Muncie City Council president Jeff Robinson has filed to run for the city’s mayoral seat in this year’s election.  He’s the first Democrat to announce a challenge to current Republican Mayor Dan Ridenour.

Robinson was elected to Muncie City Council’s District 2 seat in 2019.  He’s served as the council’s president since 2021 and was re-elected to that position at Monday’s council meeting.  Off the council, he works at Shafer Leadership Academy.

In a statement, Robinson says to address Muncie’s issues, politicians need to set aside “tribalism and party in-fighting.”

Ridenour is finishing his first term as mayor and is running for re-election.  The COVID-19 pandemic greatly interrupted the mayor’s first years in office, with the 2020 state shut-down coming two weeks after his first “state of the city” policy speech.

Robinson will publicly announce his candidacy Thursday night at the Guardian Brewing Company.