'It's your time': Stephanie Terry earns place in history with win in Evansville mayor race

EVANSVILLE — Minutes before Stephanie Terry announced her candidacy for mayor in January, she took a photo in front of the city's wall of mayors.

Currently that wall on the Civic Center's third floor boasts 33 framed photos of white men, with outgoing, three-term Mayor Lloyd Winnecke soon to be the 34th.

That streak ended Tuesday, as Terry won a historic Evansville election, becoming the first woman and first Black person to win the mayor's seat.

She shared the photo via social media and in an email newsletter Tuesday morning encouraging the public to make history with her.

Tuesday evening, Terry told the Courier & Press that snapshot early in her race was intentional.

"I walked past that wall thousands of times and really said to myself, 'When will this ever change?'" the current Vanderburgh County Council member said. "But I didn't believe it for myself. It really means a lot that I can be standing here and that the community would believe in me enough to be in this position to lead our city."

Terry said her win will encourage people.

"I think along this journey people always said they want something new, something different," she said. "But the fact of the matter is, there are a lot of people who believe nothing will change, so this is I think a glimpse of hope."

A clean campaign

Vanderburgh County Democratic Party Chairwoman Cheryl Shultz said it's been "wonderful" having Terry as a candidate.

"Stephanie set a high bar for us when she said she would run. No negativity, we're going to keep it positive, we're going to keep it above board. And we've done that," she said.

The mayoral race was mostly positive until the last couple weeks, when Libertarian Michael Daugherty and Republican Natalie Rascher, along with the Vanderburgh County GOP, began to take jabs at each other via mailers and on social media.

Terry didn't enter the ring with them, sending out a Facebook post and email saying she wouldn't go that direction.

"I have noticed both of my opponents attacking one another as we get closer to Election Day," she wrote in the email. "From the start, our positive campaign has been about our city, its people, and our vision for a better Evansville."

Terry promised the voters she would continue with a "positive vision" as the campaign got closer to its final days. And that message continued Tuesday night as she addressed a crowd of supporters.

"It means it's time for Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians (and) independents all to put aside their differences and come together because we've got work to do," she said. "We want to build a better Evansville."

Terry said she had spoken to Rascher after the numbers came in. The Republican had wished her well.

"Sometime soon we'll have an opportunity to sit down and talk about how she can be a part of the future of Evansville," Terry said.

She did not say she had spoken to Daugherty as of Tuesday night.

'It's your time'

Terry said it was Zac Heronemus, the Democratic First Ward city councilor, and Indiana State Rep. Ryan Hatfield who first supported her run for mayor as they sat in Jaya's Authentic Foods downtown.

"They were the first ones to say, 'Stephanie, it's your time,'" she said.

Public interest swirled around who the Democrats would select. And by mid-January, there was still no mayoral candidate with a "D" by their name.

Terry was at the top of the list, widely rumored to be the choice, but there was no acknowledgement from the party. Terry announced her candidacy about a week ahead of the filing deadline.

"Public service is a very serious responsibility," she said at the time. "I wanted to be sure that this was the right step for me at this time in life, and for my family, to pursue this opportunity."

In her victory speech, Terry acknowledged the stress of a campaign on her family, but said they're only stronger now.

"Thank you for sharing me with all these people," Terry said, facing her husband and son with tears in her eyes. "... No weapon formed against us will prosper."

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Stephanie Terry takes place in history with Evansville mayoral win