Randall Figg wins Republican nomination
Randall Figg won the Republican nomination for St. Joseph County Council District F over Kris Verash in Tuesday’s primary election.
Unofficial results from the county with all precincts reporting showed that Figg had 1,807 votes to 1,024 for Verash.
Figg, the incumbent for the District F seat on the council, will face Democrat Charlotte P. Wolfe in the November election. Wolfe was unopposed in the May primary.
He formerly served as the financial coordinator for the St. Joseph County
Solid Waste Management District and won the District F seat in 2022.
Upon word Tuesday night he had won the GOP nomination, Figg was out collecting his campaign signs, a feat he said is needed so that he can get back to making his presence at the many meetings and gatherings he attends as a county council and Republican Party member. “When I first got elected (in 2022), I thought there’d be about 24 meetings a year, and it became more than 100,”
Figg said of the many neighborhood meetings, political gatherings and informational meetings he said he feels he needs to attend. “Being the minority party (in 2022), you are not invited to many, but I learned when we had the commissioner majority, I learned by meeting all the (county) department heads going on tours, because I knew I would have to vote on budgets.” Last year, he attended 403 meetings. Figg said he was going to take a bit of a break before he works toward his bid for re-election in the fall.
Campaigning Tuesday ‘felt like family’
For Kris Verash, his campaign began in the cold South Bend area winter chill, but he ended up Tuesday talking to voters outside Grissom Middle School, where he is a sixth grade science teacher.
Along the campaign trail, Verash said, the constituents “had a lot of passion” as they voiced concerns over local, state and national issues.
Taxes, the county’s road conditions and the county’s public safety crisis with staffing shortages and compensation were themes he heard about from people he spoke to on the campaign trail.
He said his experiences on the Penn Township Advisory Board and other work would keep him involved in the county’s issues.