No incumbents defeated in Fort Wayne primary, incumbent mayor advances with 86% of the vote


Fort Wayne, Indiana, held partisan primaries for mayor, city clerk, and all nine city council seats on May 7, 2019. Nine incumbents filed for re-election and all advanced to the general election on November 5, 2019.
 
Current Mayor Tom Henry (D) defeated two challengers in the Democratic primary, Gina Burgess and Tommy Schrader, receiving 86.2% of the vote. Henry will face Tim Smith (R) in the general election. Smith received 56.4% of the vote in the Republican primary. He faced candidates John Crawford and David Roach.
 
The Fort Wayne City Clerk Democratic and Republican primary elections both featured unopposed candidates. Incumbent Lana Keesling is facing Katie Zuber in the general election.
 
A total of 25 candidates filed for the nine city council seats. Seven incumbents are seeking another term on the board; one at-large incumbent and the District 6 incumbent did not file for re-election. District 1 incumbent Paul Ensley (R) and District 2 incumbent Russ Jehl (R) did not face challengers in the primary and are unopposed in the general election. District 5 incumbent Geoff Paddock (D) was also unopposed in the primary but faces Taylor Vanover (R) in the general. District 6 candidate Sharon Tucker (D) is the last unopposed candidate in the general election. She defeated two other candidates in the Democratic primary. The remaining six races are all contested.
 
Independent candidates have until July 1 to file for election. Fort Wayne is the second-largest city in Indiana and the 75th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
 
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