Democrat incumbents Trent Deckard, Geoff McKim and Cheryl Munson will be the three at-large Monroe County Council members for another term, beating out two Republican challenging candidates.
Deckard and Munson both got around 24% of the vote and McKim got just under 22% of the vote, according to unofficial results from the Monroe County Elections Board.
The county council approves and appropriates all funds for county use, adopts the county budget, fixes county levy and tax rates and has the exclusive power to borrow money for the county, according to its website. The council is made up of seven members, four district-based and three at-large, and council members’ terms are four years long.
Deckard, McKim and Munson prevailed for the at-large Democratic seats in the June primary election. Deckard has served on the council since 2019, while McKim has been on the council for 11 years and Munson has been on the council for eight years.
Both Republican challengers James Allen and Larrin Wampler campaigned against defunding law enforcement and tax increases, according to Allen’s campaign Facebook page and a Facebook post about Wampler on the Monroe County Republican Party’s page. Allen is a retired firefighter and EMT, and Wampler is a nurse and an officer in the Army National Guard.
Deckard’s top priorities include workforce development, affordable housing, sustainability, criminal justice system reform by finding alternatives to incarceration, increased compensation for county employees, fair and accessible elections and combating the effects of substance abuse, according to his campaign website.
Deckard is also on the Shalom Community Center’s Development Committee and has previously been the chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party, chief of staff of the Indiana House Democratic Caucus and co-director of the Indiana Election Division.
McKim ran on a platform focused on affordable housing, workforce development, a more humane justice system and efficient county government, according to his campaign website.
McKim is also on the Monroe County Plan Commission, the City of Bloomington Economic Development Commission and the board of Centerstone of Indiana. He is an adjunct instructor for the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
Munson’s platform included priorities such as collaboration for effective county government, protection of natural and cultural resources, affordable housing, food insecurity and improvements to the criminal justice and mental health care systems, according to her campaign website.
Munson has served on the Public Safety Local Income Tax Committee, Community Corrections Advisory Board and Sophia Travis Community Services Grants Committee. She serves on the Board of Directors for Friends of Lake Monroe and the Monroe County History Center.
