skier, biker and mountaineer" for around 16 years. His first visit to the county was on a trip to the White Pass Ski Area.

After spending many years becoming familiar with the area, despite living outside the county between Tacoma, Olympia and Gig Harbor, Toerber said he sees this as an opportunity to get involved in public service once again.

"I feel like there's some things that I've learned along the way that I can start to give back," Toerber said.

In addition to his military service, Toerber spoke of previous public service, including six years working with Shore Acres Water Company, a nonprofit water utility in Gig Harbor, and another six years on the Tacoma Narrows Airport Advisory Commission.

Toerber also believes his professional history provides unique and valuable experience for working as an administrator. Specifically, he pointed to roughly seven years working for the Port of Seattle helping coordinate its operations at Seattle-Tacoma Airport, eventually earning the title of airport operations leader.

"It was very much similar to managing a small city," Toerber said. "You know, there's 150,000 people that go in and out of the airport every day, around 20 to 25,000 badged employees, public works and law enforcement and police."

After departing the Port of Seattle, Toerber worked for Amazon handling their relationship with the Seattle-Tacoma Airport before transitioning to work for a Switzerland-based startup AI company involved in the air travel industry called Assaia.

Toerber describes public safety, economy and infrastructure as the three main points of his Lewis County District 3 commissioner platform. Economic development is at the center of all of it.

Toerber said he believes there is more to be done to develop business on the eastern side of the county that goes beyond regional and seasonal tourism. He would like to see economic development expand the county's tax base and fuel investments in rural fire districts, county law enforcement and local infrastructure.

Toerber emphasized the need for investment in local emergency services, describing a story from the Randle fire chief detailing efforts to respond to emergencies during flooding while also being concerned that the station might float away.

"At the same time they're responding to help people in the middle of these flooding events last winter, he's also got to put up sandbags around some of their own volunteer fire departments," Toerber said.

Toerber is not shy about his focus on the east side of Lewis County, which he would represent should he be elected as District 3 county commissioner, but he was insistent that the issues he wants to see addressed on the east side are quite similar to those facing the west side of the county.

"The interests are all that different," Toerber said. "I think everyone wants to see similar levels of services that can keep the community safe, ability to grow the economy and infrastructure that you know will last."

Concerning efforts to expand the Lewis County Board of Commissioners, Toerber believes that simply electing the right commissioner can solve concerns over east county representation.

"I don't think you need to do that if you have representation that truly represents, you know, all three of those districts," Toerber said. "You need someone that spent some time, you know, in the eastern parts of the county to truly represent those needs."

For more information on Toerber's campaign visit https://tinyurl.com/3vyrneub.

The District 3 commissioner seat is currently held by Scott Brummer, who is seeking re-election. Other candidates include Toledo business owner Kyle Wheeler, Onalaska resident and Lewis County Democrats Chair Zach Eckstein and Lewis County Public Utility District Commissioner Mike Hadaller.

Read more about all the candidates in previous coverage at chronline.com.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.