Kristin Jones (Indiana)

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Kristin Jones

Democratic Party

Indianapolis City Council District 18

Tenure

2024 - Present

Term ends

2028

Years in position

1

Predecessor

Michael-Paul Hart

Prior offices

Indianapolis City Council District 16

Successor: Jessica McCormick

Predecessor: Jefferson Shreve

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Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 7, 2023

Personal

Birthplace

Indianapolis, Ind.

Religion

Christian

Profession

Executive Director

Contact

Official website

Campaign website

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Kristin Jones (Democratic Party) is a member of the Indianapolis City Council, representing District 18. She assumed office on January 1, 2024. Her current term ends on January 1, 2028.

Jones (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Indianapolis City Council to represent District 18. She won in the general election on November 7, 2023.

Jones completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.

Jones represented Indianapolis City Council District 16 from 2020 until 2024.

Biography

Kristin Jones was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. She received a bachelor's degree from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. Jones' professional experience includes working as the executive director of the Indiana Senate Democrats Committee and the director of community engagement at the Julian Center.

Elections

2023

See also: City elections in Indianapolis, Indiana (2023)

General election

General election for Indianapolis City Council District 18

Incumbent Kristin Jones defeated Mark Renholzberger in the general election for Indianapolis City Council District 18 on November 7, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kristin Jones (D)	74.9	3,282
		Mark Renholzberger (L)	25.1	1,099

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,381
= 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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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Indianapolis City Council District 18

Incumbent Kristin Jones defeated Matthew Impink in the Democratic primary for Indianapolis City Council District 18 on May 2, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kristin Jones	52.3	910
		Matthew Impink	47.7	831

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,741
= 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Jones received the following endorsements.

• Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce

2022

See also: Indiana State Senate elections, 2022

General election

General election for Indiana State Senate District 46

Andrea Hunley defeated Evan Shearin in the general election for Indiana State Senate District 46 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Andrea Hunley (D)	72.9	19,503
		Evan Shearin (R)	27.1	7,238

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 26,741
= 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Indiana State Senate District 46

Andrea Hunley defeated Kristin Jones, Ashley Eason, Karla Lopez Owens, and Bob Kern in the Democratic primary for Indiana State Senate District 46 on May 3, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Andrea Hunley	43.9	3,142
		Kristin Jones	25.9	1,859
		Ashley Eason	16.7	1,194
		Karla Lopez Owens	12.5	893
		Bob Kern	1.1	77

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 7,165
= 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Indiana State Senate District 46

Evan Shearin advanced from the Republican primary for Indiana State Senate District 46 on May 3, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Evan Shearin	100.0	1,535

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,535
= 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Shawn Carruthers (R)

2019

See also: City elections in Indianapolis, Indiana (2019)

General election

General election for Indianapolis City Council District 16

Kristin Jones defeated Laura Giffel and Mike Smith in the general election for Indianapolis City Council District 16 on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kristin Jones (D)	52.8	1,721
		Laura Giffel (R)	44.9	1,465
		Mike Smith (G)	2.3	75

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 3,261
= 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Indianapolis City Council District 16

Kristin Jones defeated Patrick Wagner in the Democratic primary for Indianapolis City Council District 16 on May 7, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kristin Jones	72.1	595
		Patrick Wagner	27.9	230

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 825
= 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Indianapolis City Council District 16

Laura Giffel advanced from the Republican primary for Indianapolis City Council District 16 on May 7, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Laura Giffel	100.0	351

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 351
= 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

To see a list of endorsements for Kristin Jones, click here.

