Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowFormer Indianapolis Deputy Mayor Melina Kennedy has easily won the city's Democratic mayoral primary and will face first-term GOP incumbent Greg Ballard in the November general election.
With 91 percent of the vote counted Tuesday night, Kennedy had captured 77 percent of the vote to 12 percent for Sam Carson Sr., son of late U.S. Rep. Julia Carson. Eleven percent was going to former City-County Councilman Ron Gibson.
Kennedy far outpaced her rivals in fundraising and party support, winning the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, Sam Carson's nephew.
If elected, Kennedy would be the first woman mayor of Indianapolis. She lost a close race for Marion County prosecutor in 2006.
In 2007, Ballard defeated Kennedy's former boss, then-Mayor Bart Peterson. He ran unopposed for the Republican nomination.
Four-term Greenwood Mayor Charles Henderson, meanwhile, lost a four-way race to be the Republican Party's candidate in November. Former police detective Mark Myers won with 49 percent of the vote; Henderson came in second with 34 percent.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.