Indiana’s 2023 primary included a number of contested races in the Region. This is a municipal election year in Indiana and offices on ballots included mayor, city and town council and clerk-treasurer. In unofficial results from the May 3rd primary, in Gary, Democratic State Senator Eddie Melton defeated incumbent Jerome Prince in the mayoral primary with about 60-percent of the vote. Melton will face Republican Andrew Delano in the general election. In Hobart, Josh Huddlestun defeated Jerry Allen Herzog on the Democratic mayoral ballot. Incumbent four-term Hobart mayor Brian Snedecor did not seek re-election. No Republicans ran for mayor in the primary. In Lake Station, incumbent Mayor Bill Carroll defeated challenger Neil Anderson and will face Republican Benjamin Fontanez Jr this fall. In East Chicago on the Democratic ballot incumbent Mayor Anthony Copeland defeated Adrian Santos; on the GOP mayoral ballot, Arthur Santos Sr. was the winner on Tuesday in East Chicago. In Crown Point Mayor Pete Land was uncontested in the primary and Republican Shirlene Olson was the only candidate on the GOP mayoral ballot. In Hammond, longtime Democratic Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. was unopposed in Tuesday’s primary; there were no mayoral candidates on the Republican ballot in Hammond.
In Porter County, unofficial results show on the GOP ballot in Valparaiso, former longtime Mayor Jon Costas won the primary defeating Art Elwood and will face Democrat Hannah Trueblood in this November’s mayoral election, Trueblood the first female mayoral nominee to be on Valpo’s general election ballot. Trueblood defeated Pamela Schroeder in the primary. In Portage on the Democratic ballot Mayor Sue Lynch was uncontested on Tuesday and will face Republican Austin Bonta in the fall.
The primary election results are in for the Indianapolis mayoral race. Robin Shackleford conceded to incumbent Mayor Joe Hogsett Tuesday night. Hogsett will now move forward as the Democratic nominee. He’ll face a challenge from Republican Jefferson Shreve in November.
Also on Tuesday’s ballot, tax referendum questions for several school districts in Indiana, including three in Lake County. In Highland the vote was about 52-to-48 percent against the referendum; in School of Munster, voters said yes to the public question by a 72-percent margin, and in Lowell, in the Tri-Creek school district, unofficial results show the referendum was voted down by nearly 66-percent of ballots cast.
Here are links to local unofficial results:
Results from Northwest Indiana and across the state — IndianaVoters.com