Campaign themes

2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Kristin Jones completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Jones' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a wife of 32 years and a mother to two adult children. We have lived in the district for almost 30 years and I have been active in our community as a volunteer, then as a candidate, and finally I am the incumbent district City-County Councilor. As an AFSCME 725 member, I am often involved in helping organized labor. I am proud to sit on the Department of Public Works, Parks and Recreation, Metropolitan Economic Development, and Community Affairs Committees. I love our community and I enjoy helping to clear storm drains that have been clogged by leaves and debris and helping to pick up litter. I truly enjoy helping constituents solve their problems by advocating for them with the city.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Improved Infrastructure
• Additional funding for alleys
• Quality of life issues for our neighborhoods

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

When I am at the doors and on the phones talking to constituents, the number one issue I hear about is improved roads, trails, sidewalks, curbs, and alleys. During my time on council, we passed a Capital Plan with $1.15 billion allocated for sidewalks, roads, streets and bridges with no tax increases. I have successfully advocated for even more money for infrastructure and flood control in our district. We have a long way to go with infrastructure improvements, but the progress so far has been encouraging and I am happy to say our district is finally getting its much deserved attention.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2022

Kristin Jones did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2019

Kristin Jones completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Jones' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

 I am running for City-County Council because I love my community. I have lived in the district for 25 years with my husband and two children and have served in a volunteer capacity for numerous organizations such as Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center, Concord Center, West Indy Public Library, our local churches, and Riley Children's hospital.   I have also help to elect community-centered leaders such as Rep Justin Moed, and Senator JD Ford. These experiences have allowed me to understand the issues that our district faces through face-to-face engagements at the doors of our neighbors.     These conversations helped form the basis of what our campaign is all about. First of all, I understand the need for improved road repair, safer sidewalks, more bus stops, and the need for more street lights.   Secondly, I understand that crime plagues many of our neighborhoods and we need to address it through an increased focus on community-based beat policing. Finally, having worked for nearly a decade with our community centers, I understand the need to connect our residents to available community resources that often go unused due to lack of awareness. Currently, I am the Director of Community Engagement at The Julian Center.   If you don't know anything about me, please remember two things, first, I am relentless, and second I get results! I will work tirelessly for you and your families and I will not give up!

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Infrastructure Improvements
• Increased Focus on Public Safety
• Connecting Neighbors to Community Resources

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Improving public safety and reducing crime is a priority for our community and the issue that I am passionate about. Along with helping to devote more resources from the city to make our neighborhoods safer, I will work to empower neighbors through crime watch programs and strengthening direct resident-officer connections through IMPD and the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

 
The impact of addiction also affects all of us in one way or another. I will work with service providers and the city to help make recovery services available to those who face addiction and their families.
 

I have also worked with residents and city leaders to address concerns over abandoned houses in our neighborhoods. I understand that abandoned and blighted houses impact the quality of life for neighbors, bringing crime, health, and other concerns, and I will work tirelessly with the neighborhoods to turn abandoned housing into occupied homes.

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

Our City-County Council has the responsibility of being the legislative branch for Marion County and Indianapolis which is the only class one city in the state of Indiana.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I have two qualities that I believe will make me a successful councilor. The first one is that I am tenacious. I will not give up and the second is that I get results. The two go hand-in-hand and these will serve me well as a councilor.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

The core responsibilities of this office are to listen to the concerns of our citizens by both attending neighborhood meetings and canvassing the district in order to hear from the majority of constituents which either do not participate in neighborhood meetings or do not have one in their neighborhood and then make sure those concerns are answered.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was a dietary aide at a nursing home where I worked for two and a half years.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

I'm Still Standing by Elton John

Do you believe that it's beneficial for holders of this office to have previous experience in government or politics?

I believe it is important to have previous experience in politics due to the bipartisan nature of the council. One must have the ability to work with colleagues across the aisle in order to get things done. Having worked in politics for over a decade and getting community-focused candidates elected, I believe that I have that ability and have worked with officeholders from both sides of the aisle in order to get results.

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

I believe that accessibility would be most important characteristic for City-County Council in order for constituents to be able to voice their concerns to their councilor.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2023 Elections

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Indianapolis City Council District 18

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Officeholder

Indianapolis City Council District 18

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Michael-Paul Hart (R)	Indianapolis City Council District 18 2024-Present	Succeeded by -
Preceded by Jefferson Shreve (R)	Indianapolis City Council District 16 2020-2024	Succeeded by Jessica McCormick (D)