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King’s College sophomore becomes Courtdale councilman at age 19

November 13, 2009

For teen, a real-life civics lesson

By Bill O'Boyle boboyle@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
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Eric Leedock is a sophomore at King’s College majoring in biology, but his future might be in politics.

Leedock was the top vote-getter Nov. 3 in the race for Courtdale Borough Council. His family is predominantly Democratic and so is Courtdale, but Leedock won as a Republican, making the 19-year-old one of the youngest elected officials in Luzerne County.

“My friends think it’s pretty cool that I’m a councilman, but they don’t realize Courtdale is a small town,” Leedock said. “But this is a start; I think I’d like to have a career in politics.”

This was Leedock’s first try at elective office. He was appointed to Courtdale Borough Council in November 2008 to fill the unexpired term of a councilman who resigned. Leedock was 18 at the time.

Leedock said politics has always been a part of his family; his great-grandfather served on Courtdale council, as did his grandmother and a cousin. All were Democrats.

“My dad is a registered Democrat, but he has voted mostly Republican,” Leedock said. “I found myself agreeing with him most of the time, so I decided to register as a Republican.”

Leedock said his parents switched their registration to Republican so they could vote for him in the May primary.

“I was really surprised to be the top vote-getter in the election,” Leedock said. “Our Republican mayor lost to a Democrat.”

Leedock said he has other political aspirations; he’d like to run for county office someday, or maybe a higher office.

“I find that a lot of people are big talkers outside of meetings, but afraid to speak up at meetings,” Leedock said. “I’m not afraid to voice my opinion and I think that’s a benefit.”

Terry Casey, chairman of the Luzerne County Republican Committee, called Leedock’s win impressive.

“It’s interesting that he’s a young Republican from a Democratic background,” Casey said. “This is exactly who we need to appeal to; we need to bring young Republicans on board and support them as much as we can.”

Although many of his peers think it’s cool that Leedock won last Tuesday, he said most of them aren’t very interested in politics.

“Most of them are Democrats,” he said.

Leedock was high vote getter with 148 votes in the election. The next highest – a Democrat -- received 138.

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