Election Day Blog: Brainard wins sixth term as Carmel mayor

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8:46 p.m. 

Pundits predicted it was going to be one of Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard’s toughest elections he ever faced. He went against a well-known city council president in Rick Sharp, a challenger who focused on the city’s debt as a campaign issue.

But in the end the story was the same as Brainard’s previous five elections. With more than 60 percent of the vote, Brainard won his sixth term.

“It’s with great pleasure that I introduce for his sixth term the mayor of Carmel, the honorable Jim Brainard,” announced City Councilor Ron Carter. “The day of gloom has lifted from Carmel.”

Brainard thanked his volunteers and family and said he hopes to keep Carmel on top of “best-of” lists around the country.

“We can sit down in a collaborative way and really move this city forward,” Brainard said.

Sharp said he was happy that he ran.

“I still feel that we ran a top notch campaign,” he said. “I think we were really smart how we spent our money. The people in Carmel didn’t choose our message of fiscal responsibility and I accept that.”

Not only was it a victory for Brainard, but his slate of candidates that he endorsed for Carmel City Council and Clerk-Treasurer did well. As of 8:48 p.m., all but one race went in the mayor’s favor: Councilor Carol Schleif in the Southwest District still had a lead over challenger Keith L. Griffin.

In the Central District, Bruce Kimball defeated incumbent Eric Seidensticker, 53 percent to 47 percent.

In the Northeast District, incumbent Sue Finkam beat challenger John Accetturo, 67 percent to 33 percent.

In the Southeast District, challenger Jeff Worrell defeated incumbent Luci Snyder, 60 percent to 40 percent.

For the at-large council seats, Kevin “Woody” Rider received 7,619 votes, Ron Carter received 7,102 votes and Ron Houck received 5,283 votes. The top two vote getters earn spots on the council and both incumbents won.

For the Clerk-Treasurer race, newcomer Christine Pauley defeated five-term incumbent Diana Cordray, 54 percent to 46 percent.

Sharp still has seven months left on his term on the Carmel City Council but he says he plans to stay involved in politics even when he’s not an elected official.

8:34 p.m.

The whiteboard at the Brainard campaign headquarters shows the most recent results. Checks are being placed by races won by the Brainard-endorsed slate.

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8:25 p.m. 

Mayor Jim Brainard stands at campaign headquarters as the results come in, showing he has once again been elected mayor of Carmel.

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8:20 p.m.

Winners so far include:

Jim Brainard for mayor.

Christine Pauley for clerk-treasurer

Bruce Kimball, Ron Carter, Kevin ‘Woody’ Rider and Jeff Worrell for council

8:13 p.m.

SubstandardFullSizeRender-3In the Jim Brainard campaign headquarters, Brainard supporters watch as the whiteboard of results is updated.

8:06 p.m.

Ballot results are as follows, as of 8:06 p.m., representing roughly 75 percent of all votes.

Brainard: 5,724 votes, 63 percent

Sharp: 3,416 votes, 37 percent

 

Pauley: 4,553, 53 percent

Cordray: 4,004, 47 percent

 

Rider: 5,780

Carter: 5,355

Houck: 3,687

 

Finkam: 1,551

Accetturo: 773

 

Kimball: 914

Seidensticker: 787

 

Worrell: 1,556

Snyder: 1,042

 

7:45 p.m. 

Here are some reactions from both election headquarters, as of 7:45 p.m. May 5.

Rider
Rider

Kevin “Woody” Rider, incumbent for Carmel City Council: “It’s great to be done. I enjoy the work of the council more than the campaign.”

Allan Sutherlin, campaign manager for Mayor Jim Brainard: “We’re all really tired but we had a really warm reception from voters. Everything we can see from this early stage is really really good.”

Jim Brainard, incumbent for Carmel mayor: “We want to thank our dozens of volunteers. We had a lot of support. It’s an exciting day.”

Griffin
Griffin

Keith L. Griffin, challenger for Carmel City Council: “It’s a fantastic day. It’s my first time running and I’d do it again. It was exciting. I think it’s going to be close, but I’m optimistic that the overall ticket will do well.”

