There are two ways to run against an incumbent. You say what they’ve done wrong, or you say what you’d do better. Three St. Joseph County Democrats are challenging three Republican incumbents this fall for county assessor, county clerk, and county commissioner. I went through the three Democrats’ campaign materials looking for their case against the incumbent, or a plan to do the job better. I didn’t find an answer.
St. Joseph County Assessor
The assessor’s office locates, identifies, and values every taxable parcel in the county. The Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) certifies its appraisers at three levels. I, II, and III.
Incumbent Mike Castellon has held the office of St. Joseph County Assessor since January 1, 2023, after three terms as Penn Township assessor. He spent 20 years in the Navy and maintains a Level III Assessor/Appraiser certification, the highest certification the state gives. His campaign says nearly all of his appraisal staff reached Level III within two years of his arrival and that every employee presently maintains that certification or is working toward it.
Vic Cummings boasts that he graduated from Clay High School. His site says he then worked as a machine operator, “a building engineer for the South Bend community schools,” and now as a sales representative for HVAC, plumbing, and fire protection supplies. He also coaches high school football.
The district’s payroll records, filed with the state, tell it differently. His title in 2015 was “Cd Custodian.” His title in 2016, 2017, and 2018 was “Ei-Ic Eng/Edctr Custodian.” The word custodian appears in his job title. Yet it does not appear on his campaign material.
His website does list the assessor’s duties, but it does not state that Cummings has performed any of them. It lists no appraiser certification, at any level. His reason for running, in his own words, is to help people “combatting the red tape at the Capitol.”
The assessor’s office is in the County-City Building.
The State Capitol is in Indianapolis.
St. Joseph County Clerk of the Circuit Court
The clerk keeps the court’s records, manages its finances, and runs elections. The work is administrative, and demands accuracy.
Incumbent Amy Rolfes took office in January 2023. When I interviewed her in March 2025, she oversaw about 55 employees. She had used grant money to secure the ballot room with cameras, motion detectors, and key card access. The audit of the 2024 election showed a 99 percent confidence level, the highest rating available without a full hand recount. Her campaign adds an honorable mention from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and a Ball State certificate in election administration.
Stephanie Ball has a sociology degree and a master’s in public administration. She has worked for the state, the Housing Authority of South Bend, and the South Bend Heritage Foundation, and served one term on the school board. Her site calls her a certified financial counselor. It does not list a day of work in the clerk’s office, the courts, or election administration.
Her case for the office is that the clerk should “lead with empathy and attention to detail.”
One of the first documents Ball filed to run for that office was her campaign finance report. Ball named her committee the “Committee to Ellect Stephanie Ball.” And named her county as “St. Josepah.” Where the form requires contributor addresses, she left some of those blank.
Ball wants to run the office where attention to detail and record filing is the job. Yet, she missed details in her own filings.
St. Joseph County Commissioner, District 1
The Board of Commissioners is the county’s executive branch. It sets the budget, maintains the roads, and oversees county operations.
Incumbent Carl Baxmeyer has held the District 1 seat since August 2022 and is board president. Before that: LaPorte County planning director beginning in 1978, intergovernmental coordinator for U.S. Rep. John Hiler, director of the 1990 Census regional office, ten years running a planning firm. His campaign claims $6.5 million spent repaving 28 miles of county road, $2.7 million in property tax relief for seniors, and a 6,000-hour cut in mandatory dispatcher overtime.
Bill Redman joined the sheriff’s department in 1994, and was elected sheriff in 2018 and 2022.
Redman’s campaign lists public safety, road repair and snow removal, and funding county needs without raising taxes. Baxmeyer’s campaign lists the roads he repaved and the taxes he didn’t raise. Redman’s site does not name one thing the current board has done that he would undo.
What’s broken
Nothing, apparently.
At the time of publication, Cummings’s site does not mention how the assessor’s office is run. Ball offers empathy for a job that requires neutrality. Redman’s offers to continue Baxmeyer’s agenda with a different name on it. None of the three say their opponents office is failing. None say what changes they would make. None say why the person doing the job now shouldn’t be reelected.
The election is on Tuesday November 3rd.
Logan Foster
Logan Foster is the founder and editor of Redress South Bend, an independent news outlet covering local government, courts, and public institutions in South Bend and St. Joseph County, Indiana. He reports from primary documents: public records requests, court filings, state audit reports, and campaign finance disclosures. His reporting has examined city and school district payments made without competitive bidding, school board spending, and the records of candidates in county races. Redress South Bend obtained the South Bend Police Department's ShotSpotter coverage map after the department initially denied public access. The outlet is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Online News Association. Reach him at info@redresssouthbend.com
