County Republican chair supports Amy Canterbury's run on party's ticket despite challenge
EVANSVILLE — Amy Canterbury's plan to run as a Republican is being challenged, but she has the support of the Vanderburgh County party chair on her side.
Evansville resident Jason Gerteisen filed a challenge against Canterbury's candidacy for Vanderburgh County Commission District 3 based on her voting record. Vanderburgh County Clerk Carla Hayden confirmed residents Ruth Baize and Ross Hancock have also challenged Canterbury.
Canterbury has filed to face long-time incumbent Cheryl Musgrave in the May 7 primary. But by voting record alone she's missing a key requirement to run as a Republican.
However, she has Republican Party Chairman Mike Duckworth's blessing to run.
According to Canterbury's voting record, her last two primary votes have been split. In 2022 she pulled a Democrat ballot and in 2018 she pulled a Republican ballot.
Under Indiana state statute a candidate is considered to be affiliated with a political party if they have voted in that party's primary in the past two primaries in which they submitted a ballot.
"Our country needs patriots to step forward to work on real problems with strong conservative solutions," Gerteisen stated in a news release. "Too many times have I seen the inner-workings of party politics get in the way of protecting the American way of life. Chairman Duckworth should not undermine Republican office holders that have proven their value, while also not fitting new candidates with seats that would strengthen our party and community.”
Duckworth confirmed to the Courier & Press that he signed a waiver allowing Canterbury to run in the Republican primary, something state law also allows.
This issue also came up in a county race in 2022 when Democratic Party chair Cheryl Schultz certified now-sheriff Noah Robinson to run in the party's primary.
But both parties also have a history of using the primary voting rule to oust people from the ballot. In last year's race for Evansville mayor, both Duckworth and Schultz used it to have candidates removed.
For the GOP, it was a retail worker named Caine Helmer who had not voted in any primaries at all.
At that time, Duckworth said the presence of a candidate with zero history of involvement in the party in a contest for the city's highest elected office would "skew the race" between two other candidates who do have experience. Those candidates were Natalie Rascher and Cheryl Musgrave.
The deadline for the county election board to rule on challenges is Feb. 29. As of Tuesday, a date and time for the board meeting had not been set.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Amy Canterbury challenged as a Republican, has county chair's support
