(Michigan City, IN) - The first African American Mayor in the history of Michigan City was elected in a landslide Tuesday night. Angie Nelson Deuitch, a Democrat, defeated Republican incumbent Duane Parry. Deuitch, a member of the City Council, received 64 percent of the vote to 33 percent for Parry. Libertarian Mike Walker collected three percent of the nearly 4,500 votes cast in the race.
About 200 of Deuitch's supporters, who packed the Uptown Social banquet hall at 9th and Franklin Streets, chanted “Angie, Angle, Angie” before she came out and addressed the crowd.
“There was a reporter that said it was a toss-up. It’s tightening. Did you all see anything tightening? We knew from the beginning didn’t we? We understood the assignment and we did it,” she said.
Almost every one of her supporters raised
their hand when asked who knocked on doors, made a donation to her campaign, made a phone call or wrote a post card to drum up support for her bid to become Mayor. Deuitch described her campaign as a “labor of labor” dedicated to rooting out negativity and thinking only positive about the city’s future.
“It’s about how we’re going to lift up Michigan City. We are about to elevate Michigan City to the next level,” she said above the cheers of the crowd.
Former Michigan City Redevelopment Commission President Don Babcock said Deuitch has proven herself over the past 20 years to be an effective community leader in areas like neighborhoods and schools. He also described her as having drive and genuinely caring about the city.
“You might not always get your way, but being part of her team something is going to happen and it’s going to be good. People get excited about that,” said Babcock, who’s now involved in community outreach and economic development at the Purdue University Northwest campus near Westville.
Babcock went to say everyone in the community is going to benefit from the economic boom expected from the South Shore Commuter Railroad’s nearly completed double track from her guidance as mayor.
“It’s not going to be just the wealthy that are going to benefit from that. The whole community is going to benefit. We’re going to strike that balance where everybody wins,” he said.
