Sharon Tucker will be the next mayor of Fort Wayne
City Councilwoman won on the second vote after leading in round one
In the end, she had the votes.
City Councilwoman Sharon Tucker won the Democratic Party’s caucus to replace Fort Wayne mayor Tom Henry on the second vote.
A spokesman for the Allen County Democratic Party said they would not be releasing the final vote totals, only that Tucker was the winner.
In the first round of voting, Tucker led with 38 of the 47 votes needed to be declared the winner. Phil GiaQuinta was in second with 30 votes, followed by Stephanie Crandall (10), Austin Knox (9), Michelle Chambers (3), Jorge Fernandez (1), and Palermo Galindo (0).
Fernandez and Galindo were cut due from the second round of voting to having the lowest and zero votes, respectively. Knox and Chambers decided to drop out after the first round results were announced.
In her victory speech, Tucker thanked her husband Tim, her sisters who she said had come from out of town to support her, and the people who had been helping her campaign behind the scenes during the three weeks since the caucus was officially set.
She will officially be mayor once she is sworn in, which is expected to happen sometime next week.
Tucker will resign her position as sixth district representative on Fort Wayne City Council and another caucus will be called to replace her.
She will also leave her job as executive director of Vincent Village, a transitional shelter for homeless families with children in Allen County.
John Christensen, the board chair of Vincent Village, told me they were prepared in the event Tucker won the caucus and have an interim executive director prepared to take over when she is sworn in as mayor.
Will the caucus to elect a new 6th district councilperson consist only of precinct chairs from that district?