Primary ballots are now set, leaving candidates with nearly three months to make their cases to Johnson County voters.

Filing for this year’s municipal primary officially ended at 12 p.m. Friday, with a total of 80 candidates filing with hopes to snag 52 seats for 36 local offices. Democrats and Republicans will vote for mayors, city councils, town councils, city clerks, clerk-treasurers and city judges in the May 2 primary.

Voters in the primary will select either a Democratic or Republican ballot, and pick candidates in their communities to move on to the November general election on their respective party’s ticket.

For voters in many communities, this will the first election since local officials completed their decennial redistricting processes. Voters in many areas will be casting ballots for candidates under new city and town council districts, and can check to see who is on their ballots by going to IndianaVoters.gov.

Some communities have several contested Republican primary races, while others have candidates unchallenged for their election bids. Two communities have offices where no candidates in either party filed.

One community has already had a candidate withdraw their name from nomination. Chad Riddle previously filed for one of Greenwood city council’s three at-large seats, but withdrew on Friday.

The deadline for candidate withdrawals or challenges is noon Feb. 10.

For a full list of the candidates click here.

Greenwood

Republican voters in Greenwood have several contested races on their ballot, including mayor. Incumbent Mark Myers, who is seeking his fourth term in office, is facing a challenge from former Center Grove School Board president Joe Hubbard.

Hubbard, a small business owner and U.S. Air Force Veteran, is the owner of ATMs for Veterans. He announced last year he planned to move into Greenwood city limits to challenge Myers.

Myers, a former police officer, has been Greenwood’s mayor since winning election in 2011. Over Myer’s tenure, he has watched as the city’s population grew by more than 28.2% since 2010 as hundreds of new houses and apartments were built.

For the city council, three offices are contested for voters in the Republican primary: District 1, District 4, District 5 and at-large.

In District 1, incumbent Linda Gibson is facing a challenge from newcomers Hurley Davis and Robin Klutzke for the seat she has held since late 2008.

Further west, District 4 incumbent Ron Bates is facing challenges from Bob Lynn and Teri Manship. Democrat Nathan Cardenas has also filed for the seat, and will face whoever wins the Republican primary in November.

In District 5 incumbent David Hopper is facing a challenge from Dale Marmaduke, who ran for mayor in 2019.

Seven candidates are running for the city council’s three at-large seats: Erin Betron, Mike Campbell, Bob Golinski, Jarrett Law, Steve Moan, Brian Moore, and Ronald Palmer. Campbell is the only incumbent running for the seat, as council member Bradley Pendleton decided to not run for reelection.

Betron was selected Thursday to fill an at-large seat left vacant by the resignation of Drew Foster, who is running for city judge. Foster is challenging incumbent Lewis Gregory.

The rest of the city’s races — clerk and City Council Districts 2, 3 and 6 — are uncontested. City council District 3 will be contested this fall as Republican incumbent Michael Williams will face a challenge from Democrat Manjit Nagra.

Franklin

The county seat will have one contested race this election cycle: city council at-large.

Four candidates are running for the city council’s two at-large seats. Republican incumbent Shawn Taylor will face newcomers Clayton Black, Ross Shilts and Todd Shuck. Incumbent Bob Heuchan is not seeking reelection.

The rest of the city’s races are uncontested, with incumbents filing for almost all of the open offices. Mayor Steve Barnett, City Judge Mark Loyd, and council members Josh Prine, Anne McGuinness, Jennifer Price, Ken Austin and Irene Nalley are uncontested.

For clerk-treasurer, newcomer Jan Jones filed on the Republican ticket. Incumbent clerk-treasurer Jayne Rhoades is retiring at the end of her term this year.

Bargersville

Republican voters in Bargersville will have contested clerk-treasurer and town council primary races.

Incumbent clerk-treasurer Nancy Kehl is facing a challenge from former town council member Dustin Doyle.

For the town council, at-large incumbents Ruth Ann Moore, Susie Qualls and James Rumell II are seeking reelection. They are being challenged in the primary by Roger D. Hitz, who ran unsuccessfully in the primary last year.

Democrat Blythe Potter has also filed for a town council at-large seat, meaning she will face three Republican candidates in the fall.

Whiteland

Voters in Whiteland will have two contested races to vote in for the May Republican primary: Town Council Wards 1 and 2.

For Ward 1, incumbent David Hawkins is being challenged by plan commission member Matthew Tim Brown. He previously ran against Hawkins for the seat in 2019.

In Ward 2, Current town council president Brad Goedeker will face former council member Scot Ford for the seat. Ford resigned from his at-large seat on the council in the middle of his term in 2021.

Other town council seats are uncontested for the primary. At-large incumbents Richard Hill and Joe Sayler are seeking reelection, though the seats will be contested in the fall by Democrat Jacquelyn “Jaylen” Marie Withem.

Town Council Ward 3 incumbent Laura Fleury is not seeking reelection. However, Debra Hendrickson, the town’s current clerk-treasurer, filed to run for the Ward 3 seat.

Melissa Fraser, the town’s deputy clerk, filed for the clerk-treasurer seat.

Trafalgar

There are 11 candidates running for the Trafalgar Town Council’s five at-large seats.

Incumbents Jeff Eisenmenger, Jessica Jones, Jason Ramey and Kyle Siegfred are seeking reelection. Newcomers Jackie Bryant, Rex Callon, Ashley Chaney, Bryan Gregg, Rick Morgan and Mike Peters have also filed for the seats. Former council member David Moore, who lost reelection in the 2019 primary is also running again.

Jerry Rafferty, who currently serves on the council, is not seeking reelection.

Incumbent Trafalgar Clerk-Treasurer Donna Moore is unopposed for reelection.

Prince’s Lakes

For the Prince’s Lakes Town Council, nine candidates have filed for the council’s five at-large seats. The candidates are Charlie Bourne, Anthony Giger, Richard Giger, Kevin Harrison, Katie Hendrickson, Lindsey Kelly, Greg Nelson, Bryan Tearman and James Young.

Nelson and Tearman are the only two incumbents to file. Current council members Mike Gallamore, Philip Montarsi and Karen Harrison are not seeking reelection.

Incumbent Prince’s Lakes Clerk-Treasurer Erica Giger is unopposed for reelection.

Low interest races

Edinburgh and New Whiteland voters won’t have choices to make in the primary. Both towns have uncontested races and races without a candidate.

In Edinburgh, three candidates are seeking three at-large seats on the town council: incumbents Miriam Rooks, Jeff Simpson and newcomer Sherri Sweet. Incumbent Dawn Graham is not seeking reelection.

Current Edinburgh clerk-treasurer Scott Findley didn’t file to run for reelection.

Only one candidate filed to run for the three seats on New Whiteland Town Council that will be on the ballot. Ward 3 incumbent John Perrin is seeking reelection, while Wards 1 and 4 do not have any candidates. Incumbents Chad Waltz and Dennis Combs did not file to seek reelection.

Incumbent clerk-treasurer Angela DeVoss, who was chosen in a caucus last year, filed to run for her first full term in office.

Local political parties will fill in the gaps on the ballot for New Whiteland council and Edinburgh clerk-treasurer through slating later this year.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR