Bloomington, Indiana – Sydney Zulich, a former Indiana University student, was elected as the Democratic candidate for Bloomington City Council District 6. According to Indiana Public Media, Zulich is the youngest candidate to be nominated for a city council seat during this election season.
At a vacancy caucus held on Friday, the five precinct chairs of the Monroe County Democratic Party unanimously chose Zulich as the new candidate. In less than 15 minutes, the chairs cast their votes and declared Zulich, who was unopposed, would be the party’s nominee to fill the vacancy.
Zulich graduated from IU this past spring with a bachelor’s degree, and if elected, she will represent a part of Bloomington that is heavily populated by students.
In Bloomington, Zulich intends to promote student participation in local politics and express the perspectives of young people, according to a news release from her campaign team. Zulich also aims to enhance awareness of personal safety efforts and broaden public access to government officials and procedures, according to the news release.
David Wolfe Bender, the former Democratic candidate for the District 6 seat, vacated the position, and Zulich will take his place on the ballot. Following the publishing of an IDS article that revealed Bender did not reside at the District 6 home he had registered to, the Monroe County Election Commission looked into his residency in May. After the board submitted Bender’s case to Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and Monroe County Prosecutor Erika Oliphant, Bender withdrew from the campaign.
Zulich submitted paperwork to run as an independent candidate for the District 6 seat before securing the Democratic nomination. She had gathered the necessary amount of signatures, but she had not formally declared herself an independent candidate.
To be included on the November ballot, Zulich needs to submit her campaign finance documents by July 3.
There isn’t a Republican nominee for the District 6 seat as of right now, but the party has until July 3 to make a replacement.
