End of an era: Primary election forces Indianapolis Democrats to rethink future

Denise Paul Hatch stood at the Washington Park polling site on election day, urging incoming voters: "Don't fall for the okey-doke."

That was her warning against the brochure pushed by the Marion County Democratic Party, a bright flyer showing a sample ballot that prodded potential Democrat voters to choose the party's own endorsed candidates.

"They're not mentioning other Democrats," Hatch said she told voters. Don't fall for the okey-doke crowd — in other words, the people that the party has chosen for you.

Hatch is a perennial candidate — a lesser known contender that has run for township constable, a Statehouse seat, even Indianapolis mayor — to no avail. She's a candidate that the party establishment would likely not take seriously: her campaign materials have touted a marijuana leaf as she's called for decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana, and she's thrown her hat in the ring against, well, Mayor Joe Hogsett himself.

But last Tuesday, Hatch finally secured her first public office as Center Township constable, among a wave of Democrats who opted not to seek the party's endorsement. She beat the party-backed or "slated" incumbent, Lance Stephens — who was chosen by party insiders despite facing felony charges for allegedly driving while intoxicated last year.

She was one of four to beat their slated opponents, uncommon feats that mean going against the party and its piggy bank. In one of the most high-profile local races, political newcomer Andrea Hunley defeated a sitting city councilor who had the party's support.

The primary results force a moment of reflection upon the Democratic party, which for months has seen a growing tension over the method by which the party selects its endorsed candidates. For decades, the pre-primary convention has gathered the party's precinct and vice-precinct committee people together to vote for the candidate that will get the party's resources.

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Yet in recent years, the process known commonly as "slating" has drawn the ire of some Democrats who say the deck is stacked. They claim that precinct committee people, the vast majority of which are appointed by the county party chair, show up to vote for the candidate chosen by the chair, mayor or general powers-that-be.

County party chair Kate Sweeney Bell, who won her primary race for clerk as the slated candidate, did not respond to a request for comment. In previous statements to the IndyStar, she has noted the county party's diverse ticket and says she understands the frustrations of longstanding traditions within the party.

Sitting Black legislators — well-known names like Reps. Robin Shackleford and Cherrish Pryor — announced earlier this year they would not participate in slating, arguing that the chair has wielded too much power over a system that isolates candidates of color.

Faith in Indiana, meanwhile, launched a grassroots campaign to encourage people to run for the precinct committee position. PCs are by law elected officials, but are commonly left appointed by the party chair because few people for the hyperlocal seats. Their push installed 151 elected PCs statewide on Tuesday, including 60 in Marion County.

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Now, last week's election may signal the beginning of the end for the slating process.

"This is the worst slating has ever performed," said Mike Oles, who helped run Pike Township trustee incumbent Annette Johnson's campaign as she fought against a slated challenger. "This should be a dagger in the heart of slating."

Facing increasing calls to end slating, Mayor Joe Hogsett — himself accused of preserving a system in which party loyalists vote as they're told — signaled support for ending the process last week.

"While there are historic reasons for its existence, it has become clear in recent years that the decades-old convention endorsement process no longer serves such a purpose," Hogsett said in a statement after the election. "As a result, I am calling on the Marion County Democratic Party to commit itself to an open primary process in next year's municipal elections and to strongly consider abandoning the practice altogether moving forward."

Congressman André Carson also encouraged the party to consider whether to abandon slating.

"I have always welcomed criticism and suggestions to make our party stronger and more inclusive. Because of this, I believe that the ward chairs, as well as the precinct and vice-precinct committeepersons, should come together to vote and decide whether or not our party should continue to hold pre-primary convention," Carson said in a statement. "This should be a decision that the hard-working grassroots members of our party make."

Playing the odds to win

Hunley knew there would be a better chance for her if she did not compete against sitting city-county councilor Kristin Jones. So did her three other remaining opponents.

Instead — just like Ashley Eason, Karla Lopez-Owens and Bobby Kern — she raised whatever money and volunteers she could tap on her own.

Vying for the party endorsement is an all-or-nothing decision: not only do participants need to pay a fee to the party to compete in the convention, but they also must agree to withdraw from the primary altogether if they fail to win.

Democratic candidates have at times run against the slated candidate, and at times they've won.

But this year featured an inordinate number of candidates — both seasoned incumbents and newcomers — who bucked party tradition and opted out of slating.

And this year, an inordinate number of those candidates won.

