Municipal elections in Fort Wayne, Indiana (2015)

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The city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, held elections for mayor and city council on November 3, 2015. A primary election took place on May 5, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was February 6, 2015. All nine city council seats were up for election.

Mayoral candidates Mitch Harper (R) and incumbent Tom Henry (D) both dominated their respective primaries on May 5, each defeating three opponents. Mayor Henry then defeated Harper in the general election. Henry was first elected in 2007 and re-elected in 2011. He represented District 3 on the council from 1983 to 2003. Harper is a Republican member of the city council, representing District 4. He was first elected in 2007. He also served in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1978 to 1990.

For the three at-large city council seats up for election, Councilman John Crawford competed against two other Republicans, three Democrats and one Libertarian. The two other at-large council members did not run for re-election. Crawford was elected along with two other Republicans, Michael Barranda and Thomas Freistroffer. District 1 candidate Paul Ensley defeated incumbent Thomas E. Smith in the Republican primary. He went on to win the general election against Democratic candidate Mike Conley. The incumbents for District 3 and 5 ran unopposed in the general election, while Districts 2, 4 and 6 had competitive general election races. The election for District 4 was an open race since the current councilman, Mitch Harper, ran for mayor. Jason Arp won that seat.

City officials, community leaders and citizens disagreed over the city's success in implementing the Southeast Area Development Strategy, a 10-year plan to revitalize Fort Wayne's southeast neighborhoods that was launched in 2007. Read more about this issue below.

Mayor

Candidate list

May 5 Republican primary candidates:

• Robert Bastian
• William E. Collins
• Mitch Harper a
• Frederick G. Osheskie, Sr.

May 5 Democratic primary candidates:

• Tom M. Cook
• Thomas Henry a - Incumbent Henry was first elected in 2007.
• David Christopher Roach
• John Forrest Roberson
• Richard Stevenson, Sr.

November 3 General election candidates:

Mitch Harper

Thomas Henry

Election results

Mayor of Fort Wayne, General election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Tom Henry Incumbent	56.8%	23,769
	Republican	Mitch Harper	43.2%	18,068
		Write-in votes	0%	0
Total Votes				41,837
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Election Results", accessed November 16, 2015

Mayor of Fort Wayne Republican Primary, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Mitch Harper	83.7%	8,475
William E. Collins	7%	705
Robert Bastian	6.8%	693
Frederick G. Osheskie, Sr.	2.5%	255
Total Votes		10,128
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Official primary election results," accessed May 20, 2015

Mayor of Fort Wayne Democratic Primary, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Tom Henry Incumbent	76.5%	5,676
Richard Stevenson, Sr.	18.8%	1,396
Tom M. Cook	3%	219
David Christopher Roach	1.7%	128
Total Votes		7,419
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Official primary election results," accessed May 20, 2015

City council

Map of Fort Wayne's council districts. Click to enlarge.

Candidate list

At-large

Note: Three at-large seats were up for election. Incumbents John H. Shoaff (D) and Marty Bender (R) did not run for re-election.

May 5 Republican primary candidates:

• Robert A. Armstrong
• Michael Barranda a
• Lee Bradley
• John Crawford a - Incumbent Crawford was elected to the council in 1995.
• Thomas Freistroffer a
• Teresa Sutton
• Eric Tippmann

May 5 Democratic primary candidates:

• Terry Anderson a
• Mike Avila a
• Kevin R. Brown
• Gina M. Burgess
• Michelle Chambers a
• Cathy Cross
• Daniel P. Lobdell
• Lloyd Osborne
• Tommy A. Schrader

November 3 General election candidates:

Michael Barranda

John Crawford

Thomas Freistroffer

Terry Anderson

Mike Avila

Michelle Chambers

Tabitha Dyck

District 1

May 5 Republican primary candidates:

• Paul Ensley a
• Kenneth Richardson
• Thomas E. Smith - Incumbent Smith was elected to the council in 1999.

November 3 General election candidates:

Paul Ensley

Mike Conley

District 2

May 5 Republican primary candidates:

• Russ Jehl a - Incumbent Jehl was elected to the council in 2011.

