County Elections

Are you getting confused already about the number of names being kicked around for races in 2006 in Porter County?

Here's what I've heard:
The Big Election is the one for county commissioner. We currently have a Democratic controlled county with two commissioners on the Dem side and one on the Rep. side. The key Dem, the one standing for re-election this year, is the guy that is most hated by the business community. He has basically suggested that Porter County has grown enough, time to put all that growth to a stop! The Republicans have not put forward a name yet, and that has me really worried, they need to make an announcement fast.

Recently the race for county auditor became a big deal. It seems the current rep. office holder isnt any good at running the office. The republicans are actually encouraging a primary battle to knock her off!

Sherriff is kind of hard to make into a political race. The current office holder can't run again. His deputy David Lains is the hands-down favorite to take the job, probably for 8 years and two terms. The Republicans have two nice people running but they probably don't have the horses at this point.

The county council, which primarily controls the purse, is also dem controlled. The races this year are district races. So there is one in the south part of the county, which will probably stay dem with Mike Buko. There is one in center, which is a rep seat and will have a primary battle on the rep side ... Probably stays republican with a new councilperson in Karen Conover. There is one in Portage, this is Democratic land and stays Dem. Lastly, there is one in the Chesterton area currently held by the dems ... this one could flip to the republicans. A one seat swing to the republicans would flip control of the council.

State Representative Ralph Ayres is bullet-proof for re-election. State Senator Tallian is headed into a show-down, but the republicans have yet to say with whom. This race only matters because the senate is majority republican, and therefore a democrat seat holder is kinda a waste for Porter County.

So, watch for announcements in the next month on the republican side! Looks like some kind of fun.

Times Article on Auditor Race