By FRED SWIFT
Candidate filing for the 2022 midterm election began Wednesday morning in Hamilton County and throughout Indiana. First in line at the county elections office was Steve Schwartz, Republican, running for re-election to the County Council. Also filing was Jeff Jellison, Republican, who is running for County Coroner, and Sheriff Dennis Quakenbush, Republican, who is running for re-election. Several other candidates filed in the first hour of the filing period.
Republican and Democrat candidates may file in their respective primaries until noon on Feb. 4. The primary elections will be held May 3 with winners advancing to the November general election.
Thirteen county-wide offices are on the ballot this year. All incumbents are Republicans, and most are expected to run for re-election, the exceptions being Assessor Robin Ward, Recorder Jennifer Hayden and Coroner John Chalfin.
Up for re-election are Sheriff Dennis Quakenbush, County Clerk Kathy Williams, Superior Court Judge Jon Brown, Prosecutor Lee Buckingham, County Commissioner Christine Altman and Council members Fred Glynn, Amy Massillamany, Steve Schwartz and Ken Alexander.
And, a judge for the newly created Superior Court 7 will be elected this year. Darren Murphy and Stephanie Gookins have announced their intentions to run for the new position in the GOP primary.
There are also 36 township offices at stake with all but one held by the GOP. Most will run for re-election, although Noblesville Trustee Tom Kenley and Clay Trustee Doug Callahan are retiring. Each of the county’s nine townships will elect a trustee and three board members this year.
In addition, the towns of Sheridan, Cicero and Atlanta will each elect two members to their town councils. And, both parties will elect delegates to their state conventions.
School board elections are also this year, but candidates do not file until July for the November non-partisan elections.
In the wider 2022 election, U.S. Sen. Todd Young and Congresswoman Victoria Spartz will be running for re-election.
Filing for 2022 Primary begins
Filing for state convention delegate and other offices began on Wednesday, Jan. 5. For information on how to file, please click here.
The Indiana Republican Party rules require candidates who file for office, including convention delegates, to be in good standing and to have voted in a minimum of the two most recent Republican primaries.
There has been misinformation floating around about whether Republican precinct committeemen have to file again for election in 2022, but they do not – only Democrat precinct committeemen file this year.
For a list of offices to be elected next year, click here.