May 5 Democratic primary candidates:

• Michelle Hill
• Michelle Merritt a

November 3 General election candidates:

Russ Jehl

Michelle Merritt

District 3

May 5 Republican primary candidates:

• Thomas F. Didier a - Incumbent Didier was elected to the council in 2003.
• Mark Stafford

November 3 General election candidates:

Thomas F. Didier

District 4

Note: Incumbent Mitch Harper (R) ran for mayor.

May 5 Republican primary candidates:

• Jason Arp a
• Ryan Keuneke
• Matthew Sorg

May 5 Democratic primary candidates:

• Rusty York a

November 3 General election candidates:

Jason Arp

Rusty York

District 5

May 5 Democratic primary candidates:

• Geoff Paddock a - Incumbent Paddock was elected to the council in 2011.

November 3 General election candidates:

Geoff Paddock

District 6

May 5 Republican primary candidates:

• Joe Renner a

May 5 Democratic primary candidates:

• Glynn A. Hines a - Incumbent Hines was elected to the council in 1999.
• Robert L. Wafford

November 3 General election candidates:

Joe Renner

Glynn A. Hines

General election

Fort Wayne City Council At-large, General election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Michael Barranda	18.8%	22,545
	Republican	John Crawford Incumbent	18.1%	21,679
	Republican	Thomas Freistroffer	17.1%	20,482
	Democratic	Michelle Chambers	15.4%	18,529
	Democratic	Mike Avila	14.2%	16,997
	Democratic	Terry Anderson	13.4%	16,099
	Libertarian	Tabitha Dyck	3.0%	3,631
		Write-in votes	0%	0
Total Votes				119,962
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Election Results", accessed November 16, 2015

Fort Wayne City Council District 1, General election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Paul Ensley	56.4%	5,197
	Democratic	Mike Conley	43.6%	4,024
		Write-in votes	0%	0
Total Votes				9,221
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Election Results", accessed November 16, 2015

Fort Wayne City Council District 2, General election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Russ Jehl Incumbent	60.3%	4,461
	Democratic	Michelle Merritt	39.7%	2,938
		Write-in votes	0%	0
Total Votes				7,399
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Election Results", accessed November 16, 2015

Fort Wayne City Council District 4, General election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Jason Arp	52.3%	4,783
	Democratic	Rusty York	47.7%	4,354
		Write-in votes	0%	0
Total Votes				9,137
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Election Results", accessed November 16, 2015

Fort Wayne City Council District 6, General election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Glynn A. Hines Incumbent	80.4%	3,326
	Republican	Joe Renner	19.6%	813
		Write-in votes	0%	0
Total Votes				4,139
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Election Results", accessed November 16, 2015

Primary election

Fort Wayne City Council, At-large Republican Primary, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
John Crawford Incumbent	22.1%	6,458
Michael Barranda	20.8%	6,075
Thomas Freistroffer	17.1%	4,984
Eric Tippmann	12.7%	3,711
Robert A. Armstrong	12.1%	3,532
Teresa Sutton	11.3%	3,293
Lee Bradley	3.9%	1,153
Total Votes		29,206
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Official primary election results," accessed May 20, 2015

Fort Wayne City Council, At-large Democratic Primary, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Michelle Chambers	23.9%	4,630
Terry Anderson	17.4%	3,377
Mike Avila	15.4%	2,987
Gina M. Burgess	11.3%	2,182
Kevin R. Brown	10.4%	2,020
Cathy Cross	8.4%	1,634
Lloyd Osborne	6.7%	1,303
Tommy A. Schrader	5%	969
Daniel P. Lobdell	1.4%	280
Total Votes		19,382
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Official primary election results," accessed May 20, 2015

Fort Wayne City Council, District 1 Republican Primary, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Paul Ensley	50.1%	1,425
Thomas E. Smith Incumbent	30.6%	870
Kenneth Richardson	19.3%	548
Total Votes		2,843
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Official primary election results," accessed May 20, 2015

Fort Wayne City Council, District 2 Democratic Primary, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Michelle Merritt	53.5%	565
Michelle Hill	46.5%	491
Total Votes		1,056
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Official primary election results," accessed May 20, 2015

Fort Wayne City Council, District 3 Republican Primary, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Thomas F. Didier Incumbent	73.2%	1,240
Mark Stafford	26.8%	455
Total Votes		1,695
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Official primary election results," accessed May 20, 2015

Fort Wayne City Council, District 4 Republican Primary, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Jason Arp	53.9%	1,272
Ryan Keuneke	31%	733
Matthew Sorg	15.1%	356
Total Votes		2,361
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Official primary election results," accessed May 20, 2015

Fort Wayne City Council, District 6 Democratic Primary, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Glynn A. Hines Incumbent	81.5%	1,498
Robert L. Wafford	18.5%	339
Total Votes		1,837
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Official primary election results," accessed May 20, 2015

Districts map

Below is a map of Fort Wayne's council districts. There are six districts. Each district elects its own representative on the council. Click the map to return to the candidate list.

