President of Calumet Township Board selected to fill vacant Gary City Council seat | Gary News | #citycouncil




Darren Washington was selected to replace At-Large Gary City Councilman Mike Brown during a Saturday morning caucus. 




GARY — Darren Washington was selected to replace At-Large Gary City Councilman Mike Brown during a Saturday morning caucus. 

Washington, president of the Calumet Township Board, was chosen from a pool of six candidates after two rounds of voting. Lake County Democratic Party Chairman Jim Wieser said the caucus had “a great turnout,” as 45 of Gary’s 49 precinct committee people attended. 

In the first round; Washington received 20 votes, Lori Peterson Latham received 17, Carl Weatherspoon Jr. received three, LuJuan Clemons and Johnathan Boose each received two and Mark Spencer received one.

The four candidates who received less than 10% of the vote were eliminated. In the second round, Washington received 26 votes and Latham received 19. 

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Washington said he will resign from the Calumet Township Board at the start of the week. Another caucus will be held in the next few weeks to fill Washington’s Township Board seat, Wieser said. 

Washington will participate in his first City Council meeting on Aug. 24. 

“The first thing that I want to do is meet with the administration because budget season is coming. We need to look at what the administration is proposing and compare that to the needs of the community,” Washington said, adding that he wants the council and Mayor Jerome Prince’s administration to present a united front. 

“The administration and Jerome Prince, they are the executive branch of our government … they are responsible for the vision of our city. We (the Gary City Council) need to work with our current administration. We can give our ideas, but the residents voted to put him (Prince) in this office, so we need to let him do his job,” Washington said. “My goal is to use my gifts to help move his plan forward.” 

A resident of Gary’s 2nd District, Washington is the Senior Pastor of the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in South Bend. He ran for Indiana Senate District 3 in 2016, losing to current state Sen. Eddie Melton. He ran for Calumet Township Trustee in the April primary, but lost to incumbent Kimberly Robinson. He also served on the Gary School Board for eight years. 

Washington said he has ample experience with crafting and evaluating budgets. His top funding priorities are: public safety, improving city infrastructure to attract development and employment opportunities, and continuing efforts to demolish vacant buildings. 

“I want our residents be proud of the community where they live,” Washington said. 

Brown, Washington’s predecessor, was caucused in to replace former Lake County Circuit Court Judge Lorenzo Arredondo as Lake County clerk on Aug. 6. Arredondo resigned on July 14 due to continued health issues following a Jan. 13 fall.

Brown previously served as Lake County clerk from 2010 to 2018. He resigned in 2018 after he was caucused in to fill the at-large Gary Common Council seat previously held by current state Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary. 


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