Tom Henry

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Tom Henry

Democratic Party

Prior offices

Fort Wayne City Council District 3

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Mayor of Fort Wayne

Successor: Sharon Tucker

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Report an officeholder change

Education

High school

Fort Wayne Central Catholic High School

Bachelor's

University of St. Francis

Graduate

University of St. Francis

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Army

Years of service

1971 - 1973

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

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Personal website

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Tom Henry (Democratic Party) was the Mayor of Fort Wayne in Indiana. He assumed office on January 1, 2008. He left office on March 28, 2024.

Henry (Democratic Party) ran for re-election for Mayor of Fort Wayne in Indiana. He won in the general election on November 7, 2023.

Before becoming mayor, he represented District 3 on the Fort Wayne City Council from 1983 to 2003. Tom Henry won the general election on November 3, 2015.

Henry passed away on March 28, 2024 due to medical complications from stomach cancer.

Biography

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Henry was born in Fort Wayne. He earned a B.A. in psychology and an MBA from the University of St. Francis. His professional experience included working as the CEO of the Gallant Group, an insurance and healthcare consulting firm, and Midwest Health Net, a hospital group purchasing firm.

Henry served in the United States Army from 1971-1973.

Career

Below is a brief outline of Henry's political career.

• 2008-2024: Mayor of Fort Wayne
• 1983-2003: Fort Wayne City Council, District 3

Presidential preference

2016 presidential endorsement

✓ Henry endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic primary in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

See also: Endorsements for Hillary Clinton

Elections

2023

See also: Mayoral election in Fort Wayne, Indiana (2023)

General election

General election for Mayor of Fort Wayne

Incumbent Tom Henry defeated Thomas Didier in the general election for Mayor of Fort Wayne on November 7, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tom Henry (D)	51.9	23,947
		Thomas Didier (R)	48.1	22,213

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 46,160
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Mayor of Fort Wayne

Incumbent Tom Henry defeated Jorge Fernandez in the Democratic primary for Mayor of Fort Wayne on May 2, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tom Henry	78.0	5,863
		Jorge Fernandez	22.0	1,654

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 7,517
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Mayor of Fort Wayne

Thomas Didier defeated Jason Arp, Eddie Ribel, and Jesse Crammer (Unofficially withdrew) in the Republican primary for Mayor of Fort Wayne on May 2, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Thomas Didier	64.1	7,123
		Jason Arp	33.3	3,708
		Eddie Ribel	1.5	166
		Jesse Crammer (Unofficially withdrew)	1.1	123

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,120
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Henry in this election.

2019

See also: Mayoral election in Fort Wayne, Indiana (2019)

General election

General election for Mayor of Fort Wayne

Incumbent Tom Henry defeated Tim Smith in the general election for Mayor of Fort Wayne on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tom Henry (D)	61.2	32,563
		Tim Smith (R)	38.8	20,638

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 53,201
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Mayor of Fort Wayne

Incumbent Tom Henry defeated Gina Burgess and Tommy Schrader in the Democratic primary for Mayor of Fort Wayne on May 7, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tom Henry	86.2	6,797
		Gina Burgess	11.1	875
		Tommy Schrader	2.7	216

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 7,888
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Mayor of Fort Wayne

Tim Smith defeated John Crawford and David Roach in the Republican primary for Mayor of Fort Wayne on May 7, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tim Smith	56.4	9,065
		John Crawford	42.1	6,776
		David Roach	1.5	235

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 16,076
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Matthew McLaughlin (R)

2015

See also: Fort Wayne, Indiana municipal elections, 2015

The city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, held elections for mayor and city council on November 3, 2015. A primary election took place on May 5, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was February 6, 2015. All nine city council seats were up for election.

In the Republican primary election for mayor, Mitch Harper defeated Robert Bastian, William E. Collins and Frederick G. Osheskie. In the Democratic primary, incumbent Tom Henry defeated Tom M. Cook, David Christopher Roach, Richard Stevenson Sr. and John Forrest Roberson. Henry defeated Harper in the general election.

Mayor of Fort Wayne, General election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Tom Henry Incumbent	56.8%	23,769
	Republican	Mitch Harper	43.2%	18,068
		Write-in votes	0%	0
Total Votes				41,837
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Election Results", accessed November 16, 2015

Mayor of Fort Wayne Republican Primary, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Mitch Harper	83.7%	8,475
William E. Collins	7%	705
Robert Bastian	6.8%	693
Frederick G. Osheskie, Sr.	2.5%	255
Total Votes		10,128
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Official primary election results," accessed May 20, 2015

Mayor of Fort Wayne Democratic Primary, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Tom Henry Incumbent	76.5%	5,676
Richard Stevenson Sr.	18.8%	1,396
Tom M. Cook	3%	219
David Christopher Roach	1.7%	128
Total Votes		7,419
Source: Allen County, Indiana, "Official primary election results," accessed May 20, 2015

Campaign themes

2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Tom Henry did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.

2019

Tom Henry did not complete Ballotpedia's 2019 Candidate Connection survey.

Noteworthy events

Events and activity following the death of George Floyd

See also: Events following the death of George Floyd and responses in select cities from May 29-31, 2020

Henry was mayor of Fort Wayne during the weekend of May 29-31, 2020, when events and activity took place in cities across the U.S. following the death of George Floyd. Events in Fort Wayne, Indiana, began on Friday, May 29, 2020, at the Allen County Courthouse. No curfews were issued. The national guard was not deployed.

To read more about the death of George Floyd and subsequent events, click [show] to the right.

On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis police officers arrested Floyd, a Black man, after receiving a call that he had made a purchase with a counterfeit $20 bill. Floyd died after Derek Chauvin, a white officer, arrived at the scene and pressed his knee onto Floyd's neck as Floyd laid face-down on the street in handcuffs. Both the Hennepin County Medical Examiner and an independent autopsy conducted by Floyd's family ruled Floyd's death as a homicide stemming from the incident. The medical examiner's report, prepared by Dr. Michael Baden and Dr. Allecia Wilson, said that it was "not a legal determination of culpability or intent, and should not be used to usurp the judicial process." On April 20, 2021, Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter in relation to Floyd's death. Floyd's death was filmed and shared widely, leading to activity regarding racism, civil rights, and police use of force. The first events took place in Minneapolis-St. Paul on May 26. An event in Chicago organized by Chance the Rapper and Rev. Michael Pfleger took place the same day, making it the first major city outside of Minneapolis to host an event in response to Floyd's death.

See also

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	Mayor of Fort Wayne 2008-2024	Succeeded by Sharon Tucker (D)
Preceded by -	Fort Wayne City Council District 3 1983-2003	Succeeded by -