Although a Democrat currently serves as mayor of the Town of Zionsville, the party is not running a candidate for that office in the Nov. 7 municipal election.

That’s because the incumbent, Emily Styron, did not announce her intention to not seek reelection “until really late in the process,” said Kristi Jones, executive director of the Boone County Democratic Party. As a result, Republican John Stehr, who is unopposed and is set to become the town’s next mayor.

Jones said by the time Styron made her announcement in early January, the party was focused on the town council races and is challenging all seven seats, which are all held by Republicans. She said those races remain the focus.

“By that point in time, we had already been working to develop our slate of seven extremely qualified candidates for town council,” Jones said. “Mayor-elect John Stehr has reached out to several Democrats during the primaries and afterward said he was looking forward to working with qualified candidates across the aisle.”

In the municipal election, Jones said the Democratic Party’s focus is putting together a strong town council. She said the party hopes Stehr was sincere in his desire to work “across the aisle.”

Jones said this is the first time the local Democratic Party has run candidates for all seven town council seats. She said the candidates have been making themselves known by knocking on the doors of more than 10,000 residents.

“One of the top concerns of the voters that we’ve been talking to is that they’ve just been really turned off by the tone of our local politics, both from the mayor’s office and the council,” Jones said. “We’ve been working towards changing the tone and focusing on what’s best for Zionsville moving forward.”

Erika Revercomb, chair of the Boone County Democratic Party, said there will not be a write-in campaign for Democratic mayoral candidate.

“Historically, those aren’t effective,” Revercomb said. “So, we’re spending all of our energy on town council candidates. At the end of the day, we all want what’s best for Zionsville. We want smart growth. We want attractive amenities that serve residents and we want to keep our tax rates reasonable.”

Jones said she hopes to see the first truly bipartisan local government in Zionsville as a result of the municipal election cycle.

“I think that most people in Zionsville are looking for a government that looks like them,” Jones said. “And an all-male, all-Republican town council is not reflective of our entire community, especially at the rate that it’s growing.”