Westfield primary is a referendum on Andy Cook

WESTFIELD, Ind. (WISH) — Mayor Andy Cook is seeking re-election in Westfield Tuesday where the GOP primary is the election.

It’s a referendum on Cook, who is facing a first-time candidate.

Andy Cook has guided Westfield as it has grown from a small town into a booming suburb.

The keystone of that growth is Grand Park, a sports complex with almost sixty fields and ball diamonds.

“We had to find an industry,” he said, “and what we found, we put forth tapping the $8.5 billion family travel sports industry.”

Four years ago Cook barely won re-election because voters questioned his plans for Grand Park. Now that they’ve seen it, Cook hopes that his reward is a third term.

Grand Park supplied $43 million to the local economy in its first year according to Cook, but his challenger, Pike Township firefighter Jeff Harpe, is not impressed.

“I would say the problem with Grand Park is that city officials haven’t done their due diligence as to what it’s gonna cost to actually be sustainable,” he said.

Harpe says supports the growth in Westfield but thinks the city has too much debt.

“Right now I believe we have a mayor and a rubber stamp city council,” he said, “that has totally disregarded the voice of the people.”

Cook is mostly worried about voter turnout after that close call in 2011.

“I had so many people come to me the next day and say, ‘Andy, we didn’t know you had a problem, (I) didn’t bother to vote,’” he said. “Now, they said at that time it wouldn’t happen again. We’ll see.”

Andy Cook is running a modern campaign with polling, advertising, and a focused message.

Jeff Harpe has conducted most of his campaign on social media and has spent $7,000 of his own money in the process.

Cook is the favorite.