Mike Wolanin | The Republic Columbus City Council District 5 candidate Kent Anderson, center, and his wife Kathja, right, talk with Candi Hester during the Bartholomew County Republican Party election results watch party at The Forge on 4th in Columbus on Tuesday. Anderson won his election.
Republicans gained a 5-4 majority on the Columbus City Council after Tuesday’s election, which ushered in the city’s first nine-member council.
City council increased from seven to nine members after Columbus’ transition to a “second-class” city based on population size. Doing so added a sixth council district and a third at-large seat.
Following are the results of city council district races, excluding the new Council District 6, in which Republican Jay Foyst defeated Democrat Bryan Munoz. That race, which involves an ongoing court challenge over Foyst’s eligibility, is covered in a separate story.
District 1
Republican Christopher Bartels won the Columbus City Council District 1 seat, defeating Democratic challenger Nick Slabaugh.
“I’m so appreciative of the process, the people and our community,” Bartels, 39, said. “Knocking on doors was an experience that I feel everyone should go out and have. And if that’s a glimpse of what city council is going to be about, I’m super excited and I’m ready to put in the work.”
Bartels said his priorities include continued downtown growth, education, parks department projects and increasing community involvement with parks and city programs.
Slabaugh, 38, who is also a political newcomer and employee at IDMWorks Inc., thanked his supporters.
“I just want to thank all my supporters and all the people who came out and voted,” Slabaugh said. “I hope my opponent does a great job. I think he cares about the city, and I hope he puts that in action.”
The District 1 seat is currently held by Councilman Jerone Wood, a Democrat. Wood was successful in his bid for the District 3 seat in Tuesday’s election due to the new council district maps that were drawn after the 2020 U.S. Census and the city’s decision to adopt second-class status.
District 2
Democrat Elaine Hilber has won a third term on the Columbus City Council.
A 37-year-old account manager at Cummins, Inc., Hilber was able to garner 54.34% of the vote to win the District 2 seat. Her challenger, Victoria Griffin, 64, earned 45.66% .
According to her husband, Jordan, Elaine Hilber has been earning respect in the community long before she earned her council seat. Her current involvement includes serving as a United Way board member and on the Animal Care Services board.
“I try to stay involved in the community as much as I can,” Elaine Hilber said. “I want to serve Columbus the best that I can with my time, talent and abilities.”
As a council member, she currently serves on the Incentive Review Committee, the Capital Committee and the Ordinance Review Committee.
The retired Griffin has previously served as a board member of the Columbus Area Arts Council, the Columbus Parks Foundation and the Heritage Fund — the Community Foundation of Barthlomew County. Hilber says she has to commend Griffin for her strong campaign efforts.
“I love to see people door-knocking, coming to every city council meeting, meeting with department heads,” Hilber said. “That’s what every candidate should do to win, and I really appreciate how (Griffin) really put in the work.”
District 2 encompasses southwest portions of the city. Due to recent redistricting changes, some areas that were previously included in the district that are now part of District 1, including downtown Columbus and a stretch of Jonathan Moore Pike from the East Fork White River to County Road 350W. Despite the change, District 2 was still estimated to be the largest district in terms of population, with city officials calculating during the redistricting process that the changes would reduce its numbers from 12,337 residents to 9,135.
District 3
Voters in the city’s third district have sent Democrat Jerone Wood back to the Columbus City Council to serve a second term.
Although the race was tight between Wood and Republican challenger Sue Norman-Chapple for most of Tuesday night, the incumbent pulled ahead in the last half-hour of vote counting with the victory.
However, the race wasn’t nearly as close as when Wood defeated incumbent Republican Dascal Bunch by one vote in 2019. While a three-person recount commission was formed, their findings did not change the outcome of the race. Coincidentally, one of the commission members was Norman-Chapple.
Wood says his win on Tuesday gave him the same exhilaration he felt with his first electoral victory in 2019. “You never know the outcome until the numbers come in. So I just sat there with my family in the exact same spot (at the Hotel Indigo) where we were four years ago waiting on the results. It was a great feeling to know that the hard work paid off, and people were willing to give me their vote again.”
Priorities will remain affordable housing and trying to eliminate homelessness. “But I want to make sure we put our youth in the forefront as well.”
A coach and physical education teacher, the 34-year-old Wood received 52.34% of the vote, while Norman-Chapple earned 47.66%. The GOP challenger works as an intake specialist at Adult Protective Services, but spent 27 years with the ColumBus Transit system.
Since he won his first election, Wood has become better recognized in the community not only for his work as a coach, but also for his involvement with Cordell and Friends, a nonprofit that advocates for children with autism.
Norman-Chapple has worked extensively with veterans organizations.
Districts were redrawn after Columbus sought and received second-class city status. That’s why Wood is currently the District 1 council member, but won in District 3 this election.
District 4
Republican City Council District 4 representative Frank Miller defeated Democratic rival Keegan Hill, winning a fourth term in the seat that includes much of central Columbus, largely east and south of downtown.
Miller, 70, a longtime local businessman active in many local community and civic organizations, overcame a challenge from Hill, 33, a warehouse technician who was making his first bid for elective office.
Miller said he was unable to participate in election night celebrations with fellow Republicans because he was quarantining at home as he recovers from COVID.
During a brief telephone interview Tuesday night, Miller said he believes voters returned him to office because “I think overall, most of the the residents not just of my district, but the entire city,” respect his work ethic on behalf of Columbus, regardless of party or which district they call home.
He said his view is that, once elected, council members represent not just the district that elected them, but all residents of the city.
“I’ve always taken a bipartisan view of things and tried to compromise across party lines,” he said.
He noted as an example next Thursday’s panel discussion on homelessness at the Donner Center where he will join with Democratic council members Grace Kestler and Elaine Hilber to seek solutions.
District 5
After one of the closest city council races of the night, District 5 — generally northwestern Columbus — has a new city council representative.
Republican Kent Anderson, 55, chief manufacturing officer of NineTwelve Solutions and executive director of the Emerging Manufacturing Collaboration Center in Indianapolis, was elected Tuesday to succeed Republican Tim Shuffett, who chose not to seek a fourth city council term.
Anderson edged Democrat Eric Riddle, 43, development coordinator at Faith in Place, who had held a slight lead in early voting results before Election Day ballots were tallied. Anderson prevailed by a margin of 52.37% to 47.63%.
“It didn’t surprise me” that the race was so close, Anderson said, noting he knows Riddle well — they both attend First Presbyterian Church. “Eric Riddle is a great guy and he ran a phenomenal campaign … he was an extremely strong opponent.”
Anderson said he hopes to focus on economic development, which he stressed in his campaign and said resonated with voters. He also looks forward to seeing more detail in the budgeting process.
He said the city elections overall set “a great tone across the entire city on all sides, and I think that’s an example that’s great for the people.”
Riddle agreed, and noted he felt he was an underdog in the race, having not run in the primary and facing a strong candidate in a Republican-leaning district. He noted he spent a lot of time Tuesday with Anderson at the Donner Center.
“That’s a good sign this town wants to pull together to be able to do good work,” Riddle said. “I love this town. It’s been a great experience.”
— Stories compiled by Dave Stafford, Andy East and Mark Webber.
