Mayor of Indianapolis; Indiana

Joseph H. "Joe" Hogsett (born November 2, 1956) is the 49th and current mayor of Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. He is also an American attorney, prosecutor, and Democratic Party politician. Hogsett served as the Secretary of State of Indiana from 1989 to 1994 and as the Chairman of the Indiana Democratic Party from 2003 to 2004. He was the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1992, for Indiana's 2nd congressional district in 1994 and for Attorney General of Indiana in 2004. He most recently served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana from 2010 to 2014. On November 3, 2015, he won the race for Mayor of Indianapolis in the 2015 election.

Hogsett was born in Rushville, Indiana in 1956. He graduated from Indiana University, and received graduate degrees from both Butler University and the Christian Theological Seminary, earning his degree in law from Indiana University. He went on to serve as a clerk for the Monroe County Superior Court and many civic and charitable positions.

Joe Hogsett is a lifelong Hoosier and former federal prosecutor. Joe has deep roots in this city: for twenty-five years, his father worked at a Westside factory, and Joe himself has lived and worked in Indianapolis for more than three decades. Over the last four years, Joe Hogsett served as federal prosecutor, cracking down on gun crimes and street gangs while breaking all-time records for the number of criminal convictions and the length of sentences. Joe also launched an initiative to protect taxpayers, rooting out political corruption in both parties and cutting his office’s spending every year he served.

As Mayor, Joe Hogsett will use the same results-oriented approach to stem the city’s violent crime epidemic, improve our local schools, and create more and better job opportunities for working families. He will also strengthen our city’s ethics code, increase transparency, and make sure that city resources are being invested in our neighborhoods – not in insider deals.

On August 15, 2012, the Indianapolis Star published a piece entitled, "Is U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett eyeing a run at Indianapolis mayor?" The profile noted that Hogsett's visibility and successes as U.S. Attorney had fueled speculation of a return to politics in Indiana, citing both the 2015 mayoral election in Indianapolis and the 2016 U.S. Senate race as possibilities. Hogsett received especially strong praise from former U.S. Senator Evan Bayh, who described Hogsett as "a wonderful representative for the Democratic Party and the people of Indiana."

In December 2012, the Indianapolis Business Journal named Hogsett a 2012 Newsmaker in a piece entitled, "Crime stance returns Hogsett to political spotlight."

In July 2014, four years after his nomination as U.S. Attorney, Hogsett announced he would leave the office at the end of the month. The decision was widely interpreted to mean that Hogsett would consider a run against Republican Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard. Media reports indicated that Hogsett's decision may have been motivated by the record-breaking violent crime spree affecting the city.

In the days that followed his resignation announcement, a social media campaign was launched urging Hogsett to run for mayor in 2015. In August 2014, he formed an exploratory committee.

On November 5, Mayor Ballard announced that he would not run for re-election to a third term in office. Seven days later, Hogsett announced his candidacy.




Indianapolis

Indianapolis, is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. It is located in the East North Central region of the Midwest, near the confluence of the White River and Fall Creek. The city covers 372 square miles (963.5 km²) and had an estimated population of 853,173 in 2015, making it the largest city in Indiana, second largest in the Midwest, and 14th largest in the U.S. Approximately 1,971,274 people live in the Indianapolis metropolitan area (MSA), the 33rd most populous MSA in the U.S. Its combined statistical area (CSA) ranks 26th, with a population of 2,336,237.

Founded in 1821 as a planned city for the new seat of Indiana's state government, Indianapolis was platted by Alexander Ralston and Elias Pym Fordham on a 1-square-mile (2.6 km2) grid. The city grew beyond the Mile Square, as the advent of the railroad and completion of the National Road solidified the city's role as a manufacturing and transportation hub. Indianapolis continues to be a distribution and logistics center, as more interstate highways intersect with the city than any other in the U.S.This has led to the city's nickname as the "Crossroads of America." Three Fortune 500, four Fortune 1000 companies, and a robust sport tourism and convention industry, contributed to a gross domestic product (GDP) of $125.8 billion in 2014. Indianapolis hosts many notable events annually, including the largest single-day sporting event in the world, the Indianapolis 500 automobile race. As headquarters for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the city frequently hosts the Men's and Women's basketball tournaments. It hosted Pan American Games X in 1987 and Super Bowl XLVI in 2012.

The city's philanthropic community has been instrumental in the development of its most well-known cultural institutions, including The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis Zoo, Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indiana State Museum, and Indiana Landmarks. Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment holds the fifth largest endowment in the U.S., with nearly $10 billion in assets. The city maintains the largest collection of monuments dedicated to veterans and war dead in the U.S., outside of Washington, D.C. Since the 1970 city-county consolidation, known as Unigov, local government administration has operated under the direction of an elected 25-member city-county council, headed by the mayor. Indianapolis is considered a "high sufficiency" global city.