by
Fred Swift
Hamilton County Reporter
They’re already calling him Mr. Mayor.
That’s Noblesville’s Chris Jensen, who won the Republican municipal primary yesterday. With no Democrat in sight, he appears certain to become the city executive on Jan. 1 after defeating three opponents in a very clean, mostly controversy-free campaign.
Chris Jensen won his bid to be the Republican candidate for Noblesville by a comfortable margin Tuesday night. Jensen (center) was joined by his family: His wife Julie, their son Matt, his mother Elaine and his brother Matt. (Reporter photo by Jeff Jellison)
Jensen garnered 48 percent of the vote. Coming in second was Mike Corbett with 31 percent, followed by Julia Kozicki with 19 percent, and Vincent Baker with 3 percent. About 6,400 city voters participated.
Primaries were held in all Hamilton County municipalities yesterday with a disappointing 17 percent of voters participating.
Noblesville’s next city council should find familiar faces as incumbents Brian Ayer, Mark Boice, Darren Peterson, Wil Hampton, Greg O’Connor and Megan Wiles will be joined by newcomers Pete Schwartz, Mike Davis and Aaron Smith, who ousted incumbent Rick Taylor.
City Clerk Evelyn Lees and City Judge Matt Cook were re-nominated without opposition.
Meanwhile in Carmel’s often bitter campaign, voters did not seem overly concerned about city debt as they nominated Mayor Jim Brainard to November’s Republican ticket. His single primary opponent, Fred Glynn, who made Carmel’s $1.3 billion debt the big issue, received 6,485 votes to the incumbent’s 8,194.
The biggest surprise in the Carmel primary was the loss of incumbent City Councilor Ronald Carter, one of Brainard’s most dependable allies. Carter lost to political newcomer Dr. Tim Hannon by about 500 votes in an unexpected upset. City Council incumbents Kevin Woody Rider, Jeff Worrell, Bruce Kimball, Sue Finkam, Laura Campbell and Tony Green expect to greet newcomers Adam Aasen, Debra Minott and Dr. Hannon when the new council meets in January.
City Clerk candidate Sue Wolfgang was unopposed and City Judge Brian Poindexter defeated Angela Swenson by just over 1,000 votes.
Fishers voters gave overwhelming endorsement to Mayor Scott Fadness in his bid for re-nomination. He received 67 percent of the vote against challenger Logan Day in a very low-key campaign that saw only 9,000 voters.
Every other incumbent officer holder in Fishers won their primary elections. Clerk-Treasurer Jennifer Kehl earned 66 percent of the vote against challenger Jackie Bowen. City Councilor Pete Peterson brought in 71 percent of the vote against Paula Hughel and City Councilor Brad DeReamer expects to remain in office after receiving 75 percent. Gurinder Singh was unable to get more than 20 percent of the vote in his effort to unseat one of the At-Large City Councilors: Rich Block, Cecilia Coble and Todd Zimmerman. A total of five City of Fishers officer holders ran unopposed in the Republican primary: City Court Judge Daniel Henke and City Councilors Selina Stoller, Eric Moeller, John Weingardt and David George.
Westfield’s mayor, incumbent Andy Cook, was unopposed in the GOP primary, as were City Councilors Scott Willis and Joe Edwards.
As much as the incumbents held on to office in Fishers, the opposite was true in Westfield. At-Large City Councilor Cindy Spoljaric was the only challenged incumbent up for re-election this year to keep her seat on the Council. She expects to be joined by newcomer Troy Patton as he was able to unseat City Councilor Jim Ake. Voters also awarded City Councilor Bob Beaudry’s spot to challenger Jake Gilbert by a 20-point margin, and Scott Frei expects to be the new City Councilor from District 4, receiving 68 percent of the vote to incumbent Charles Lehman’s 32 percent. In District 5, both challengers outperformed City Councilor Bob Horkay, with Jeff Boller racking up 36 percent of the vote and Mike Johns claiming victory with nearly 40 percent.
Pete Schwartz (left) was selected to be the Republican nominee for Noblesville Common Council District 2. With no Democrat currently filed to run against him, he is likely to take the seat following the November general election. Schwartz was joined by his wife, Amber, and their children Tuesday evening. (Reporter photo by Jeff Jellison)
In Arcadia, two out of three Town Councilman will not return in January, with incumbent Randy Hill losing by 17 points to challenger Rich Versprille and incumbent Maurice St. Louis ousted with only 20 percent of the vote to challenger Doug Grinshaw’s 80 percent. Councilman Mitch Russell and Clerk-Treasurer Jennifer Pickett ran unopposed.
In Cicero, only one of four races was contested. Jerry G. Cook won the GOP bid for Town Council District 1, beating Rick Smith by nearly 60 points. Town Councilmen Jack Russell and Chris Lutz ran unopposed, as did Rhonda Gary, who is seeking the office of Clerk-Treasurer.
Sheridan Town Councilman David Kinkead is expected to return next year after besting challenger Daniel Bragg by a mere 5 votes. However, incumbent Town Councilman Glen Bougher was overcome by challenger Silas DeVaney III, with DeVaney earning 59 percent of the vote. Clerk Treasurer Liz Walden and Town Councilman Darryl Waters ran unopposed.
In three cities across 10 offices, 11 Democrats ran in Tuesday’s primary. In Carmel, Cleaster Davis, Ti’Gre McNear, William Howard II and Miles Nelson all ran unopposed for four city council district seats. Fishers saw three Democrats run unopposed for city council seats: Jocelyn Vare, Lane Skeeters and Adam Kaps. Noblesville voters will also have the opportunity to elect up to three Democrats to their common council: Paula Jo Gilliam, Jeremy Hawk and Jason Myers. Myers came out ahead against Gary Bartunek in the only race in the county between two Democrats.
The election went smoothly with results coming in record time. All votes were counted by 8 p.m.
