At least 3 candidates emerge to fill upcoming vacancy for District 5 Bloomington city council seat

News broke on Saturday that Shruti Rana would be resigning from her District 5 Bloomington city council seat.

By Sunday evening, at least three candidates had emerged as contenders to replace Rana on the nine-member legislative body of the city.

Already indicating their intent to stand as candidates in the Democratic Party’s yet-to-be scheduled vacancy caucus are: Jenny Stevens; Jason Moore; and Courtney Daily.

Stevens was a candidate in the District 5 Democratic Party’s 2023 primary race, which Rana won, with about 58 percent of the vote. Moore’s name will be familiar as Bloomington’s fire chief, who resigned at the end of the year. Daily could be familiar to readers from her work with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Daily is also the chair for Perry Precinct 13 in District 5, which means that she will be able to take part in the caucus voting, along with the other eight precinct chairs in District 5.

District 5 lies on the southeastern periphery of the city.

The full roster of the nine District 5 precinct chairs who will decide Rana’s successor is: Jennifer Crossley, Patricia Williams, Manuel Diaz-Campos, Courtney Daily, Iris Kiesling, Sarah Bauerle, Allyson McBride, Edward Robertson, and Matt Flaherty.

Under Indiana state law,  a vacancy in a city office like the city council has to be filled by a caucus where the eligible voters are required to be precinct chairs, who are members of the same political party as the person who vacated the office to be filled.

In Rana’s case, which is true of all Bloomington city councilmembers, her affiliation is with the Democratic Party. That’s why it’s the District 5 precinct chairs from the Democratic Party who will be determining Rana’s replacement.

Among the nine who are eligible to vote in the District 5 city council caucus are a couple of current elected officials—Monroe County councilor Jennifer Crossley and at-large Bloomington city councilmember Matt Flaherty.

Even though he does not live in Perry Precinct 28, Flaherty can still serve as that precinct’s chair, through an appointment from the Monroe County Democratic Party chair. The other eight precinct chairs were elected to the job, which means they live in the precinct where they serve as chair.

Also among the nine who are eligible to vote in the District 5 city council caucus are two former elected officials—former city clerk Patricia Williams and former county commissioner Iris Kiesling.

There are some steps that have to be completed before anything is official about any of the events surrounding Rana’s announced resignation and the scheduling of a caucus. Under state law, Rana’s resignation has to be submitted to the Monroe County clerk, Nicole Browne. The clerk then has to formally notify the Monroe County Democratic Party chair, David Henry, about the pending vacancy.

When Henry formally calls the caucus, he will be following a procedure spelled out in state law.  Hopefuls to be chosen as Rana’s replacement have to file an official candidate declaration—it’s not enough to just announce it through a post on social media or by issuing a news release. They also have to file a statement of economic interests.

It looks like the District 5 caucus will have at least three candidates, or maybe even more. In a race with more than two candidates, it’s conceivable that on the first caucus ballot, none receive a majority of the nine votes. In that case, the candidate with the fewest number of votes would be eliminated and another vote would be taken. That step can be repeated as many times as needed to get a majority choice.

Ties are broken by Henry, as party chair, who is the presiding officer of the caucus.

Based on communication between the B Square and the city council District 5 caucus candidates who have announced their intentions so far, the three have a clear understanding that it’s  just the nine precinct chairs who will make the decision. In the space of two days, they had all done the basic legwork of reaching out to the precinct chairs of District 5 to let them know they are interested.

That meant Daily, as a precinct chair herself, wound up hearing from Stevens and Moore directly, about their plans to stand as candidates in the upcoming caucus. Responding to an emailed B Square question, Daily wrote: “[W]hen Jenny [Stevens] and Jason [Moore] each reached out to me for my support, I let them know that I was also seeking the seat and that I looked forward to getting to know them.”

Daily wrote that she had spoken to the other precinct chairs by phone. She told them that she has lived in Bloomington for over 13 years, is a mother to three boys who attend MCCSC (Monroe County Community School Corporation) schools, and that she has worked as a volunteer with Moms Demand Action. [Updated at 9:03 p.m. on Jan. 15, 2024: Daily has issued a news release. Here’s a link: news release from Courtney Daily declaring candidacy in the caucus.]

In a news release issued by Moore, he included the text of the email message that he sent to the District 5 precinct chairs. In that message, he highlighted his recent experience serving as Bloomington’s fire chief, which included eight annual budget cycles, before he resigned at the end of the year.  Over the weekend, Moore told The B Square that he has withdrawn all the applications he made for the job of fire chief in other cities, and is committed to staying in Bloomington with his family.

Also over the weekend, Stevens told The B Square that if there is a caucus to replace Rana, then she would be interested in standing as a candidate in the caucus.

“I was interested in serving—it’s why I ran a campaign,” Stevens said. She continued, “It’s why I walked the neighborhoods and talked with the people, and I became more invested in the community than I’d ever been before.” Stevens added, “It was a privilege to meet people at their doors and hear their issues.”

Stevens said that if she sits at the council table, she wants to be able to say that the people in Sycamore Knolls care about this, or the people in The Stands care about that, “because that’s what being a representative really is.” [Updated on Jan. 22, 2024: Jenny Stevens also subsequently issued a news release. Here’s a link: news release from Jenny Stevens declaring candidacy in the caucus.]

Given the announced effective date of Rana’s resignation, which is Feb. 7, the District 5 vacancy caucus would likely be held in the last half of February.

There are a few other upcoming vacancy caucuses in which Democratic Party precinct chairs will be eligible to vote.

But the only vacancy caucus now actually scheduled is the treasurer’s caucus, which is set for Jan. 20 at 1 p.m. at the Monroe County courthouse. The position is vacant because Jessica McClellan resigned in order to take the job of Bloomington city controller. She was appointed to the post by Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson.

Besides the District 5 city council vacancy caucus, there are two more caucuses that could be put on the calendar. There’s a chance that county auditor Catherine Smith will be selected in the caucus as the treasurer’s replacement. That would create a vacancy in the auditor’s office, which would require another caucus to fill.

Rana is also resigning as vice chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party. To fill that vacancy, the party will need to hold a caucus.

Announced contenders to replace Shruti Rana on Bloomington’s city council