Mitchell Van "Mitch" Harper is an American politician from

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 ...

. He was elected as a Fort Wayne Common Council member from the 4th District on November 6, 2007. He was elected to a second term on November 8, 2011. Harper served as a Representative in the

Indiana House of Representatives The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House memb ...

from 1978 to 1990. At 22 years of age, Harper was the youngest member of the Indiana House. After 6 terms totaling 12 years in the legislature, Harper voluntarily left the body as a demonstration of his personal commitment to term limits.http://www.cityoffortwayne.org/mitch-harper-%11-4th-district.html In 1992 he served as a

presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia appo ...

for Indiana. Harper, an attorney, edits the weblog Fort Wayne Observed. Harper was an Alternate Delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1976; he served as Delegate to the Republican National Convention in 2008. He is presently a member of the Indiana Republican State Committee by virtue of having been elected as Chairman of the Third Congressional District Republican Committee. He is a native of

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, and a lifelong resident of Allen County. Harper grew up living above the family funeral business founded by his great-grandfather, Edward, in 1889. His great-great-grandfather, William Harper, was a pioneer settler in Allen County, Indiana. William Harper had immigrated to the United States from

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Mitch Harper is a graduate of

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

and the

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law The Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law (IU McKinney) is located on the campus of Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, Indiana, the urban campus of Indiana University. In the summer of 2001 ...

. He was selected by the

Council of State Governments The Council of State Governments (CSG) is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization in the United States that serves all three branches of state government. Founded in 1933 by Colorado state Sen. Henry W. Toll, CSG is a region-based forum that ...

as a Henry Toll Fellow in the first year of that program. He has served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne.

2007 and 2011 Common Council campaigns

Mitch Harper was the 2007 Republican nominee for the Fourth District

Common Council seat. Harper handily won the seat in the fall election with a nearly 60 percent margin. Harper succeeded

Tom Hayhurst Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

who did not seek re-election. Mitch Harper won renomination as the Republican candidate for the Fourth District Common Council seat in the May 3, 2011, primary election. He was unopposed for renomination. He won re-election with over 64 percent of votes cast on November 8, 2011. Harper pledged in 2007 to run a positive campaign. The Fourth District is on the west side of the city of Fort Wayne and comprises Waynedale, Time Corners, and much of Aboite Township.

2015 Mayoral campaign

Mitch Harper officially announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for mayor of Fort Wayne on January 30, 2015. He won the Republican mayoral nomination on May 5, 2015, with 84 percent of the vote over three challengers. Harper lost the general election to incumbent Democratic mayor

Tom Henry Thomas Christopher Henry
(biography), ''The Waynedale News'', September 1, 2009 (born November 8 ...

on November 3, 2015.

References

External links

Official Fort Wayne Common Council pageMitch Harper for Mayor campaign websiteFort Wayne Observed
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Mitchell 1956 births Living people Members of the Indiana House of Representatives 1992 United States presidential electors Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law alumni Indiana lawyers People from Fort Wayne, Indiana University of Saint Francis (Indiana)