Gary city councilwoman Marian Ivey, left, and Shanita Starks chat before start of Democratic caucus

Ivey chosen to fill Gary city council vacancy in 4th District

Contributed By: The 411 News

Democratic precinct captains in Gary’s 4th District gathered at the Calumet Township Multipurpose Center Wednesday night to select 1 of two candidates to represent their district on the Gary Common Council.

The 8 captains had to choose between Gary City Councilwoman At-large Marian Ivey and Shanita Starks.

When voting ended in 4 votes for each candidate, Jim Wieser, Chairman of the Lake County Democratic Central Committee, who presided over the caucus, offered two options.

“Under Indiana statue, in the event of a tie vote, the county chairman can break the tie,” Wieser said, “and not an enviable position to be in.”

“I think we have a little bit of discretion here that we can exercise under the statue. If the candidates agree to a revote,” Wieser said. But that drew discussion and murmurs from the audience calling for the chairman to break the tie.

Chairman Wieser then cast his vote for Marian Ivey.

Starks was disappointed with Wieser’s vote. “Nothing changed. Wieser just appointed Ivey to a position she already held.”

Now Gary Democrats will have to hold another caucus within the next 30 days to fill the vacant at-large seat that Ivey held.

Chairman Wieser joked during the evening “… everyone knows the caucus rules, we’ve had 50 in the last year in Gary.”

Nowhere nearly that number have been held in Gary but there has been a slew of them.

Wednesday’s caucus was the 2nd this year to fill a vacancy.

The vacancy in the city council’s 4th District occurred when 4th District councilwoman Tai Adkins was selected in January to fill the vacancy in the Office of Calumet Township Trustee.

When Gary Mayor Eddie Melton took office in January 2024, a Democratic caucus was held that month to fill the seat that Melton vacated in the state senate’s District 3. Democratic precinct captains from parts of Gary, Lake Station, Merrillville and Hobart convened and selected Hobart’s Dave Vinzant to fill the 1 year remaining in Melton’s term.

The death of Calumet Township Assessor Cozey Weatherspoon in January 2024 required a caucus of Gary and unincorporated Calumet Township Democratic precinct captains to fill the vacancy. The caucus was held in February 2024; former Calumet Township Assessor Jackie Collins was selected to fill the office.

Clorius Lay, the 2nd District Lake County Councilman died in February 2024. Ron Brewer, a Gary city councilman at-large was selected in the Democratic precinct captains’ caucus in March to fill the vacancy on the county council. Lake County’s 2nd District covers parts of Gary, Griffith, Highland, and Calumet Township.

A month later in April 2024, Marian Ivey was selected in a caucus to fill the at-large vacancy on the Gary city council.

Gary city councilman at-large Mark Spencer won the District 3 state senate race in the 2024 General Election. In December 2024, Democratic precinct captains selected Kenneth Whisenton to fill the at-large city council vacancy.

Story Posted:02/19/2025