Mayor-elect

The twentysomething mayor-elect making history in Indiana

By JESSE NARANJO

Earlier this month, something unusual happened under-the-radar in Terre Haute, Indiana, population 58,335: After more than a dozen years of Republican control over its mayoralty, Democrat Brandon Sakbun, a 27-year-old political newcomer, was elected as the youngest mayor in the small city’s history.

That fact alone might warrant a footnote in the annals of Indiana politics if it weren’t for a) the background of its new mayor-elect, and b) the unique position Terre Haute’s county holds in national politics. (And clearly, it was a win that Vice President Kamala Harris noticed.)

In the last 130-plus years, Vigo County, home to Terre Haute, has cemented itself as a key bellwether county for the nation, voting for the winning presidential candidate in all elections but three, one of those being 2020. While Indiana as a whole has backed only a handful of Democratic presidential candidates in the last century, it has elected Democrats to Congress and the governorship on occasion, and Democrats have enjoyed moderate success in its cities.

Sakbun just unseated a four-term Republican mayor in the county’s largest population center by 20 percentage points, which could foretell opportunities for Democrats in the future.

“When you have a good conversation on the concept of economic development, public education, social mobility through giving folks a chance to chase their version of the American dream,” Sakbun, who was commissioned an Army Ranger officer, tells The Recast, “a lot more folks realize that they truly are Democratic in some of their principles.”