Republicans

St. Joseph County Democratic Party Chair Don Westerhausen on Wednesday filed a complaint with the county election board alleging that Republican Penn Township political candidates and firefighters broke the law when they intermingled their booth at the recent Osceola Music Festival.

St. Joseph County Democratic Party chair Don Westerhausen said Republican Clerk Amy Rolfes' staff told the five Democratic candidates that their paperwork was correct. He vowed to get them returned to the ballot for the Nov. 3 elections.

Four Republican St. Joseph County Council members are asking Amazon Web Services to voluntarily pay into a fund that would give homeowners property tax relief, despite the council granting the tech giant an abatement in August 2024.

Renovation at West Side Democratic Club forced Democrats to Dyngus at M.R. Falcons Monday, while a much smaller, more subdued group of Republicans gathered at Allie's Cafe in River Park.

St. Joseph County Circuit Court Judge John Broden ruled Thursday that Indiana statutes don't require a political candidate to be in good standing with their party, and that overruling the county election board in Republican Dan Schaetzle's case would be an abuse of the court's discretion.

St. Joseph Circuit Judge John Broden has ruled that the county election board acts as a state, rather than a county, entity, so someone appealing its ruling in court can still receive a fair trial in a county court.

Griffin Nate, communications director for Republican congressman Rudy Yakym, argues that the St. Joseph County Election Board and clerk's officer are biased against their case, so they it moved to Elkhart County for court review of the board's 3-0 vote to let Republican St. Joseph County Council member Dan Schaetzle run as a Republican in the May primary election.

Republicans Griffin Nate and Jackie Horvath, the St. Joseph County party chair, petitioned the county Election Board to keep Republican County Council member Dan Schaetzle off the May primary election ballot because the district and state GOP have ruled he's not in good standing with the party.

The St. Joseph County Council's four Democrats will maintain their governing coalition with Republican Dan Schaetzle but he'll no longer serve as president in 2026.

The Indiana Republican Party’s Rules Committee has issued a formal reprimand to St. Joseph County GOP Chair Jackie Horvath following complaints from two party members.