"I think the people have spoken that they want someone who represents their diversity, they want someone who is dynamic, they want someone who has been working hard in the community," Hunley said after her win. "And I think that that's what an election is supposed to be."

In the race for Marion County recorder, Faith James Kimbrough beat slated candidate Chris Becker, who works under Sweeney Bell — both the party chair and recorder — in the recorder's office.

Even without party support, Kimbrough raised about the same as Becker: $21,672 compared to Becker's $26,233.

And in Pike Township, incumbent Democrat Annette Johnson once again ran against her slated opponent and defeated her.

Even as an incumbent, Johnson opted not to go through slating just as she decided to in 2018. If she had, she believes, she definitely would have lost.

Those who worked on her campaign question what they see as the lack of party support for a sitting trustee — an unusual situation, they note.

"Why would you have a contested slating pre-convention for an incumbent candidate -- it doesn't make sense?" said Ricky Hence, who worked on Johnson's campaign. "Because that person has already proven that they had a relationship with the party and were willing to do what they needed to do to put forth party issues and different types of things that they need to put out there. They work for the party."

Johnson also had roughly the same amount of money as her opponent, Claudette Peterson: $23,588 compared to Peterson's $23,286.

"Of course I had an advantage as being an incumbent, I had the name recognition," Johnson said. "But at the same time, you're going up against a party powerhouse, a party machine, the party literature that they send out just about every other day, pounding individuals' mailboxes."

Wins for the slate

Some slated candidates still won — most notably, party chair Sweeney Bell for the office of clerk.

Sweeney Bell has been a pivotal figure in the past few years' building tensions. Some Democrats accused her of stacking precinct committee votes, appointing people who will do her bidding. When she ran for clerk, a number of incumbent Black state legislators and officials protested, arguing her role as both a sitting party chair and a candidate for an office that works heavily with elections constituted a conflict of interest.

In previous statements to the IndyStar, Sweeney Bell has acknowledged the frustrations of slating as someone who once ran against a slated candidate.

In Wayne Township, slated candidate Jeb Bardon won the Democratic trustee nomination against former legislator Karlee Macer. Macer said she wanted to make a clean break from the administration of embattled trustee Chuck Jones, who rose to prominence as a voice against Donald Trump as the leader of the steelworkers union at Carrier.

As trustee, Jones came under fire for receiving both a trustee salary and a stipend from a nonprofit affiliated with the township fire department. Bardon, a former state legislator who previously worked for Jones' campaign, did not return a request for comment.

LaDonna Freeman, the Democratic director for the board of voter registration, won Center Township trustee as a slated candidate. That doesn't mean it was easy for her, she argued.

"Some people think because you're slated, you're going to win and you don't have to work, but that's not true," Freeman said. "As a slated candidate, you still have to work twice as hard, because some people feel different about the slate."

End of an era?

Although criticized as a barrier, former party leaders say that slating was initially meant to level the playing field among Democratic candidates.

Democrats were at once at a disadvantage in Marion County. The pre-primary convention unified Democrats, giving a collective power to them in a city where they were at the time the minority.

"I would say that while I understand some of the frustration that might be out there, it has been used at times — and it certainly was by me at that time — to ensure we had a diverse ticket," said former county party chair Kip Tew, who served as county party chair in the 1990s. "There's arguments for it and against it."

Chairs have always faced accusations of appointing loyal PCs and rigging the slating process, previous chairs say.

And in the past, said previous chair Joel Miller, the process has faced the exact opposite criticisms that it faces today: rather than discriminating against people of color, Miller said the process was criticized by some for giving preference to candidates of color.

Significant change for the party could lie ahead, with Hogsett's suggestion to consider ending slating altogether.

"In so doing, I am confident the Marion County Democratic Party of today will find strength in ensuring that every voter has an equal voice in determining our future," he said in a statement.

Slating, perhaps, is a relic of a party that once needed it to grow stronger in a Republican-heavy county. Eliminating it altogether may ease the now dominant party's growing pains.

"It's sad to me because it was a labor of love, but it looks like it's very different than it was when I was there," Miller said. "Maybe what I saw and what I built, worked so hard to try to be a part of building, didn't really exist anymore."

Call IndyStar reporter Amelia Pak-Harvey at 317-444-6175 or email her at apakharvey@indystar.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmeliaPakHarvey.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: After Indiana primary election, Indianapolis Democrats to rethink future