Ron Carter, incumbent for Carmel City Council: “I’m feeling confident. I’m looking at my race, but I’m looking at the whole team. I want the mayor to get a slate of city councilors that support his vision.”

Houck
Houck

Ron Houck, challenger for Carmel City Council: “I got a great reception from the people I met. I think a lot of people were concerned about the debt and I’m happy that I got to speak about that.”

John Accetturo, challenger for Carmel City Council: “I’m energized. A good number of people recognized me when they came into the polls. I feel great.”

Accetturo
Accetturo

Carol Schleif, incumbent for Carmel City Council: “I’m tired. I feel numb. I don’t want to predict anything,” she said, jokingly.

Collin Corbett, Rick Sharp’s campaign manager: “Certainly it’s going to be closer than any election the mayor has ever seen,” he said. “We will have to wait to see the final results. As the numbers come in, it’s neck and neck.”

Rick Sharp, challenger for mayor: “It feels great to be at the finish line. I think we waged a great campaign. We had a lot of people work really hard. I had great receptions out at the polls today and it’s way too early to be excited about anything one way or another. We are going to wait until the numbers are final or a clear trend. Mainly tonight is a celebration. Win or lose. It doesn’t matter. I’ve got people who are my supporters who gave their time and money. We hope it pays off in a victory.”

Snyder
Snyder

Luci Snyder, incumbent for Carmel City Council: “I’m feeling a lot better. I took two Aleve and my feet aren’t killing me as much,” she said, jokingly. “It’s a lot of work because I was the candidate, the treasurer. I did all of the copy-writing. I did everything. I’ve been up since three in the morning.”

Eric Seidensticker, incumbent for Carmel City Council: “You have trust you put in the people that they are going to vote for you because you are speaking the truth and there’s the other part of me that knows it can go either way because I’ve seen it happen. I did it out of service.”

Diana Cordray, incumbent for Carmel Clerk-Treasurer: “I come to work. I do my job. I don’t think about politics.”

 

7:25 p.m.

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From left: Eric Seidensticker, Diana Cordray, Ron Houck, Luci Snyder, Rick Sharp and John Accetturo inside Dooley O’Toole’s.

7:13 p.m.

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From left: Carol Schleif, Fred Glynn and Collin Corbett, Rick Sharp’s campaign manager, go over results at Dooley O’Toole’s in Carmel, where Sharp’s team will be for the remainder of the evening as results are announced.

7:10 p.m.

As the absentee ballot results pour in from the Hamilton Co. Courthouse, Carmel candidates and voters gather at Mayor Jim Brainard’s campaign headquarters.

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Andrew Greider, a volunteer for Mayor Jim Brainard’s campaign for reelection, updates the whiteboard in Brainard’s campaign headquarters.

 

6:47 p.m. 

A statement from the Honorable Brian G. Poindexter, the Carmel City Court Judge, was just released following the closing of the polls.

“I would like to sincerely thank all of those who voted for me in this election. I am looking forward to continuing to serve this extraordinary community as Judge of Carmel City Court. I would like to congratulate the candidates who won their respective races today and compliment all of those who participated in the election process,” he stated.

Poindexter ran unopposed.

6:44 p.m.

The polls closed at 6 p.m. and now is the time we wait to find out results. We should expect full results around 8 p.m.

Turnout – as is with most years – is pretty low. In municipal elections in Hamilton County about only one in five voters usually show up, partly because it’s an off-year with so few offices available to vote on.

Richard Hines, poll worker at the Carmel Clay Library, said it was pretty busy at his location.

“It’s been pretty good here,” he said. “We’re probably at 28 percent turnout right now and the last municipal election in the county I’m told was 14 percent last year, so it looks pretty good. I think our polling site was at like 25 percent last year.”

Signs could be seen outside the polling sites but any campaign workers had to be a certain distance away. One volunteer for Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard said it was hard to tell who was coming to vote and who was coming to borrow library books.

“We hope the voters are educated but we’re here for a reminder if they need any literature,” said Rachel Killin Ferry.

