Filing deadline passes; lots of challengers shake up races for South Bend city offices

SOUTH BEND — After Friday's filing deadline, there are more than a dozen candidates challenging South Bend officeholders.

Four Republicans are vying for spots on the nine-member South Bend Common Council, while one is running for mayor. Both institutions have long been run by Democrats, with the city's last Republican mayor having been elected in 1967. The council features only one Republican.

But five younger Democrats, many of whom are involved in Black Lives Matter South Bend or similar activism, have also announced challenges to incumbent councilors. A city councilor who ran for mayor in 2015 will challenge South Bend Mayor James Mueller.

Stakes for the city clerk race are also high after months of disarray between the clerk and the Common Council culminated in a highly unusual meeting cancellation last month. One Republican and two Democrats, including a consultant whom the Council has been paying as a liaison to the clerk's office, will challenge incumbent Dawn Jones.

More:Dysfunction between city clerk and Council brings steep consulting fees, canceled meeting

Voter registration for the primary election ends April 3. Absentee voting begins the next day. Primary election day is May 2, while the general election is Nov. 7.

Here's a roundup of all the primary candidates. More may file this summer as candidates for the general election.

South Bend mayor

In the May primary election, South Bend Mayor James Mueller will face Henry Davis Jr., who’s giving up his seat on the Common Council to run for mayor a second time. Desmont Upchurch is the only Republican who filed to run for the city's top job.

Davis lost his 2015 mayoral bid to incumbent Pete Buttigieg. During his three terms on the council, he has positioned himself as an outsider who’s unafraid to criticize the mayor and the city administration at large.

Upchurch is fresh off a narrow defeat in the St. Joseph County auditor’s race. An Army recruiter for two decades, he’s involved in the South Bend chapter of the NAACP and local youth violence intervention efforts. He was a citizen adviser on the Common Council’s Health and Safety Committee.

South Bend city clerk

Democrats Bianca Tirado and Jason Banicki will run against City Clerk Dawn Jones, who was appointed in a 2019 special caucus to serve as clerk. Tina Wilson is the only Republican clerk candidate.

The Tribune recently documented months of dysfunction between Jones and Common Council leaders, which led to thousands of dollars in consulting fees to ensure the council could do its business effectively.

Editorial:Taxpayers footing the bill for dysfunction among South Bend city officials

Tirado worked as deputy clerk for more than four years before resigning last April. Since then, she’s been paid by the Common Council to perform training for clerk’s employees and to carry out basic tasks like organizing meetings and sending emails.

Jason Banicki, a Washington High School graduate, worked in community corrections for more than five years and later transitioned to a career in sales. He ran for the 6th District council seat in 2019.

Wilson owns Oshun Beauty Bar in South Bend, where she works as an esthetician, performing cosmetic skin treatments.

South Bend Common Council

Which council district do you live in?

An interactive map with this story at southbendtribune.com will tell you which district is yours.

1st District: Councilor Canneth Lee, D-1, will face a primary challenge from Democrat Nick Hamann in the race to represent the city’s northwest side.

Lee, a pastor at Kingdom Christian Center who's active in gun violence intervention outreach, was chosen in a July 2020 special caucus to represent the district after former council president Tim Scott resigned.

Hamann lives in the Keller Park neighborhood and works as a safety compliance consultant. A graduate of St. Joseph High School and the University of Notre Dame, his focus is to revitalize the Portage-Midtown neighborhood and update the city’s approach to public safety.

2nd District: As councilor Henry Davis Jr., D-2, leaves his seat to mount a primary challenge in the mayoral race, two Democrats and one Republican are vying to represent much of the city’s west side.

Democrats Jorden Giger and Ophelia Gooden-Rodgers will compete in the May primary for the Democratic bid.

Giger co-founded Black Lives Matter South Bend and is a consistent voice in debates about social injustice. Gooden-Rodgers, a 1972 graduate of LaSalle High School, worked for decades at A.M. General before retiring.

Republican Roosevelt Stewart, 45, said he runs a nonprofit at which he works with young people on social development and conflict resolution. He moved to South Bend from Detroit in his 20s.

3rd District: Council President Sharon McBride, D-3, will face a primary challenge from Democrat Drew Duncan, and Sonia Perez is running on the Republican ticket. District 3 comprises neighborhoods on the near southeast side as well as River Park.

McBride became council president at the beginning of 2022. Since 2011, she’s been the director of the St. Joseph County Community Corrections DuComb Center.

Duncan, 32, is the former political action chair for the South Bend branch of the NAACP. An Indiana University South Bend alum, he now works in marketing.

Perez, 29, is the community outreach coordinator at La Casa de Amistad, a community center that serves Michiana’s Latino and immigrant community.

4th District: Troy Warner, D-4, will run unopposed in the May primary to represent the northeast side of town, from the East Bank to neighborhoods surrounding the University of Notre Dame.

After working in construction for years, Warner studied to earn his law degree in 2015 and now works as the attorney for the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department. He’s in the final year of his first term.

5th District: The lone Republican on the Common Council, Eli Wax, R-5, won’t face a primary challenger. Sherry Bolden-Simpson and Patrick Reighter will compete in May for the Democratic nomination. The 5th District comprises neighborhoods on the far southeast side.

Republicans chose Wax, an associate with the law firm Anderson Agostino Keller, in a special caucus in late 2020. At 37, he’s the youngest councilor. He is believed to be the council’s first Orthodox Jewish member.

Bolden-Simpson served as principal at Dickinson Fine Arts Academy, a public school near the South Bend airport for students in grades 6-8. Now she's a director at Rise Up Academy, a non-traditional high school.

Reighter has lived in South Bend for three decades and works as a financial adviser at Edward Jones. Before pursuing his MBA at Indiana University to become an adviser, he worked for years as a chef.

6th District: Council Vice President Sheila Niezgodski, D-5, will face primary challenger Bruce Mitchell this May in a race to represent the city’s southwest side.

Bruce Mitchell Jr., 32, is an Army veteran and the leader of a local organization called BE YOU, whose mission is “to inspire everyday people to be their best selves.” He graduated from Washington High School.

Niezgodski joined the Council in January 2020. Also an Army veteran, she’s been involved with the League of Women Voters and American Legion Post 284. She manages the office of her family business, Niezgodski Plumbing.

At-Large: Five Democrats and two Republicans will compete to fill the three at-large seats on the Common Council. Democrats Karen White, Lori Hamann and Rachel Tomas Morgan currently serve on the council.

Heidi-Sunje Bell, 56, and Rhonda Richards, 60, are the Republican candidates. Bell said she's a long-term care manager at Real Services, a social services provider. Richards has worked for various nonprofits and developed accounting knowledge working at a tax office.

Competing with the three Democratic incumbents are Oliver Davis and LaQuita Hughes.

Davis, a social worker, served on the Common Council for 12 years before he ran for mayor in 2019. Hughes is a small business owner who runs a daycare in South Bend and graduated from Bethel University.

Contact South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at 574-235-6480 or JTsmith@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Many candidates challenge South Bend mayor, city councilors and clerk