Indianapolis, Indiana: Councilor Crista Lee Wells Resigns, the Third Council Departure Since August

Indianapolis City-County Councilor Crista Lee Wells will resign her District 11 seat on Saturday, October 31, the third departure from the council since August.

Wells shared a letter to council leadership on Facebook on Friday, October 30, saying she would step down to transition into the next chapter of her personal and professional life, The Indianapolis Star reported. She told the Star in a text message on Friday that she wants to spend more time with her family and her dog.

Wells represents District 11 on the west side of Indianapolis. She leaves with more than a year left in her second term. Under Indiana law, the Marion County Democratic Party has 30 days to hold a special caucus of party insiders to choose her replacement, with the 2027 city elections ahead.

The youngest woman elected to the council

Wells has served since 2020. She was elected in November 2019 as Crista Carlino, and she wrote in her resignation letter that she was the youngest woman ever elected to the council when she won her seat.

On the council she chaired the Parks and Recreation Committee and co-chaired the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee.

The investigation she led

Wells led the council committee that hired a law firm to investigate Mayor Joe Hogsett's handling of sexual harassment allegations inside his administration. The allegations centered on his former aide Thomas Cook.

The firm published its findings in May 2025. Weeks later, Wells became the fourth councilor to call for Hogsett to resign. A fifth councilor, Republican Michael Paul Hart, followed later that year. Wells also called for Council President Vop Osili and Vice President Ali Brown to step down from their leadership posts, saying the firm's report focused too narrowly on Cook.

She kept breaking with her own party's majority after that. In August 2026 she was one of two Democrats who voted against the Democratic majority's successful override of Hogsett's veto of vehicle tax hikes.

Third resignation since August

Wells is the third councilor to step down since August. Republican Joshua Bain left that month to serve on the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. Democrat Ali Brown resigned in September.

No successor has been named. The party caucus will pick the next District 11 councilor, and that person will hold the west side seat until voters decide it in the regular election cycle.