Indiana

A Local Look

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

After pontificating yesterday on Indiana’s Congressional primaries, it’s time to focus on the local races.

• I thought voter turnout was interesting, not the 15% turnout which was slightly more than 2006, but the fact more Marion County Republicans came out than Democrats, 57-40.  Obviously there more contested races and more action on the Republican side, however that does underscore the theme that Democrats will have to really motivate their base to come out in November to counteract that wave that tends to favor Republicans right now.
• Marion County Democrats made it a point to “push the slate” at a pre-election rally Monday night and they did with their slated candidates for Prosecutor and Sheriff.  What was interesting in the Sheriff’s race was the percentage of Democrats who voted for Mark Brown.   Nearly 40% of Democrats voted for Brown as opposed to slated candidate John Layton.  I can tell anecdotally that Brown enjoyed a large contingent of African-American support despite efforts by Black Democrats to convince them to back the slate.
• On the Republican side, I was surprised at the margin of victory Dennis Fishburn had over Bart McAtee; 55-45.  McAtee had a very aggressive air and Internet campaign, however Fishburn had the County organization and ground game behind him.   I also think the mailer sent out by the GOP depicting the number of McAtee family members on the Sheriff department’s payroll really did have an impact on undecided voters.
• I also do think there was a certain amount of political irony with Samantha Adair-White getting elected to the Indianapolis Public School board since there was so much bad blood between her husband Jeff White and Superintendent Eugene White.  Those should make for interesting board meetings.
• Speaking of schools, all Marion County schools that had referendum on the ballot saw them pass overwhelmingly.  That tells me two things.  First, the proponents were organized and the opposition wasn’t, see a pattern (Wishard), and the districts have a good relationship with their constituents since the measures are more of an indication of what voters think of their schools than anything else.
• I’m still trying to get a number on how many precinct committeemen brought to the table by soon to be Mayoral candidate Brian Williams actually got elected.  I know a number of them were defeated but a lot more ran uncontested.  Once I get some figures, I’ll let you know.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on May 06, 2010 (boomark / email).