PORTER COUNTY — With less than a week to go for candidates to sign up for the May 5 primary, most municipal seats remain uncontested within parties.
As of Friday, many seats don’t have any candidates.
The ones that do have people registered as candidates only have a candidate from one party.
The deadline to register is noon Friday with the Porter County Voter’s Registration office, 155 Indiana Ave. in Valparaiso.
However, the parties can appoint candidates by caucus or by voting to allow the party’s county chairs to appoint someone, Porter County Republican Chair Mike Simpson said.
All the city copuncil seats in Valparaiso have one Republican candidate, including the three City Council seats where the incumbents have announced they won’t run again.
Robert Ordway is running for the First District seat now held by Bob Taylor, Matt Murphy is running for the Third District seat held by Joey Larr and Lenore Hoffman is running for the Fourth District seat held by Mike Baird.
Tim Daly is running to retain his Second District seat, and John Bowker is running to retain his Fifth District seat, and for the at-large City Council seats, incumbent Jan Dick is running again and Trista Hudson, who was chosen on Jan. 28 to fill the seat vacated by Deb Butterfield, has filed to run in her first election.
Incumbents Mayor Jon Costas and Clerk-Treasurer Sharon Emerson Swihart are running again
No Democrats have filed for any Valparaiso seats.
In Portage, incumbent Republican Mayor James E. Snyder hasn’t filed for the May primary yet, but two Democrats have, J. Robert Casko and Leo Thomas Hatch Jr.
Portage Clerk-Treasurer Christopher D. Stidham, the Democrat incumbent, is running unopposed in the primary, and no Democrats have filed.
For the City Council, the At-Large seats now held by Democrats Sue Lynch and Mark Oprisko have no candidates filed.
All the City Council seats have one official candidate with Republican incumbent Elizabeth T. Modesto running for the First District seat and Republican James Hazzard running for the Second District seat now held by Democrat Patrick Clem, who hasn’t filed.
Democrat Scott Williams has filed to run for the Third District seat now held by Republican Ted Uzelac, who hasn’t filed, while Republican incumbent John M. Cannon is the only person running for the Fourth District seat and Democrat Collin W. Czilli is the sole candidate filed for the Fifth District seat now held by Democrat Matt Scheuer,
In Chesterton, incumbent Republican Stephanie Kuziela remains the sole candidate for the Clerk-Treasurer position, and the only primary run-off will be between First Ward Republican incumbent Jim Ton and Republican Jeff Trout.
In the Second Ward, Republican Lloyd (Buck) Kittredge Jr. has filed for the seat which the town’s website lists as vacant, and in the Third Ward, Democrat Dane Lafata and Republican Aaron Adcock have filed for the seat now held by Republican Nick Walding.Unless another Democrat or Republican file for the seat, there won’tt be a primary race for it
Republican Emerson Delaney has filed to retain his Fifth Ward seat, but no one has filed for the Fourth Ward seat now held by Council President and Democrat Sharon Darnell, who announced she won’t run for a fifth term.
The Town of Porter will see a May primary between two Republicans running for the Clerk-Treasurer position, incumbent Carol Pomeroy and challenger Zathoe Sexton, while three Democrats are the only Town Council candidates registered.
Erik Wagner is running for the First Ward seat now held by David Wodrich; Greg Stinson, who’s identified as the Fifth Ward Council Member on the town’s website is listed on the Porter County website as running for the Second Ward seat now held by Republican Jeannine Virtue; and William Lopez is running for the Third Ward seat now occupied by Republican Rob Pomeroy.
Kouts has two Republican incumbents filed with Laurie Tribble running for Clerk-Treasurer and Town Council Member James R. Murphy running for the Third District seat.
In Burns Harbor, the only candidate that has filed for any position is Democrat incumbent Jane M. Jordan for Clerk-Treasurer.
Beverly Shores, Dune Acres, Ogden Dunes and Pines have no candidates for their Clerk-Treasurer posts or their Town Council positions.
