Two previously
unopposed Duneland candidates now face challengers since Porter County’s
major party chairmen filled ballot vacancies last week.
Per Indiana Code,
Porter County’s respective Republican and Democratic party chairs had until
Tuesday, June 30 to directly appoint eligible citizens to fill ballot
vacancies in local races. All the proper paperwork had to be filed with the
Porter County Clerk’s office, or State Election Commission for state
representatives, by noon on Monday, July 6.
Incumbent District
9 State Representative Pat Boy (D-Michigan City) is now facing a challenge
from Republican Dion Bergeron. Bergeron was a Republican contender for the
District 1 U.S. House of Representatives seat in the recent primary.
Porter County
Republican party chair Michael Simpson told the Chesterton Tribune
that a Republican caucus on Saturday, June 27 picked Bergeron to challenge
Boy for the seat.
Simpson reported he
was unsuccessful in finding Republican candidates to face Democrat
incumbents in the races for County Treasurer and County Surveyor.
Porter County
Democratic party chair Jeffrey Chidester was not available for comment at
deadline today, but Chidester apparently found a Democrat to challenge
incumbent Republican County Commissioner Jim Biggs for the North district
seat: Becky Mateja Lombardini will face Biggs in November.
Meanwhile,
Libertarian candidates were nominated at party conventions, and the deadline
for Independent and minor party candidates to submit petitions of nomination
for verification of signatures was noon on Tuesday, June 30.
Ogden Dunes Town
Council members, who typically run as Independents, were required to file
their petitions of nomination by that date. Two seats are up for grabs on
the Ogden Dunes Town Council this cycle, and one candidate has filed in each
race: Karl Krizmanic in District 3 and Bernadette Brier Slawinski in
District 4.
Assistant Director
of Porter County Elections Becky Rauch reported this morning that no
Independent or minor party candidates had filed in other County races.
