Four Democratic candidates running in highly competitive districts met virtually to promote their campaigns and share how their potential wins could eliminate Indiana’s Republican supermajority in the Indiana Statehouse.
ReCenter Indiana, a bipartisan political action committee (PAC) dedicated to “centering” Indiana’s political scene by eliminating its Republican supermajority, held a public webinar Thursday featuring four Democratic candidates who it believes, as the PAC stated in its press release, “could restore some balance and common sense to the Statehouse.”
The webinar came just a few months after its campaign calling for Democrats to vote in the Republican primary.
The webinar included Democratic candidates Josh Lowry, Tiffany Stoner and Matt McNally and incumbent Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn, D-Fishers—all of whom, according to ReCenter, live in pivotal districts that could switch parties to eliminate the supermajority.
Sheila Suess Kennedy, professor emerita of law and public policy at Indiana University Indianapolis, started the webinar by giving background on how the Republican party has become a supermajority, particularly citing gerrymandering.
That’s when politicians create unfair political advantages by drawing legislative district lines to increase their party’s population in each district. This makes it so that during election time, their party has a higher chance of winning and gaining political control.
“It’s a vicious cycle because in Indiana, the GOP legislative supermajority also allows the party to continue the extreme gerrymandering that’s made Indiana one of the five most gerrymandered states in the country,” Kennedy said.
Gerrymandering has plenty of consequences, she said, one of its most important being voter turnout—or a lack thereof. According to the Indiana Civic Health Index, Indiana ranked 50th out of 51 states, including Washington, D.C., for voter turnout in 2022.
Regardless of the party in power, Kennedy also stressed that supermajorities created by gerrymandering allow the empowered party to disregard opposing opinions.
“Any supermajority, Republican or Democrat, gives those in power the ability to ignore contending arguments, unpalatable data and the needs of Hoosiers who are seen as likely to vote for the other party. A supermajority doesn’t need to negotiate or compromise. It doesn’t even need to look like it’s negotiating or compromising,” Kennedy said “Indiana can’t get rid of the gerrymandering that makes our legislature’s extremism possible.”
Kennedy said that the state’s supermajority has encouraged extremist ideas to spread within Indiana’s Republican Party. These ideas, Kennedy added, have caused voters who previously voted Republican to turn more Democratic—giving Lowry, Stoner, Garcia Wilburn and McNally “better than usual chances” to win their districts.
Lowry is running to represent House District 24. A foster parent and attorney, he said he was motivated to enter the political scene after witnessing the overturn of Roe v. Wade. He got involved and started knocking on doors, learning about the concerns of Hoosiers.
Lowry said that while most wouldn’t admit it, he’s talked to plenty of Republicans who believe the supermajority should be eliminated to help the relationships of Democrats and Republicans both in and out of the Statehouse.
“Our politicians are our leaders, right? If someone can go out there and just spew as much vitriol as they want, that’s going to trickle down into how people talk [to each other],” Lowry said. “And if we are all in there and you see a supermajority broken and you have Democrats and Republicans working together, it’s a lot harder to talk bad about somebody that you personally know.”
Lowry said his district, which includes parts of Westfield, Carmel, Zionsville and Sheridan, has rapidly changed over the last few years, leading him to believe a win on November 5 is possible.
Stoner is running for House District 25, which includes parts of Zionsville. A small business owner and wife of a combat veteran, she said her campaign works to gain votes from both Democrats and Republicans, believing most Hoosiers are split in the middle on issues, rather than defining themselves wholly by one party.
“After knocking on almost 10,000 doors—now, Matt McNally has beat me on this so far—it is clear that Hoosiers want safe, vibrant communities. They want adequate infrastructure, and they want well-funded schools,” Stoner said. “And I intend to pursue that same thing over and over again as a state legislator.”
Along with sharing Lowry’s concerns on abortion and other health care rights, Stoner narrowed her aim to redistributing education funding.
“Next year, a Hoosier family of four who makes nearly a quarter of a million dollars can use taxpayer dollars to cover tuition at private schools, taking all that needed funding away from our public schools and our vibrant communities,” Stoner said. “And since 2017, I’ll just talk about my district: Hendricks County has lost $34 million. Boone County has lost $22 million. Let that kind of sink in. …
“These schools are responsible for maintaining facilities, offering special education services, sports, extracurricular activities that our kids really love. This just has honestly gone too far.”
She continued: “I don’t think it’s healthy to surround yourself in an echo chamber with like-minded individuals, so I sincerely, I want to know the issues on all sides. Josh has alluded to this as well. I think it’s a reason why we’re on this call. We need to bring balance back to the Statehouse.”
Incumbent Garcia Wilburn said that as the only Latina Democrat in the Statehouse, she takes up issues that affect the fastest-growing minority in Indiana and beyond that affect the lives of all Americans, like safety and mental health.
Garcia Wilburn’s first piece of legislation during her tenure at the Statehouse, House Enrolled Act 1321, was created to improve the mental health of Hoosier first responders. She said she wouldn’t have known how much the legislation was needed if it weren’t for her personal experiences with her husband, who retired from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department with diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder.
“It took me entering the Statehouse to pass that piece of legislation because that was my lived experience. We need more Hoosiers with everyday lived experience in those seats. The Statehouse is our house, and it belongs to everybody, irrespective of political party,” Garcia Wilburn said.
McNally, a veteran and airline pilot, is running for House District 39, which includes parts of Carmel. He also decided to get involved with politics after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“I spoke about it with my family, and I looked at my daughter and said, ‘If I don’t stand up and and do something, how can I ever look her in the eye?’ And ultimately, that’s the reason I joined the race,” McNally said.
Like Lowry, he said he’s witnessed changes within his district since he began knocking on the doors of Hoosiers months ago.
“In 2022, I had one of the highest split-ticket voter votes in the state,” McNally said. “I was recently asked why, and I attribute it to my military experience. We worked together, we had disagreements, but we put them aside to accomplish the mission.”
McNally said his campaign just knocked on its 15,000th door—though not just for the sake of campaigning.
“It’s not about campaigning,” McNally said. “It’s because I believe that our community needs to see their representatives, and they need to see that they will represent them and listen to them.”
ReCenter Indiana is hosting another webinar on Sept. 29, which will tackle the supermajority in Indiana’s executive branch with guests Jennifer McCormick, who is running for governor, and Destiny Wells, who is running for attorney general.
Ashlyn Myers is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
