IU grad student runs for city council

KC Baker doesn’t fit in with most of the candidates for Bloomington City Council.

Of the 18 candidates in the May 3 municipal primary election, 10 are directly connected to IU, three are Republicans and just one, Baker, is a student.

“I’m really glad that I’m a student and in this race because I think there’s sometimes an uneasy symbiosis between the community and the University,” he said. “I go to the west side, which is where my district is, and I hear people say, ‘I can’t get across town, those stupid kids are everywhere,’ and then you find out they work for the University, or their husband or wife works for the University.”

Baker is a graduate student studying information science and public administration in the School of Library and Information Science and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, respectively.

He is the only Republican candidate for the 1st District, which includes most of the city west of Walnut Street.

In November, Baker will run against either Greg Alexander or the incumbent Chris Sturbaum, depending on who wins in the May 4 Democratic primary.

He graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in political science. But Baker didn’t spend all those years in Bloomington. He worked as a math teacher and later as a technology director for a school in Virginia, he said.

While in Virginia, Baker began his career in public office as a member of the Central Shenandoah Regional Planning District Commission, a 20-person board that helps cities take on infrastructure improvements.

“The voters in Charlottesville loved it because they loved the alternative modes of transportation — it was fantastic. Across the mountain, the voters in Stanton and Waynesboro, where I lived, didn’t like it so much,” he said.

Baker said these experiences would help him if he was elected to Bloomington City Council in November.

He would also bring a Republican voice to the council, which he said would be important for allowing ideas to compete.

“If you have nine people that think exactly the same thing, then what they think is what’s going to happen,” he said. “If you have five people who think one thing and four who think the other, then there’s a chance for real competition.”

Baker said that kind of competition of ideas is the biggest problem in Bloomington today because nearly all of the city’s elected officials are Democrats.

For Baker, this makes running for a city council position that much more difficult.

“There are some who feel like it’s a pretty daunting task to run, especially in the city election because anyone can look and see that it’s largely Democratic as far as offices are concerned,” said Ryan Langley, a Republican member of Monroe County Council whom Baker approached for advice before deciding to run. “I think they’re all
winnable districts. It just depends on who the candidate is and how hard they work.”

Despite Democrats’ domination of Bloomington elected offices, those who know Baker have faith in his ability to win.

“He’s simply very committed,” said Jack Schmit, adviser of the IU College Republicans. “He’s a guy who follows through on what he says he’ll do. He’s very reliable and has good sense of integrity and character.”

Now Baker is starting to get his campaign rolling. He is holding a kickoff cookout Sunday for his campaign volunteers and then starting to recruit voters, said IU sophomore Holly Heerdink, Baker’s campaign manager.

Baker said he will be putting a lot of effort into his campaign work on top of his studies because he knows Republicans are not generally well represented on the city council.

“I am optimistic and realistic,” Baker said. “I’m not going to win in a landslide. Without a doubt this is going to be a fight.”