New Fort Wayne, Indiana, mayor is sworn in a month after her predecessor's death

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Democrat Sharon Tucker was sworn in Tuesday as the new mayor of Indiana’s second-most populous city, nearly a month after her predecessor's death.

Tucker, who had been a Fort Wayne City Council member, took the oath of office Tuesday morning at the Clyde Theater, three days after she beat out six other candidates to win Saturday's Democratic caucus in the northeastern Indiana city.

The mayor’s office became vacant when Mayor Tom Henry, a fellow Democrat, died March 28 after experiencing a medical emergency related to his stomach cancer. He was 72.

Karl Bandemer, who acted as Fort Wayne's mayor in the interim, swore in Tucker before she and her husband, Timothy Barbour, embraced each other, The Journal Gazette reported.

“Y’all, they’re getting ready to put me to work already. I get to do my first job,” Tucker said before swearing in Bandemer to his previous role as deputy mayor.

Tucker had been a member of the City Council, but she resigned Sunday after her caucus win. She had previously served as a member of the council for Allen County, of which Fort Wayne is the seat.

Henry was elected in November to his fifth term as mayor of the city of about 270,000 residents. He announced his diagnosis of late-stage stomach cancer during a news conference Feb. 26 and started chemotherapy at the beginning of March.

Tucker, the first Black person to serve as Fort Wayne mayor, will serve the remainder of Henry’s mayoral term. It runs through Dec. 31, 2027.