Next leader will shape Indiana Democratic Party trajectory for the next four years

The Indiana Democratic Party is looking for a new leader amidst a national reckoning. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance and provided headshots)

It happens like clockwork: nearly three-dozen party insiders convene to identify who will lead the Indiana Democratic Party every four years, shaping the institution’s priorities for millions of Hoosiers across the state.

But the usually insular affair has attracted a fair number of high-profile names, including candidates who lost in the 2024 election cycle and long-time party leaders, bringing additional attention and scrutiny to the routine process. 

Five such candidates have announced their intentions so far, with just a few days for any other hopefuls to finalize paperwork by March 7 with the Indiana Democratic Party before the March 15 vote. 

Contenders include: former Allen County Democratic Party Chair Derek Camp; former gubernatorial nominee and educator Jennifer McCormick; former Indiana Sen. Karen Tallian; at-large Gary Common Council Member Darren Washington; and former attorney general nominee Destiny Wells.

Only Tallian and Washington have formally filed with the party, though they did so without knowing who will be casting votes. 

The Indiana Democratic Party holds votes in phases, with county chairs elected this past Saturday. From that pool come the 18 congressional district chairs and vice chairs who will be part of the bloc selecting the next party leader — but, according to party rules, those electors won’t be selected until March 7, the same day chair candidates must formally submit their paperwork. The remaining 17 or so voters include constituency caucuses and Democratic National Committee members, who are also elected on March 7.

Democrats haven’t held a statewide office since 2016 and operate as a superminority party in both legislative chambers. 

In interviews, every candidate emphasized a party pivot to economic issues, similar to national counterparts, following a bruising 2024 election. But some have proposed moving away from social issues that have recently defined the party.

“Identity politics” hurt the party “tremendously,” Washington told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. 

“People are more concerned about employment, access to capital for their business, being able to get a living wage (and) being able to take care of their families,” said Washington. “And we’re stuck on women’s reproductive rights, DEI issues (and) same-sex marriage.”

Washington went on to clarify that he wasn’t saying “those things are not important,” but that the party — especially in Indiana — “need(ed) to get back to the basics.”

In contrast, McCormick — whose gubernatorial campaign last year repeatedly emphasized the need for reproductive health care like abortion — said she didn’t see it as an “either-or.” 

“On the trail, we did have those conversations. We had a lot of conversations about jobs … we talked about rural Indiana and how they’re struggling. We talked about health care,” McCormick said. “There’s a whole lot that we were already discussing but I feel like it was laser focused, for a lot of different reasons, on singleton items. Which I just don’t think is going to work.”

Current party chair Mike Schmuhl announced that he wouldn’t seek another term in December, ending his eight-year run as the party’s leader.

Derek Camp first got involved with the Indiana Democratic Party in 2008 as a high school senior registering people to elect Barack Obama as president. His path took him through congressional and Statehouse internships, then to the Indiana Young Democrats, which landed the coveted national convention during his tenure in 2019. He currently leads the Allen County Democratic Party.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Camp told the Capital Chronicle. “Chairman (Schmuhl) did start that process with winning back some of our mayoral seats, but we still have a long way to go. It took us many years to get into the wilderness; it’s going to take us several years to get out of it as well.”

Specifically, Camp said the party had faltered in rural communities, including county-level get-out-the-vote campaigns. Building out its network of local candidates would also support the party’s goal of curating a bench of elected officials for future office as well, he said.

And though the party’s goal to “Break the Supermajority” fell short in the last election cycle, Democrats didn’t lose any seats either — in a contrast to other states, Camp added. 

“We have held our ground and we need to continue to support that. But our path back to victory is at those local offices … treating (those) like the farm leagues and building to the professionals,” Camp said. 

Messaging and fundraising will be top priorities, Camp said, as well as smaller items like building out a resource library for local candidates. 

When it came to improving Indiana’s dismal voter turnout, Camp supported field efforts like door-knocking and calling Hoosiers “not just in the final months.” 

Getting a new leader on the national level from a Midwestern state — Ken Martin of Minnesota won the race for Democratic National Committee chair — made Camp hopeful.

“Democrats have been known for being on the coastlines and we need to get away from that,” Camp said. “We need to show that we are everyday Hoosiers, just like everyone else.”

Jennifer McCormick said that her recent loss on the statewide stage had made her “clear-eyed” about some of the existing barriers for Democratic candidates, but also aware of “opportunities.”

McCormick last won a statewide office in 2016, when she ran as a Republican for the now-defunct superintendent of public instruction. 

“I see that as an advantage,” McCormick said about her Republican roots. “I know how organized they are, I know how well-resourced they are (and) I know how blind they are.

“… having someone who knows what we’re up against? That’s a huge advantage.”

Like every chair candidate, she was concerned about the party’s reputation, especially in the face of the “tight (and) very disciplined” messaging of the Republicans. 

“I think we should be embracing (national) messaging,” McCormick said. “… we’re up against what I would say is an unprecedented, dangerous time and we have no other option but to be successful. And I think people are going to do whatever they have to do to make sure that happens.”

Being in the spotlight so recently also meant she’s relatively fresh in the minds of voters and attuned to Indiana’s political climate — though she could still pull out of the race for chair, like any of the candidates who haven’t yet submitted their paperwork. 