One voter, Evan Schiffli, said he supported City Councilor Eric Seidensticker, who represents his district. He said he thinks Carmel will be in good shape no matter which candidates are elected.

“Both sides are probably guilty of fuzzy math and fudging numbers,” he said. “But I do think that there is a growing concern about the disconnect between a given project’s estimated cost compared to the ultimate bill months later. Regardless of who wins, Carmel is going to be fine, but I think prudent fiscal oversight and accountability is huge going forward.  I also don’t want to forget the importance of basic infrastructure such as sewage and road quality, especially in the older neighborhoods.”

Hines said he heard a lot of excitement among voters, but many wish they had more choices.

“Most of the voters say they wish there were more candidates on the ballot,” he said.

 

1:45 p.m.

Here’s a photo gallery to look back at the election:

12:52 p.m. 

For months, both Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard and his opponent Rick Sharp, president of the Carmel City Council, have campaigned to lead the city for the next four years.

Election day is now here, and both are saying similar things; that while they each want to win, what they care most about is making sure people vote in general.

“It’s been a good day,” Brainard said. “Fortunately it’s a beautiful today. Turnout will be reasonable. It’s always better on a sunny day than a rainy day. But we definitely need people to get out and vote. My biggest fear is that people don’t vote.”

Brainard voted this morning at 10 a.m. at First Baptist Church at 126th and Keystone.

Sharp didn’t vote today, because he voted two weeks ago during early voting. He joked that he didn’t think his vote for mayor would change before the election.

“I wrestled mightily with that decision,” Sharp said, joking. “Who knows? Maybe something happens and I couldn’t support that Sharp guy.”

Sharp has spent his day going to polling sites and thanking people. He was on morning TV news broadcasts that happened to run into him.

“I stand there and I smile and I thank people for coming out to vote,” he said. “People have made up their minds and there’s no point at campaigning today. I just want to thank people for voting in general and thank people for their support if they choose to vote for me.”

Sharp said it doesn’t feel weird that the day has finally come. He feels relieved but excited.

“I’ve been working towards this for some time now,” he said. “There’s a real race going on here. I don’t think either of us and can pretend to know what will happen.”

Brainard plans to wait for results at his campaign headquarters on Range Line Road near EarthFare. He said many of the candidates he endorsed are expected to show up as well.

Sharp’s campaign will meet at Dooley O’Toole’s, at 160 E Carmel Dr. He said many of his friends that are up for reelection are expected to stop by.

 

 

Rick Sharp on election day
Rick Sharp on election day
Jim Brainard on election day
Jim Brainard on election day

10 a.m.

Welcome everybody!

Today is the day many of you have been waiting for: Election Day!

It’s the Hamilton County GOP Primary, which essentially is the final election since Democrats rarely run for office in Carmel.

You get to vote for judge (unopposed), city council (your district and at-large), clerk-treasurer and mayor.

You can look up your registered voter information by clicking here.

Or click here to find your polling location.

Although many of you probably got up early and voted before work, if you haven’t voted yet please do so. If you need to refresh yourself on who’s who on the ballot, read our election guide. Or read my story about the mayor’s race. Or read my coverage of the mayoral debate.

If you don’t know what each candidate stands for, please look through the Current in Carmel archives. In a nutshell, Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard has endorsed a slate of candidates (even spending money on TV ads to do so): Christine Pauley for Clerk-Treasurer, Sue Finkam, Bruce Kimball, Jeff Worrell, Kevin Rider, Ron Carter and Keith Griffin for City Council.

Brainard’s opponent Rick Sharp didn’t endorse a slate of candidates, but you can kind of put two and two together about the views of the candidates that Brainard didn’t endorse (most of them were endorsed by the tea party group the Constitutional Patriots).

E-mail me if you have any polling problems at [email protected].

Here’s a collection of candidates last thoughts on Election Day via their Facebook pages and Twitter:

accetturofb

brainard

cartervote

cordrayvote

kimballvote

pauleyvote

ridervote

sharp

sue finkam

worrellvote


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