Here's the man Libertarians are putting up for mayor of Evansville
EVANSVILLE — Hope springs eternal for local Libertarians, who are saddling up to try again to elect a mayor of Evansville this year despite less-than-promising results last time.
Michael Daugherty, a 43-year-old horse farm owner, believes he can penetrate the voting public's hard-wired affinity for Republicans and Democrats with electric debate performances, tireless door-to-door campaigning and an anti-crime message that resonates.
"I feel that if I get a platform and I can actually debate the other candidates after their primaries, I feel that would be where I would shine and what would set me apart," said Daugherty, owner of Mane Haven Equestrian Center in Evansville. "I clearly don't have the fundraising efforts as the Republicans and the Democrats. That will be the biggest hurdle, getting my message out and getting in front of people."
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The Libertarian Party nominated Daugherty by convention Sunday for this year's election to choose a successor to Mayor Lloyd Winnecke. In the fall election, he will face presumptive Democratic nominee Stephanie Terry and the winner of a Republican primary election pitting County Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave against Natalie Rascher, senior talent acquisition advisor at Clifton Larson Allen.
Daugherty said he harbored political ambitions before the Evansville Water & Sewer Utility successfully sued his mother for some of her land for its Wansford Yard Lift Station project — but he admitted he's still fired up over the idea that a government agency could have a "blanket authority to just condemn somebody's property."
Indiana law does allow utilities, among other governmental entities, to condemn a property needed for a public works project. Imogene Daugherty would not engage with the city because of concerns for wildlife and a belief the city could have picked a different route for the wastewater system. City officials said they would have preferred to have negotiated with her, having the property evaluated by third-party appraisers and reaching a fair value for the desired 30-foot easement.
Were he in a similar situation as mayor, Michael Daugherty said, he would ask the utility to search harder for "alternatives that are the least invasive to homeowners."
How much support is there for local Libertarians?
Daugherty's voting history in Indiana indicates he cast ballots in Republican primary elections in 2008, 2014, 2018 and 2022. He said he was a Republican until 2020, when Libertarian gubernatorial nominee Donald Rainwater's campaign captured his imagination and turned him into a party-switcher.
"I am very moderate, so I'm in the middle, so I pull both ways," Daugherty said. "I'd had (Libertarian) values for a long time, but I was not honestly aware of the Libertarian Party much in Indiana until Donald Rainwater pushed out."
As a Libertarian, Daugherty's baseline support for this year's mayoral election will have to be built upon if he aspires to win.
Libertarians fell so far short of electing a mayor in 2019 that their nominee, Bart Gadau, finished 10 percentage points behind independent candidate Steve Ary, who had needed a petition drive to appear on the ballot. Libertarians already have ballot access by virtue of receiving at least 2% of the vote in elections for Indiana secretary of state.
Winnecke rolled up nearly 81% of the vote in 2019, well ahead of both Ary and Gadau. Democrats did not nominate a candidate that year.
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Daugherty said he retired as owner of Abstract Technology Group LLC after 14 years in 2022. He said he is a state-licensed professional engineer. Having left Evansville for Purdue University in 1997, he returned from Tippecanoe County in 2020.
Law enforcement, crime are focus issues for Daugherty
The next mayor must move decisively against a scourge of drugs and crime, Daugherty said.
"Moving back, my hometown was pretty much unrecognizable," he said. "When I was a kid, you rode bikes around and our parents didn't worry about us getting shot or robbed."
As mayor, Daugherty said, he would support police with "more education, more budgets, going through with a fine-tooth comb, working with the City Council to see where we can get either federal matching dollars or something to help the police force, whether it be technological advances or just finding ways to make our city safer."
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Gadau, the Libertarian Party's 2019 mayoral nominee and its longtime chairman, was a third-shift worker during that campaign. He said Daugherty has to do more campaigning than he was able to do.
"I wasn't able to attend very many functions, so just getting out there and going to every event that he possibly can and knock on every door he can," Gadau said.
Door-knocking? Daugherty is ready to knock on doors.
"I'm going to go door-to-door until I can't walk," he said with a chuckle.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Here's the man Libertarians are putting up for mayor of Evansville
