21-05-2025
Primary election 2025 results: Berks County coroner
A challenger has unseated the Berks County's coroner.
Local funeral director Matthew Stitzel beat incumbent John Fielding for the Republican nomination in Tuesday's primary.
Stitzel received 13,596 votes while Fielding received 8,288 votes. Vote totals are incomplete and unofficial.
Matt Stitzel, candidate for Berks County coroner
For the past three decades, Stitzel has served as a funeral director in Berks County. He told the Reading Eagle that he thinks his experience serving thousands of families in their time of need makes him the perfect candidate to serve as county coroner.
There were no candidates running on the Democratic side of the ballot. However, there were 2,203 write-in votes cast by Democrats in Tuesday's primary. It is unclear if any individual received enough votes to move onto the Nov. 4 general election.
The coroner investigates deaths independent of the police. The office also rules on the cause and manner of sudden, unexplained or unnatural deaths as well as natural deaths that occur outside the presence of medical officials.
The county coroner serves a four-year term and currently receives an annual salary of $101,694.
