Evansville mayoral ballot finalized

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - We are just three months away from the primary election for several local offices in Evansville.

The deadline to file was Friday, and the candidates are set for the upcoming mayoral race.

For the first time in 12 years, voters won’t see Lloyd Winnecke’s name on the ballot. Instead there are 5 candidates vying for the mayor’s seat.

On the Democratic side, County Council member Stephanie Terry will go up against Brian Alexander.

This is the first time there have been two democratic candidates to run for mayor since 2011.

On the Republican side, the candidates are county commissioner Cheryl Musgrave, director of talent and development at Kemper CPA group Natalie Rascher and Target employee Caine Helmer.

Chairman of the Vanderburgh County GOP Mike Duckworth says this is a unique and different race, mainly because Winnecke’s name is off the ballot.

“Mayor Winnecke’s shoes are gonna be big shoes to fill,” Duckworth said. “He was such a moderate, someone that would listen and take information and process it and then make a decision and move forward with it.”

Cheryl Shultz, head of the Vanderburgh County Democratic party, expressed her enthusiasm for Terry.

“It is extremely exciting,” says Shultz. “We think she is a wonderful candidate and as a woman, to see a woman elected mayor, that is extremely exciting. As a person of color, that would be a historic race as well. Whomever wins this race will be making history, first of all for gender and possibly for color so we are so excited to get behind her and we’ve already named ourselves team Terry. "

Political leaders expect a challenge will be filed against Helmer and Alexander. They say there are certain criteria a person must meet to be placed on the ballot.

Those challenges would be heard by the election board, and they would decide whether or not the candidates’ names would be on May’s ballot.

The deadline to file a challenge is next February 10 at noon.

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