GREENFIELD — Democrats in Hancock County had one thing to cheer about after this year’s general election: the victory of a Democrat in the presidential race. When it came to races closer to home, however, there wasn’t much to celebrate. County Democrats fielded no candidates this year, and across the state, Republicans won statewide races and maintained a supermajority in the state legislature.
Hancock County Democratic Party chair Randy Johnson said local Democrats were excited about the victory of President-elect Joe Biden, if disappointed by the failure of Indiana candidates to achieve many victories.
In a recent meeting, Johnson said, the Democrats discussed who was interested in serving as precinct chairs, who will vote for new county party officials in March of next year. Johnson will not be seeking another term. With no local elections next year, the next chance the county Democrats will have to challenge Republicans will be in 2022.
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The victories of Republicans in Indiana weren’t surprising, Johnson said; Democrats in the state would have needed to expand their number of voters, and they failed to do so.
Hancock County was one of the many counties in Indiana, most of them in rural and suburban areas, where Democrats didn’t make a dent in Republican dominance. Local voters cast 13,277 straight-ticket ballots for Republicans, and only 4,499 for Democrats. In the presidential contest, Trump voters outnumbered Biden voters more than two to one.
One major factor in the race was different than in previous years, Johnson said: the number of votes that went to Libertarian candidates. In Hancock County, more votes for governor went to Libertarian candidate for governor Donald Rainwater than to the Democratic candidate.
“Who did they take the vote from? I’m not sure as of yet,” Johnson said.
Theresa Bruno, the Democratic town council member from Warren Park who ran against District 28 state Sen. Michael Crider, lost her race despite being the more popular choice in her own part of the district, the east side of Indianapolis. Most Hancock County voters chose Crider.
“I’m obviously disappointed that we didn’t do better,” Bruno said. She added that the defeat of District 15 Democrat Rep. Chris Chyung was particularly disheartening. In 2018, Chyung defeated incumbent Harold Slager, and many Democrats saw a bright future for him in Indiana politics. This year, though, Slager ran again — and won back the seat.
In a videoconference with reporters after the election, Indiana Democratic Party chair John Zody said he was disappointed with the election results, but continues to believe the party is on the right track in the long term. He said Woody Myers, the former state health commissioner who lost by a large margin to incumbent Gov. Eric Holcomb, looked like a good candidate on paper but failed to attract much fundraising.
Zody said he will not be running for another term as the party chair.
Bruno said she thought the COVID-19 pandemic was a major factor in why Indiana Democrats were not able to improve on their performance. In her previous campaigns, she said, she has found that it is easier to win the trust of voters who wouldn’t normally vote for a Democrat in person, something many candidates didn’t do this year.
“We couldn’t really do retail politics because of COVID-19,” Bruno said.
Despite the defeat, Bruno said she will likely run for higher office again and continues to believe that the issues she ran on, including directing more funding to health care and public schools, are bipartisan ones.
“Everyone deserves public schools, infrastructure, and health care,” she said.
Bruno also said she plans to continue advocating to state legislators on the issue of redistricting reform. With a Republican supermajority, she said, she is more concerned than ever that lawmakers will redraw legislative districts with the intention of keeping themselves in power. Bruno has advocated for a nonpartisan group to draw district boundaries instead.
“If we say we believe in democracy, then let’s believe in democracy here,” she said.
Johnson said the biggest future for the Hancock County Democrats lies in reaching out to voters and potential candidates in ways they have not so far, like partnering with activist groups in the area and making better use of social media.
There are bright spots for the future, Johnson said: several new participants joined in after working at the polls during the general election and wanting to stay involved in local politics.
“I guess elections do help with that kind of momentum,” Johnson said.
Zody said the state party will continue to focus on ways it can help counties with little Democratic presence field candidates. In the past, it has provided trainings and other events open to local-level candidates around the state.
“It’s harder to see sometimes, because you’re looking at local candidates running in small cities or small towns or for county-wide offices, but that’s something the party focuses on quite a bit, actually,” he said. “In Hancock County, we didn’t get there this time, but it is something that’s a big focus of ours.”