by
Fred Swift
Hamilton County Reporter
Hamilton County voters in this year’s Republican primary will encounter the longest ballot in recent history when they go to the polls May 5.
At the top of the ballot, Donald Trump will probably be alone for president as will Eric Holcomb for governor, but from there on unusually large numbers of candidates will be listed.
All four Hamilton County judges up for re-election this year appear to be going back into office unopposed. With the filing deadline at noon Friday, only the incumbent judges have filed for the Republican primary, and no Democrats have indicated intentions to run.
Circuit Court Judge Paul Felix and Superior Court judges William Hughes, Richard Campbell and David Najjar will be running for new six-year terms. The three other Superior Court judges: Michael Casati, Jon Brown and Gail Bardach, are not up for election this year.
Voters will see a contested race for Treasurer with Kim Good and Susan Byer running.
Nine people have so far filed for the county council At-Large position, including one Democrat. Those individuals are:
- Ralph F. (Rick) McKinney (R)
- Brandon (Brad) Beaver (R)
- Sue Maki (R)
- Jeff Hern (R)
- Steven R Nation (R)
- Lyneen Burrow (R)
- John Ditslear (R)
- Gardiner P. Bink III (D)
- Tony Scott (R)
Ten candidates have filed for Congress following incumbent Susan Brooks’ decision to retire. They are:
- Kent Aberthany
- Andrew Bales
- Micah Beckwith
- Allen Davidson
- Beth Henderson
- Matthew Hook
- Danny Niederberger
- Mark Small
- Russell Stwallley
- Victor Wakley
- Victoria Spartz
Running for state representative whose districts are in whole or in part within Hamilton County are:
- Donna Schaibley, Dist. 24
- Chuck Goodrich, Dist.29
- Mike Vick (D), Dist. 29
- Daniel Bragg and Tony Cook, Dist. 32
- Todd Huston, Dist. 37
- Jerry Torr, Dist. 39
- Chris Jeter and Leah McGrath, Dist. 88
Running for state senate in local districts are:
- Scott Baldwin and John Gaylor in Dist. 20
- Terry Michael and John Ruckelshaus in Dist. 30