In a party caucus Wednesday, Democrats elected Heidi Beidinger to replace Troy Warner on the South Bend Common Council.
Seven Democratic precinct chairs who live in the city’s 4th council district – that’s the city’s east side – voted by secret ballot at the Howard Park Event Center, after Beidinger and three other candidates gave speeches that were limited to three minutes.
Beidinger defeated Hodge Patel, Derrick Perry and Angela Smith. Beidinger is a 59-year-old professor of the practice in the University of Notre Dame’s Eck Institute for Global Health, where her most recent work has focused on lead poisoning prevention.
She’s a former St. Joseph County Board of Health member and she has run unsuccessfully for state representative in the past.
“I am so deeply broad to be able to serve in this capacity," Beidinger said after the vote. "You guys all know I’ve run for office before and all I’ve wanted to do is serve and give back to our community, and now this is the opportunity to do it.”
Warner, into his second term, recently quit to become Mayor James Mueller’s chief of staff.
