Elections are held in
Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
to elect
the city's mayor. Currently, such elections are regularly scheduled to be held every four years, in the year immediately preceding that of
United States presidential election
The election of the president and the vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty U.S. states or in Washington, D.C., cast ballots not dire ...
s.
Elections before 1987
1987
The 1987 Fort Wayne mayoral election was held on November 3, 1987, to elect the mayor of
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
, United States. It saw the election of Republican
Paul Helmke
Walter Paul Helmke, Jr. (born 1948) is an American politician, and the former president of the Washington, DC-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. He held this position from July 2006 to July 10, 2011. , who unseated Democratic incumbent
Winfield Moses
Winfield "Win" C. Moses Jr. (born February 20, 1943) is a retired American politician from Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Education
Moses graduated from South Side High School in Fort Wayne in 1960. He then went on to Indiana University, where he graduat ...
.
1991
The 1991 Fort Wayne mayoral election was held on November 5, 1991, to elect the mayor of
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
, United States. It saw the reelection of Republican incumbent
Paul Helmke
Walter Paul Helmke, Jr. (born 1948) is an American politician, and the former president of the Washington, DC-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. He held this position from July 2006 to July 10, 2011. .
1995
The 1995 Fort Wayne mayoral election was held on November 7, 1995, to elect the mayor of
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
, United States. It saw the reelection of Republican incumbent
Paul Helmke
Walter Paul Helmke, Jr. (born 1948) is an American politician, and the former president of the Washington, DC-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. He held this position from July 2006 to July 10, 2011. . , this is the last time a Republican was elected Mayor of Fort Wayne.
Nominations
Democratic primary
Wayne Township Trustee Thomas Essex won the Democratic primary with 4,056 votes.
Republican primary
Some Republicans speculated that Helmke, who had ties to the
Clinton administration
Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...
, might have been endangered in his primary. However, contrarily, he handily won his primary with 75% of the vote (7,717 votes).
[
]
Libertarian nomination
Libertarians nominated William Kempf.
General election
The race was projected by Howey Political Report to be "safe Republican", with Helmke anticipated to be easily reelected.
1999
The 1999 Fort Wayne mayoral election was held on November 2, 1999, to elect the mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
, United States. It saw the election of Democrat Graham Richard
Graham Richard is an American politician and entrepreneur and former mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana, serving from 2000–2008.
Post-mayoral work
Since leaving mayoral office, Graham A. Richard has become a strong advocate for improving local and ...
, who defeated Republican Linda Buskirk by a narrow margin.
Nominations
Democratic primary
Running for the Democratic nomination was Graham Richard, Agnes Hopkins, and David Roach.
Republican primary
Running for the Republican nomination was Linda Buskirk and Allen County Sheriff Joe Squadrito.[ While he had been seen as a frontrunner,][ Squadrito ultimately lost the primary to Buskirk.
]
Independent candidates
Independent candidate
An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent.
Some politicians have political views th ...
s Sherri Emerson and William B. Dinkins also ran.
General election
2003
The 2003 Fort Wayne mayoral election was held on November 4 to elect the mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
, US. It saw the reelection of Democratic incumbent Graham Richard
Graham Richard is an American politician and entrepreneur and former mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana, serving from 2000–2008.
Post-mayoral work
Since leaving mayoral office, Graham A. Richard has become a strong advocate for improving local and ...
, who again defeated Republican Linda Buskirk in what was a rematch of the 1999 election.
Nominations
Primary election
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
s were held May 8.
During its primaries, the voter turnout in Allen County, in which Fort Wayne is located, was 11.9%.[
]
Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
The election was projected as a "tossup". Despite the race having been projected to be close, Richard won a sizable victory over Buskirk.[
During the general election, the voter turnout in Allen County, in which Fort Wayne is located, was 30.63%.][
2003 was a good year for Democrats in Indiana's mayoral elections, with the party winning control of the mayoralties of all of the state's top seven most populous cities for the first time since 1959.] The Democratic Party also won control of the mayoralties in twenty of the state's thirty cities with populations above 25,000.[ Additionally, in 2003, Democrats won more than 56% of partisan mayoral races in Indiana.
During the general election, Allen County, where Fort Wayne is located, saw voter turnout of 25% in its various elections.
]
2007
The 2007 Fort Wayne mayoral election was held on November 6 to elect the mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
, United States. It saw the election of Democrat Tom Henry
Thomas Christopher Henry
(biography), ''The Waynedale News'', September 1, 2009 (born November 8 ...
.
Incumbent mayor Graham Richard
Graham Richard is an American politician and entrepreneur and former mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana, serving from 2000–2008.
Post-mayoral work
Since leaving mayoral office, Graham A. Richard has become a strong advocate for improving local and ...
did not seek reelection to a third term.
Nominations
Primary election
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
s were held May 8.
Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
In August, Kelty was indicted
An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of an ...
over perjury and campaign finance charges. While he denied wrongdoing, this story dominated the campaign.
During the general election, Allen County, where Fort Wayne is located, saw voter turnout of 21% in its various elections.
Aftermath
In October 2008, Kelty pleaded guilty to several of the campaign finance charges brought against him.
Henry would go on to be reelected in 2011, 2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
, and 2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
.
2011
The 2011 Fort Wayne mayoral election was held on November 8 to elect the mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
, United States. It saw the reelection of Democrat Tom Henry
Thomas Christopher Henry
(biography), ''The Waynedale News'', September 1, 2009 (born November 8 ...
.
Nominations
Primary election
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
s were held May 3.
During the primary elections, the voter turnout in Allen County, in which Fort Wayne is located, was 12.78%.[
]
Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
During the general election, the voter turnout in Allen County, in which Fort Wayne is located, was 26.21%.[
]
2015
The 2015 Fort Wayne mayoral election was held on November 3 to elect the mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
, United States. It saw the reelection of Democrat Tom Henry
Thomas Christopher Henry
(biography), ''The Waynedale News'', September 1, 2009 (born November 8 ...
to a third term.
Nominations
Primary election
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
s were held May 5.
During the primary elections, the voter turnout in Allen County, in which Fort Wayne is located, was 9.82%.[
]
Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
During the general election, the voter turnout in Allen County, in which Fort Wayne is located, was 22.49%.[
]
2019
The 2019 Fort Wayne mayoral election was held on November 5 to elect the mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...
, United States. Incumbent mayor Tom Henry
Thomas Christopher Henry
(biography), ''The Waynedale News'', September 1, 2009 (born November 8 ...
was reelected to a fourth term.
Nominations
Primary election
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
s were held May 7.
Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
The election was not close with Henry winning easily. Earlier in the campaign Henry was thought to be vulnerable, but the race ended up not being close. In his victory speech, Henry announced that it would be his last term as mayor, though he later decided to run for a fifth term against businessman Tim Didier for 2023. He was sworn in for his fourth term on January 1, 2020. His fourth term will expire on January 1, 2024.
2023
References
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