Former St. Joseph County Dem chair withdraws from commissioner race; Westerhausen to run

SOUTH BEND — Jason Critchlow, the former St. Joseph County Democratic chairman who intended to run for county commissioner this year, said Thursday he is withdrawing and endorsing another Democrat amid the ongoing dispute over redrawn county election maps.

Critchlow said he is endorsing Don Westerhausen, a Granger cardiologist who announced his candidacy Thursday for the District 1 seat on the Board of Commissioners, the county’s executive body.

Two Republicans – Carl Baxmeyer and Robert “Butch” Wood – have filed to run for the GOP nomination.

Critchlow spent much of 2021 raising money for the election, but a redistricting plan approved by the commissioners in November would remove his home from District 1, currently represented by Andy Kostielney, the Republican president of the commissioners.

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The election maps are now held up in court, after the Democratic-controlled County Council filed a lawsuit seeking to block the GOP redistricting plan.

With the outcome of the redistricting fight unclear, Critchlow said, he decided to step aside for Westerhausen, whose home would fall within District 1 under both the previous map and the version passed by the commissioners.

“The County Council has filed litigation in court to challenge these maps, and as of this date, we don’t know when that’s going to be resolved,” Critchlow said. “Unfortunately, I think we’re at the point where the most responsible thing to do is to step aside now so another candidate can get their campaign up and running.”

The commissioners’ redistricting plan, proposed by Kostielney with help from former Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma’s law firm, would make sweeping changes to the county’s election maps and could give Republicans an edge for the next decade.

The plan would give Republicans a bigger advantage in two of the three commissioner districts, while shifting Democrats and racial minorities to the third. At the same time, the plan could give Republicans more favorable County Council seats, because three council districts must “nest” within each of the three commissioner districts.

At stake for Democrats is a two-thirds majority on the nine-member council, allowing them to override vetoes by the commissioners.

The council’s lawsuit argues the state laws that govern St. Joseph County’s unusual redistricting and election process are illegal under the Indiana constitution because they single out the county for different rules than the vast majority of the state.

St. Joseph County is unusual because it has a nine-member council, with every member elected by voters in one district. Almost every county in the state has a seven-member council, with four elected in districts and three elected by voters countywide. In most counties, all three commissioners are also elected countywide, whereas St. Joseph County’s are elected in districts.

The lawsuit alleges the current state law deprives St. Joseph County voters of the same privileges enjoyed in other counties, where every voter can help elect a majority of the council – one district member and three at-large members – plus all three commissioners.

Republicans, on the other hand, have pointed out Democrats never objected to St. Joseph County’s rules until now, when faced with a redistricting plan that won’t benefit them.

Westerhausen has run two unsuccessful campaigns for Indiana House District 5, losing narrowly to incumbent Republican state Rep. Dale DeVon in both 2018 and 2020. DeVon won by 427 votes – about 1.5 percentage points – in 2020 and by about 500 votes in 2018.

Critchlow announced his withdrawal at a press conference Thursday evening in downtown South Bend, with local Democratic officials on hand to throw their support behind Westerhausen.

No matter how the redistricting fight plays out, District 1 will be an open seat in this year’s election, after Kostielney announced in November that he would not seek re-election.

Baxmeyer has been a prominent figure in St. Joseph County Republican politics for more than three decades. He ran a close but unsuccessful race for South Bend mayor against Democrat Joe Kernan in 1987. He also ran unsuccessfully for Congress against Democrat Tim Roemer in 1992, and for the Indiana House against Democrat Ryan Dvorak in 2002.

Baxmeyer served as the St. Joseph County GOP chairman through much of the 1990s.

Wood is a Clay Township firefighter.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Democrat withdraws from St. Joseph County race amid maps dispute