Donald Mason is a lifelong resident of Zanesville, Ohio and was elected to office on November 5th, 2019 with over 65% of the vote, winning every precinct. He was unopposed in the November 2023 re-election. 

Mason has long been committed to public service. After graduating from Muskingum University in 1979, where he majored in Political Science and History, he was elected as a write-in candidate to the Zanesville City Council in 1979 and served on the council through 1983. 

In 1983, at the age of 26, Mason was elected Mayor of the City of Zanesville, where he oversaw natural gas and cable negotiations, water and sewer infrastructure development and other public works projects. Including within the projects was a development of the water, sewer, electricity and natural gas infrastructure in an industrial park of over 600 acres, which became the city's 'flagship' for business and economic growth. He was subsequently re-elected in 1987. 

Furthermore, Mason's administration built the first water treatment facility in Zanesville, in order to remove many of the heavy minerals which were causing damage to hot water tanks, plumbing, laundry and domestic consumption.

Leaving local government in 1991, Mason then became Chief of the Division of Oil and Gas at the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) where he supervised regulatory activities and developed environmental programs for the safe and healthy extraction of oil and gas resources, including hydraulic fracturing and the disposal activity of oil and gas by-products including UIC Class I, II and III permitting. He also served on the Hazardous Waste Facilities Board, which reviewed permits for hazardous waste storage sites in Ohio. 

From 1993 to 1995, as Deputy Director of ODNR, he supervised the Divisions of Parks, Forestry, Watercraft, Natural Area Preserves, and Wildlife. Those agencies totaled over 2000 employees and $100,000,000 in annual budgets.