The County Line
You don’t expect a political leader who lost every contest on the ballot to be very happy about the election outcome. But Democratic County Chairman Joe Weingarten seems satisfied because he says his party is making headway in Hamilton County.
In an email letter to his party faithful, he says Democrats scared Republicans into working harder than ever before to win. That is probably very true, but what Democrats face in this county is straight-ticket voting. Joe said it “killed us” when talking to a reporter last week.
By more than a 2-1 margin, county straight-ticket voters went Republican. Many other Republicans “scratched” for presidential candidate Joe Biden. This was evident in Fishers and Carmel where Biden actually outpolled Donald Trump by a slight margin.
Countywide, while Trump won by only 13,000 votes, the GOP candidates further down the ballot won by much wider margins. For governor, Eric Holcomb won by a record 117,000 to 58,000 over challenger Woody Myers. At the county level, in what had been billed as a potentially close race, GOP candidate for treasurer Susan Byer defeated her opponent Jake Madore 115,000 votes to 71,000.
So, while it is certainly true that Democrats are doing better each election among new suburban voters who will scratch against any candidate they dislike, overcoming that straight-ticket vote is going to be a challenge.
Add to that the fact that in a future election, Republicans may have a more traditional candidate for president who could bring home those party members who jumped the fence this year.
As always in politics, time will tell. In the meantime, Republicans are concerned, but not panicked. Democrats are hopeful, but should not be over-confident because each election brings a new set of circumstances.