The 16-year incumbent of Fort Wayne City Council’s sixth district is being challenged from the left and right in this year’s municipal elections.
Southeast Fort Wayne’s district six has long been represented by Democrat Glynn Hines. The area has seen the development of the McMillen Community Center, Renaissance Pointe, and other housing developments during Hines’ tenure.
Hines’ only Democratic challenger, eighty-three year-old Robert Wafford is a retired Dana Corp. Plant Facilitator. He tells the Journal Gazette his campaign is about making the south side better, and that he’s taken a grass-roots approach to figuring out what that means for residents.
Andrew Downs of the nonpartisan Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics says district six is all about direct contact with voters.
“These candidates don’t necessarily have to raise a lot of money, but they’ve got to go out and meet people," says Downs. "They’ve got to go to churches, they’ve got to go to block parties, they’ve got to go to schools and parks and walk neighborhoods and do all that sort of shoe leather stuff.”
The Democratic winner of the primary will face a Republican challenger Joe Renner in the fall.
The primary election is May 5th.
