For 1st Time In Nearly 50 Years, No Contested Primary Election For Warsaw
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Ever since “Jaws” was the No. 1 movie in the U.S. and “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain & Tennille was the biggest song of the year, in 1975, there has been an election for the city of Warsaw each cycle with a contested race in each primary, according to County Clerk Ann Torpy.
That streak ends this year as there are no contested races for Warsaw’s primary election. Torpy said the County Election Board will determine if there is a need to conduct a primary election for the city.
The County Election Board’s next scheduled meeting is at 10 a.m. Feb. 13.
Winona Lake and Syracuse will have primary elections due to the towns having at least one contested primary race.
For the Syracuse, Warsaw and Winona Lake primary elections, filing ended at noon Friday for Republican and Democrat candidates only. Only Republicans filed for the municipal elections by Friday’s deadline.
Warsaw
Jeff Grose, who is the current Warsaw Common Council District 1 councilman, is the only person who filed to run for Warsaw mayor by Friday’s deadline as Joe Thallemer chose not to seek re-election. Juergen Voss is the only candidate for Grose’s District 1 seat.
Warsaw Common Councilmen who filed for re-election and are unopposed include William Frush, District 4; Josh Finch, District 2; Cindy Dobbins, at-large; Diane Quance, District 5; Mike Klondaris, District 3; and Jack Wilhite, at-large.
Warsaw Clerk-Treasurer Lynne Christiansen also filed and is unopposed.
Winona Lake
There were no contested races in Winona Lake until this past week when Town Council District 4 incumbent Heather James chose to run for the clerk-treasurer position instead of her council seat. Laurie Renier is the town’s current clerk-treasurer and has filed for re-election.
Running for District 4 now and unopposed is Barry Andrew, the Kosciusko County Community Corrections director.
Austin Reynolds is seeking re-election to the Winona Lake Town Council District 1 seat, while Ashley McGinnis filed for Winona Lake Town Council Ward 2. Reynolds and McGinnis were named to the council through separate caucuses.
Syracuse
The May primary contest in Syracuse will have two contested races.
Republicans David R. Rosenberry, Nathan Scherer and Brian Woody have filed for the District 4 seat vacated by Larry Martindale. The three men also filed for the Republican caucus set for 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Syracuse Town Council Chamber.
Martindale resigned from the board effective Jan. 17.
The other contested race in Syracuse will be for clerk-treasurer. Virginia Cazier filed for re-election to the position, but Councilman Larry Siegel also has filed for clerk-treasurer.
Cindy Kaiser is seeking re-election to the Syracuse Town Council District 3 seat, while Bill Musser is running for re-election to District 5. Both are unopposed.
Town Elections
Filing for the general elections for Claypool, Etna Green, Leesburg, Mentone, North Webster, Pierceton, Sidney and Silver Lake ends at noon Aug. 1 for Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians.
They may have a town convention if there is a contested race within a party. The party will hold a convention to make their selection from those candidates. If there is a contested race between the parties within a town, they will have an election in November for that town. Some towns will not have an election at all because only the set number of candidates filed.
Candidates who filed in January for town elections include:
• Nichole Taylor, Silver Lake Town Council, at-large, Republican.
• Thomas D. Moore, Leesburg Town Council, at-large, Republican.
• Mitch L. Rader, Leesburg Town Council, at-large, Republican.
• Benny Stage Jr., Claypool town Council, north district, Republican.
• Gloria Jean Weller, Silver Lake Town Council, at-large, Republican.
• Medard Hugh Murfin, Silver Lake Town Council, at-large, Republican.
• Tonya Conley, Silver Lake clerk-treasurer, Republican.
• Patricia Cook, Etna Green clerk-treasurer, Republican.
• Brandon Allen, Sidney Town Council, at-large, Democrat.
• Dan Thystrup, North Webster Town Council, at-large, Republican.
• Gordon Baker, Pierceton Town Council, at-large, Republican.
• Christina Archer, Leesburg Town Council, at-large, Republican.
• Lisa Parrett, Sidney Town clerk-treasurer, Republican.
• Jackie Leroy Wolfe, Sidney Town Council, at-large, Democrat.
