2023 Election: Democrats reign over all of South Bend council seats
SOUTH BEND — Democrats will hold all nine seats on the South Bend Common Council, thanks to Tuesday's municipal elections. Among them, the historically Republican-held 5th District seat came by a thin margin where it's unclear if there will be a recount.
2nd District
Democrat Ophelia Gooden-Rodgers won the 2nd District council seat on what she said was purely hard work, claiming 931 votes, or 83% of the votes. She beat Republican Roosevelt Stewart, with 190 votes, or 17%, who said Tuesday night, “I felt like things were stacked against me.”
Republicans have to work much harder, he said, “in a predominantly Democratic state.”
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“We just want to even things across the board,” he said of Republicans. “Both of them (the parties) have good ideas.”
Stewart's campaign suffered a challenge after he was arrested and charged with allegedly punching and choking his 15-year-old daughter this August. He later denied the allegations to The Tribune, saying his daughter fabricated them in a scheme for him to exit the race following apparent vandalism to his property.
“That was pretty much a stunt,” he said, believing that the charges would soon be dropped.
“I don’t think that’s a factor (in election results),” Gooden-Rodgers said of the charges. “I think it’s the way you carry yourself.”
She will replace councilor Henry Davis Jr., who left the seat to run unsuccessfully for mayor this spring.
Davis endorsed Stewart last week.
Oct. 13, 2023: Republican candidate alleged to have punched, choked 15-year-old daughter denies charges
Stewart, who runs a youth development nonprofit, said he’s still happy that he took a shot at running for the council seat.
3rd District
Democrat incumbent Sharon McBride will keep her 3rd District seat on the council, with 1,125 votes, or 66%, over Republican Sonia Perez, who won 589 votes, or 34%.
Perez went into Tuesday night feeling that she had a real shot at winning. She said she’d worked hard and got out into the community. The St. Joseph County GOP had paid nearly $3,800 to support her, according to campaign finance records. But McBride, too, said she had to work extra hard to keep her seat.
McBride has been the 3rd District council member since 2018 and the council president since the beginning of 2022. A lifelong South Bend resident, McBride has been the executive director of the St. Joseph County DuComb Center, a community-based residential correctional facility, for 14 years.
Perez works as a Spanish medical interpreter at local hospitals and a deputy clerk in the St. Joseph County clerk's office.
5th District
By a mere 37 votes, Democrat Sherry Bolden-Simpson beat incumbent Eli Wax for the 5th District seat that Republicans have held for decades. She garnered 1,413 votes to his 1,376 votes.
“I’ll take a look at it tomorrow,” Wax said Tuesday night, undecided over whether he’ll challenge the results. “It’s within the margin of a recount. … I don’t have a plan right now.”
If there will be a recount, Bolden-Simpson said, she’s not concerned because they don’t always overturn the results.
She credited her victory to the relationships that her campaign built with voters, a skill she says she picked up by being a member of Faith in Indiana, an advocacy group that works by connecting one-on-one with people.
Particularly, she said, her campaigners reached out to people who don’t typically vote.
Democratic Mayor James Mueller commended Wax, who in three years has been known for staying on good terms as the lone Republican on a nine-member council.
"He exhibited what the Republican party used to be about, used to be about finding common ground, about working together for the betterment of our community," Mueller said. “But nevertheless the Republican party has a lot to answer for. It's become too extreme. … We need a functional Republican party on the other side. And I hope that they figure this out. This should be a wake-up call to them."
Bolden-Simpson, a lifelong South Bend resident and director of guidance at Rise Up Academy, said she’d run because too many people in the city are living in despair and struggling to get by.
"We will continue our fight for mental health services,” she said. “We’ve got to take care of this gun violence with our babies getting shot. It hurts my heart, and we can do this together across our differences."
At large
Three familiar Democrats claimed the at-large seats on the council, each winning about 25% to 27% of the votes.
Oliver Davis Jr. will return to the council, having left in 2019 to run for South Bend mayor. He also went on to pursue a county commissioner seat. He won neither, but he said that only broadened him as a candidate, adding, “It’s not a loss, it’s how you shape the loss.”
He’d previously served 12 years on the council.
Mental health issues remain a top concern for Davis, and he suspects there’s “backlash” that Republicans may be getting this year as a result of decisions by Republicans in county government to, for example, close the Portage Manor county home for adults with disabilities and mental illness.
The other two at-large winners are incumbents Karen White and Rachel Tomas Morgan. White has been on the council since 2000. Tomas Morgan won her first term in 2019.
Republican newcomer Rhonda Richards failed to edge her way into an at-large council seat, but she didn’t have hard feelings.
“I still hope this will bring a change, because South Bend needs it,” she said, feeling that the council needs Republicans to balance out the Democratic voices.
“I’m not against any one of them,” she said of the council Democrats. “I was looking forward to working with them.”
Heidi Sunje-Bell also ran as a Republican, but she was hardly seen through the campaign.
Uncontested
Three districts were uncontested and easy wins for three Democrats: Canneth Lee (District 1), Troy Warner (District 4) and Sheila Niezgodski (District 6).
South Bend Tribune reporter Joseph Dits can be reached at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: 2023 Election: Democrats sweep South Bend city council seats