Issues

Southeast development

The Southeast Area Development Strategy was developed in 2006 and launched in 2007 with the goal of revitalizing the southeast area of the city via a 10-year plan. Below is the purpose of the plan, according to the official report that came out in July 2007.

“	To identify opportunity areas for commercial and residential development, redevelopment and investment; To recommend incentives and initiatives to encourage investment within opportunity areas; and To provide guidance through innovative land use policies.	”
—Fort Wayne Community Development Division

Between 2007 and 2015, significant public and private investment was directed into the area. The city added 66 homes and a YMCA in the Renaissance Pointe community, an urban garden and a new office for Parkview Hospital. Money also went into streets and sidewalks, street lights, facade grants and blight control. Despite these initiatives, there was little progress in attracting new commercial and real estate developments, and many sites listed as promising commercial properties remained empty eight years into the 10-year plan.

WANE Newschannel 15 asked people what grade they would give the city in its progress implementing the plan. The newsgroup said that the majority of people who participated in an online poll gave the city a failing grade. When they asked city and community leaders to grade the city, they gave the following responses:

• A: Pam Holocher, the deputy director of community development, said, "If you look at the goals that we set out to achieve, I’d give us an 'A' because I believe this is a strategy and a big part of it was the tools and making those tools available."
• A+: Heather Presley-Cowen, the deputy director of housing and neighborhood services, said, "Considering we said in Renaissance Point alone would take 10 years to get 70 million dollars worth of investment and we’ve already seen $50 [million], 'A+'."
• C: John Dortch, president of the Southeast Business Advisory Group, said not enough had been done to fill the commercial and real estate void.
• A+/F: Councilman Glynn A. Hines said that the housing initiatives were an 'A+', however, "what you hear a lot about restaurants and big box stores, I think that’s clearly an 'F'." He said he blamed the developers for the failure moreso than the city. "I have an issue with the development community getting more involved and being committed to the development of the southeast quadrant," he said.

Comments from Fort Wayne's 2015 mayoral candidates on the Southeast Area Development Strategy.

Tom Henry When asked what grade he would give the city in its progress toward implementing the plan, Mayor Tom Henry said, "Since 2008, we’ve invested about $14 million just in streets and curves and sidewalks. Since I’ve been in office which has been eight years now, I would give us an ‘A’." He emphasized that the city had borrowed $60 million to invest in its neighborhoods, and he even offered up an empty plot of land for free during his re-election campaign. In response to John Dortch, who Henry appointed to his current position of president of the Southeast Business Advisory Group, giving the city a 'C', Henry said, "And I think John’s a businessman, he gets impatient, and I can understand that. I’ve known John a long time. I think behind closed doors he might have given me a higher grade." He pointed out that he can't force businesses to move to any certain area; he can only "set the table". Councilman Mitch Harper, the Republican mayoral candidate, criticized Mayor Henry's handling of the project. "Only this year is the [Henry] administration starting on sort of a crash program to take care of streets," he said. He would do better than the current mayor, he said, by being more personally committed to working with businesses and developers. According to Harper, the southeast area would improve by adding more enterprise zones, which use special tax and regulation rules to encourage business in a certain area. "You ought to have a city that rewards folks for being fast-paced in terms of getting businesses what they need on a regulatory basis, whether that is zoning or whether that is permitting," he said. Mitch Harper

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Fort Wayne Indiana Election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Municipal elections in Fort Wayne, Indiana (2015) - Google News

See also

• United States municipal elections, 2015
• Fort Wayne, Indiana

External links

Suggest a link

• City of Fort Wayne
• Allen County Board of Elections - 2015 Primary Candidate Filings
• Allen County Board of Elections - 2015 Primary Election Results