“I want to be part of the solution,” McCormick said about the Indiana Democratic Party. “I don’t want to sit back and say, ‘Hey, good luck everybody.’”

Democrats could “fill the void” of people who felt unrepresented by politicians, she continued.

“There’s a unique opportunity there if we are smart about it,” McCormick said.

Four decades ago, a mother of three and attorney decided to run for her local school board. She lost but, with the encouragement of her local party chair, she kept “showing up.” 

Then Karen Tallian got the call in late 2005 to fill a state Senate vacancy. 

“I had no plans on doing any such thing … (but) I kind of came up in the party and they got to know me. And when this position came up, they thought I should do it,” said Tallian, who had been the attorney for several local municipal bodies. “That was kind of the beginning of my real career.”

Tallian held her position as state senator through parts of three gubernatorial administrations. She stepped down in 2020 to run for attorney general, though party officials went with another candidate.

“I’m not doing this because I need a job,” Tallian said. “I’m coming out of retirement to do this because I still believe that Democrats and democratic values are important.”

Under former Gov. Mike Pence, Tallian said the Indiana Republican Party was pushed to the right — pointing to his Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which opponents said allowed businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people in the name of religion. A similar conservative shift occurred on the national level, she said.

“I think that the (Democratic) parties were, in response to the real right wing of the Republican Party … forced to move left. And maybe more left than a lot of people wanted to be,” Tallian said. “I think the party got a little further left than a lot of working folks cared to be. They were more interested in what was going on at their kitchen table than in all the social upheaval that was going on with the religious right.”

In particular, the Indiana Democratic Party lost its labor support, Tallian said, a bloc that includes tradespeople, teachers and other union members. The Indiana Laborers’ District Council has endorsed Tallilan in the race for party chair.

“So many people feel like … the Democrats forget them,” Tallian said. “What’s going on right now in Washington, D.C. is such a circus that it’s going to implode upon itself and make a lot of people angry. And I think that’s an opportunity for Indiana and for Democrats all over the country.”

A pastor and union member of United Auto Workers, Washington moved his way up the party ranks for decades, holding positions on school boards and township boards in addition to running for mayor and state Senate seats. 

“When I looked at what’s going on from a national perspective and what’s going on in the state perspective …. I decided to speak out,” Washington said. “I don’t think that we’re listening to the people enough. I think that we are doing what we want to do and we’re not listening to what the everyday people are telling us.

“There need to be some serious changes for this party or we’re going to be in trouble.”

While Washington said it wouldn’t be a part of the platform, he said, “Our party needs to turn back to God. We need to make God a priority.” He went on to clarify that meant getting back to an “ethical morality,” and the party’s reputation for being a “party for the working-class people.”

Such a messaging pivot meant turning away from “consistently disagree(ing) with” and “just bashing” President Donald Trump and Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, he continued. Instead, the party should focus on winning back independent voters.

“I know people who were Democrats that decided to vote for Trump … (or) Braun. And when we as a Democratic party solely speak on identity politics and not the average everyday needs of Hoosiers and Americans, we have that opportunity to lose the base,” Washington said. 

He also called for the Indiana Democratic Party to be more involved on the local level, rather than simply calling county-level leaders before a major election and asking for their support.

“I’m not saying they don’t care, but in these times during each session when these attacks are coming from the Republican Party, our party is quiet,” Washington said. 

Following two unsuccessful statewide campaigns for Secretary of State and Attorney General, Destiny Wells said she had a lot of ideas “on how to start to fix the party” but not the “agency” to make change.

“The culture of the party really needs to shift more toward winning. I think when you are in a superminority for too long, even if you jump into the game with good intentions, you become a bit conflicted as time goes by,” Wells said. 

She pointed to the average age of the state’s Democratic National Committee members, some of whom are retirement age, as an example of a hurdle ingrained within the party. 

“One of our cultural issues is generational handover. We don’t like to hand over the reins (and) we don’t necessarily mentor the bench,” Wells said.

Notably, she said, Indiana hadn’t had a female chair since the 1990s. Additionally, subgroups were siloed from each other in a way that hindered pooling financial resources, such as the separate Democratic caucuses in the General Assembly or the congressional seats and mayoral races. 

Wells proudly touts her military credentials and attorney experience alongside her Martinsville farm roots. But her party involvement started when outgoing chair Mike Schmuhl appointed her as the deputy chair of coalitions and expansion, a position she said was designed to provide “more on-ramps” for interested candidates.

She said she wanted to ease the integration of so-called “constituency caucuses” into the party’s structure, such as students, Latinos, LGBTQ Hoosiers, women, seniors and veterans. That could also include adding laborers and faith-based groups to the party’s central committee.

Facing competition for the attorney general nomination also means she’s already introduced herself to delegates, many of whom are in the running for the various positions voting for the next party chair.

Wells described herself as “ready to jump in on day one,” saying that “ultimately … I don’t like to leave a mission unfinished.”

“This is very much an ongoing mission for me to serve the State of Indiana. Because I’m service-oriented,” Wells said. “… The DNC is changing and there’s a reckoning.

“Indiana does not want to get left behind because it’s too busy trying to grab at the past. We need to get in on that and I just know I’m the best candidate to get us in.”