Bloomington City Council incumbents Sgambelluri, Smith ousted in primary

Correction: This post was updated to correct vote totals for districts 1 and 5.

Big upsets dominated Tuesday’s primary election, which brought defeat to half of the current Bloomington City Council members who ran for re-election.

Along with two incumbent council members who chose not to seek re-election, that means at least five of nine council members will be new next year.

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City Council President Sue Sgambelluri got ousted in a nail-biter by fellow council member Kate Rosenbarger. And Ron Smith, the incumbent for District 3, lost to political newcomer Hopi Stosberg.

Three of the nine council members are elected city-wide, while six are elected only by voters in geographic districts. The district boundaries were redrawn last year. The rough geographical areas for the districts are northwest, southwest, southeast, northeast, north central and south central. You can find out which district you live in by consulting the map at this link: tinyurl.com/5n8szcm7.

Given that the Democratic Party dominates Bloomington politics, the eventual office holders usually are chosen in most — if not all — cases in the primary election. Only one Republican declared his candidacy for city council, in District 3, though the party has about two months to fill vacancies to set up general election clashes in the fall.

Here are Tuesday’s preliminary results by district.

District 1 (southwest): Voters choose Isabel Piedmont-Smith

Barring a Republican upset, council member Isabel Piedmont-Smith, a Democrat, will remain on the council through the next term, as she defeated her Democratic opponent, Joe Lee, by garnering just more than 58% of the votes cast. Piedmont Smith received 708 votes to Lee’s 509.

Piedmont-Smith, a former fiscal officer and department administrator in the department of French and Italian at Indiana University-Bloomington, is the current incumbent for District 5, but the redrawing of district boundaries has moved her into District 1.

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Joe Lee is a graphic novelist, teacher, historian and former cartoonist for The Herald-Times.No Republican has filed for the seat.

Piedmont-Smith said Tuesday night she was excited and exhausted as she visited every precinct once and some twice. But she said meeting people she normally wouldn’t meet and getting their perspectives on city issues was one of the best parts of campaigning.

She also said she believes her campaign priorities, including focusing on the city’s climate action plan, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving the city’s public transportation system and making housing more affordable and accessible resonated with voters.

District 2 (northwest): Kate Rosenbarger ousts Sue Sgambelluri

In a clash between two current city council members, including the current president, Sgambelluri, Rosenbarger won by 39 votes, a margin of less than 3% of the 1,319 votes cast.

Rosenbarger said Tuesday night that she believes her work on the ground, knocking on doors and talking to voters one-on-one made the difference.

Given current colleague Sgambelluri’s departure next year, Rosenbarger said her victory was "bittersweet."

District 3 (northeast): Newcomer Hopi Stosberg moves on

Stosberg, a former secondary math teacher, won the Democratic nomination for District 3 with more than 57% of the vote in a three-way race against IU Student Conner Wright and the incumbent, Smith, who is retired from the Indiana Division of Aging.

District 3 also has the only Republican candidate for city council, Brett Heinisch, an account specialist at Storage Express, who was unopposed.

Stosberg said Tuesday evening that she was still a little "shell shocked."

"This whole experience is a bit of a whirlwind," she said.

She said she was happy with the outcome of the "most strenuous job interview ever."

The Vermont native has lived in Bloomington for about 10 years and has children who are 12 and 15. Stosberg said as a former teacher, she has the heart of an educator and has been involved heavily in local parent-teacher organizations, as well as a local homeless shelter and in refugee resettlement.

She plans to focus on youth and education by making sure people have housing and support services that education systems are not equipped to provide.

Stosberg said she knocked on over 1,000 doors and probably talked to about 650 people during the campaign. And she said she plans to spend her time on the council as she did on her campaign: by putting in the time and the work.

"I’m just really thrilled that people trust me to do this," she said.

District 4 (south central): Dave Rollo unopposed

District 4 incumbent Dave Rollo was unopposed.

District 5 (southeast): Shruti Rana defeats Jenny Stevens

In District 5, Shruti Rana won a contest among political newcomers against Jenny Stevens. Rana is the senior assistant dean for curricular and undergraduate affairs, diversity officer, and professor of law at IU’s Maurer School of Law. Stevens is a grant accountant in IU's physics department. No Republican has filed. The district’s incumbent, Piedmont-Smith, could not defend her seat because of redistricting, but won the nomination for District 1.

Rana garnered more than 58% of the vote. She received 1,291 votes to Stevens’ 930.

"I’m just really honored," Rana said Tuesday evening.

She said she planned to focus on reproductive rights, child and health care, civil and human rights protections, and improving the public trust in government through collaboration.

District 6 (north central): David Wolfe Bender unopposed

District 6 candidate David Wolfe Bender also was unopposed, but the local election board is investigating him for alleged election fraud, which may affect his candidacy before the general election in the fall.

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Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington City Council: Sue Sgambelluri, Ron Smith out in primary