State Rep. District 47
A Franklin attorney has been chosen by voters to be the Republican candidate vying for the Indiana State Representative District 47 seat.John T. Young defeated volunteer firefighter Matt Prine in Tuesday’s primary election, gathering 54 percent of the vote to Prine’s 46 percent. Young moves on to face Democratic nominee Mike Reddick, who was uncontested in the primary, during November’s general election.
Young ran for the same seat in 2012, losing in the primary to incumbent Rep. John Price. Price opted not to run this year after serving two terms, leaving the seat open to a new candidate.
For Young, the focus of his campaign was on improving schools and reassessing education standards. He said that school officials and administrators need more of a voice in addressing student needs, instead of being instructed through the legislature.
When changes to Indiana’s standardized testing come around, Young would like to give individual districts more say in finding the type of test that best serves students and schools.
If elected in November, Young would represent much of Johnson County. District 47 includes Franklin, Union, Needham and Blue River townships, as well as parts of White River and Hensley townships. The district extends into the eastern portion of Morgan County as well.
State Senate 36
In the race for the Indiana State Senate District 36, Tuesday’s primary decided the Republican nominee for the November general election.The Democratic nominee is still unknown.
The race between Democrats Sean Gorman and Jesse Kharbanda was separated by just 38 votes as of Tuesday night, with Gorman on top. But with an estimated 150 ballots cast at the Mount Pleasant Christian Church vote center not included in the results, because one vote machine did not save the tallies correctly, officials were not able to total the race.
Johnson County Clerk Sue Anne Misiniec expected to access those ballots today, and the final results will be counted.
For the Republicans, former Perry Township trustee Jack Sandlin defeated business owner and Indianapolis City Councilman Jefferson Shreve. Sandlin, an Indianapolis Police Department investigations chief, took 51 percent of the vote to 49 percent for Shreve.
With his experience at the local government level, Sandlin said he felt that he had the skills to help solve funding challenges affecting the state. While serving in Perry Township, he managed a budget of $15 million and helped figure out how to hire 18 additional firefighters without a property tax hike.
As a conservative, Sandlin pledged to put every dollar brought in to good use before asking for more money.
District 36 covers parts of White River Township and southern Marion County. It has been represented for the past 12 years by Brent Waltz, who ran for U.S. Congress this year.
State Representative District 65
Bedford resident Chris May has emerged from the six Republican candidates hoping to represent District 65 in the General Assembly.May, a Lawrence County commissioner, won 43 percent of the votes in Tuesday’s election. Jim Pfaff received 18 percent of the vote, while Mark Mathis took 13 percent and Franklin Andrew 12 percent. Both Darren Byrd and Jacob Franklin received 7 percent of the vote.
With his experience as commissioner, May made road funding one of the focuses of his campaign. He had dealt with the lack of funding in county government, and said while campaigning that state spending needed to re-prioritized to find ways to send more road money to local governments.
May will face off against Democratic candidate Chris Woods, who was uncontested in the primary.
The winner in November will fill the District 65 seat that had been held by Eric Koch, who was seeking a senate seat. The district covers the southwest portion of Johnson County, all of Brown County, and parts of Lawrence, Jackson and Monroe counties.
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State Senate District 36
Republican
Jack E. Sandlin;51%
Jefferson Shreve;49%
Democrat
Sean Gorman;50.2%
Jesse Kharbanda;49.8%
State Representative District 47
Republican
Matt Prine;46%
John T. Young;54%
State Representative District 65
Republican
Franklin Andrew;12%
Darren Byrd;7%
Jacob Franklin;7%
Mark Mathis;13%
Chris May;43%
Jim Pfaff;18%
Results are unofficial and do not include an estimated 150 votes on a machine at Mount Pleasant Christian Church which could not be tabulated Tuesday night.
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