Blake Dahl is GOP pick for Superior Court 2 judge

May 7—The Republican nominee for Howard County Superior Court 2 judge come November will be local attorney Blake Dahl.

Dahl defeated current Superior Court 2 Judge Rebecca Vent in this year's primary race by 244 votes, according to unofficial election results. The race was the only local contested race on the ballot for both the Republican and Democratic parties. Voter turnout was 17% of registered voters.

The atmosphere at Tuesday's Howard County Republican Party election watch party held at Elite Event Center was a bit different this year.

Typically, election results trickle in at a steady pace after the polls close at 6 p.m. and are posted to the county's website every 15 or 20 minutes.

This year, however, results came through email and in two updates, first around 7:25 p.m. and then again at 7:37 p.m. The county changed website domains within the last year so while vote tabulation went without a hitch, posting results as they came in to the new website did not.

The delay only increased the tension in the room.

When Howard County Republican Chairwoman Jennifer Jack said all votes were tabulated just 10 minutes or so after giving the first vote total update, a collective audible gasp filled the room.

It was soon followed by the loud screams of joy from the Dahl campaign.

In a victory speech after, Dahl thanked God, his family and his team of volunteers, dubbed the "Blake Army."

"My heart is fluttering right now," Dahl said. "When I take the bench ... I want people to come and say 'That guy is fair on the bench.' If I'm ever not that person, please tell me."

Dahl currently operates his own law firm in Kokomo and is a deputy public defender. He is also currently a captain serving in the Indiana Army National Guard.

It's not the first time Dahl has run for office.

He ran in the 2022 Republican primary for Howard County Superior Court, losing to Judge Matt Elkin.

In the 2022 primary election, Dahl said he tried to run his campaign largely by himself. This year was more of a team effort.

"I don't feel like I would have been able to actually win this election if I didn't have the outpouring of support (that I had)," Dahl said.

Vent, who was appointed by Gov. Eric Holcomb after former Superior Court 2 Judge Brant Parry announced last year he would not seek reelection and would resign before his term ended, has nearly three decades of law experience under her belt. She took over the bench Jan. 1 and will remain there until the end of this year.

Vent's campaign took to Facebook late Tuesday night to thank its supporters.

"Thank you to EVERYONE who volunteered, voted and placed your trust in VENT," the campaign posted to Facebook.

A message left for Vent by the Tribune seeking additional comment was not returned.

The race for Superior Court 2 was quiet and without any drama for the vast majority of the race until about two weeks ago, when a home security camera caught a woman pulling several "Vent 4 Judge" political signs out from people's yards.

Vent's campaign posted about the incident on Facebook, criticizing the act.

Linda Koontz, a board member of Center Township and Vent supporter, commented on the post and surmised the person must have been a supporter of Dahl. The comment was "hearted" by the Vent campaign's Facebook page.

Dahl did not initially publicly comment on the incident, but on Tuesday, he vehemently denied it was anyone atop his campaign or that anyone heavily involved in his campaign encouraged such an act.

Dahl described the comments as "mudslinging."

"I just kept the higher road, and because I kept the higher road, I had a lot of people say 'Hey, originally, I wasn't going to vote for you, but after I saw that, I decided I'm going to vote for you,'" he said. "I don't want to judge a person, and I'm not knocking my opponent, but that (the Facebook post) actually helped me. I don't know if it did 240 votes help, but it definitely helped."

No Democrat filed to run in the Superior Court 2 race. The party has until July 3 to fill any ballot vacancies for the general election.

Tyler Juranovich can be reached at 765-454-8577, by email at tyler.juranovich@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @tylerjuranovich.