Political brief: Iversen runs for county commissioner, Zulich takes formal step for city council caucus
Political news from the end of this week included city as well as county campaigns for office.
Sydney Zulich has filed her paperwork to stand as a candidate in the Democratic Party’s city council ballot vacancy caucus, according to election office staff.
The city council vacancy on the Nov. 7 ballot stems from David Wolfe Bender’s decision to resign as the Democratic Party’s nominee for District 6. Bender won the May 2 primary as the only candidate on the ballot.
No Republican declared for District 6, but the GOP has until July 3 to caucus in a candidate of their own.
The Democratic Party’s caucus is set for June 30 at 4:30 p.m. in city council chambers at city hall.
Looking ahead to the 2024 Democratic Party primary, Peter Iversen has filed the paperwork to form a committee to run for the District 2 Monroe County commissioner seat.
Iversen is currently in his fourth year of service on the seven-member county council, which is the county’s fiscal body.
In 2022, Iversen won re-election to his seat on the council, representing District 1, which covers a swath of the county on the east side. Iversen was put in that seat by a one-vote margin in a party caucus held in late 2019—to fill the vacancy in office left by Shelli Yoder, when she resigned from the county council.
Iversen’s current four-year term on the county council goes through 2026.
Iversen’s Friday news release starts like this: “Peter Iversen is running for Monroe County Commissioner in the Second District to restore trust in that office.”
Currently serving District 2 on the three-member board of county commissioners—the seat that Iversen wants—is Democrat Julie Thomas. District 2 consists of Bloomington Township, which is basically the northern half of Bloomington, split along 3rd Street.
Thomas won reelection to the District 2 county commissioner seat in 2020. She was first elected as a county commissioner in 2012, having previously served on the county council.
The filing by Zulich for the District 6 city council ballot vacancy caucus was not a surprise. Zulich had previously confirmed to The B Square that she intended to stand as a candidate in upcoming caucus.
Zulich had already filed the paperwork to establish a campaign committee as an independent candidate for Bloomington city council District 6. She also collected the nine signatures required for an independent candidate to appear on the ballot.
But Zulich stopped short of declaring her candidacy as an independent candidate, pending an outcome on the controversy surrounding David Wolfe Bender’s residency.
According to the announcement from Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry, the 4:30 p.m. June 30 caucus, which to be held in city council chambers will be conducted with the following format:
- A quorum call to establish rules and to open voting.
- A public meeting and candidate forum, where candidates will make statements and answer questions.
- Eligible precinct chairs cast a secret ballot.
- Announcement of the results at the public meeting.
A candidate’s paperwork has to be filed at least 72 hours before the caucus: [CAN 48] [CAN 49]
