Letters to the Editor do not reflect the opinions of The Reporter, its publisher or its staff. You can submit your own Letter to the Editor by email to News@ReadTheReporter.com. Please include your phone number and city of residence. The Reporter will publish one letter per person per week.
Dear Hoosier Democrats:
On behalf of our Democratic Party, we wanted to say thank you for your hard work and support this election cycle. Whether you volunteered, invested in our party, attended an event, or ran for office, we are grateful for you and your involvement.
Despite running against an onslaught of outside money against us, we held the line and protected a number of targeted incumbents on Election Day, including Congressman Frank Mrvan who had a big win in northwest Indiana.
We are all incredibly proud of all our candidates who stepped up to run this year.
Mayor Tom McDermott, Destiny Wells, ZeNai Brooks, and Jessica McClellan formed a historic statewide ticket and brought new energy and new ideas to our party. Many new Democrats put their names on ballots this year – from the precinct level to countywide to Congressional districts. Their growing engagement in our party is making us stronger.
We have more work to do to rebuild our party so we can be more competitive and win more races. Next year’s municipal races are good opportunities for us to elect and reelect more Democratic community leaders across the state – and we continue to build on our approach of going everywhere and talking with everyone.
When we became chair and vice-chair of the party last year, we set out to put in place a strategic plan to win by embarking on a new media approach, investing more in year-round organizing and party infrastructure, improving candidate recruitment, and building an INGOP War Room to call out extremism. This work continues and we will do a deep dive into this election so we can see what worked and where we need to grow. Everyone has a seat at that table.
Indiana will be a stronger state and a better place to live and work when there is more balance at every level of Hoosier government: Federal, state, and local. We believe we will get there – it’s just a matter of time.
Thank you again for your support.
Mike Schmuhl, Chair
Myla Eldridge, Vice-Chair
Indiana Democratic Party