Though his name will still appear on the primary election ballot, Theodore Smith has decided to drop out of the race for a seat on the public hospital district board.

In an email to the News-Times on Friday, Smith said he is withdrawing because he and his wife have decided to move to be near one of their sons in the state of New York.

Other candidates for Position 5 on the WhidbeyHealth board include Morgan Cooper, Kirk Gasper and Dennis Rochier. Two will advance to the general election in November, but if Smith is one of the two who gets the most votes, a vacancy will be created and filled by the district’s board via a special appointment process, according to the Island County Elections Office.

Cooper, who previously served on the board, was the owner of Image Builders Marketing Services and the program director for a weight loss clinic in Oak Harbor. She also served as the clinic administrator for the bariatric program at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, and before that, the bariatric clinic director for North Valley Plastic Surgery in Phoenix, Arizona.

Gasper served as a physician in the Navy and retired as a captain in 2017. He served both overseas and as the director of medical services at Naval Hospital Oak Harbor. He currently works for Teladoc Inc. and is board certified in family medicine.

Rochier retired from medical practice in 2020 after 40 years of experience in health care. He worked as a physician in numerous settings, including office practice and hospital practice. He worked as the medical director of primary care clinics, including rural health clinics, Chief Medical Officer of Acute Care including a Critical Access Rural Hospital and Chief Physician Officer of Overlake Medical Clinics.