Moms for Liberty quoted Hitler in a newsletter. It took over Carmel's race for mayor

After Sue Finkam won May's Republican primary to face Democrat Miles Nelson in the Carmel mayor's race, longtime Mayor Jim Brainard said he hoped the election to choose his successor would be a good race and focus on issues to move the city forward.

That has not entirely been the case.

Since June, much of this year’s historic mayoral campaign in Carmel — the city's first general election in 16 years — has focused on how the candidates have responded to the Hamilton County chapter of Moms for Liberty, a far-right conservative political organization with a focus on parental rights. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization, labeled Moms for Liberty an extremist group earlier this year.

The Hamilton County chapter made national headlines in June when it quoted Adolf Hitler on the front of its newsletter. The group apologized after intense backlash.

Finkam and Nelson, who sit on the Carmel City Council together, both have records of embracing diversity, including sponsoring an LGBTQ+ event Moms for Liberty criticized. Both Finkam and Nelson denounced the use of the Hitler quote, albeit at different times. Both also said they have seen attacks on their character during the general election campaign tied to the debate around Moms for Liberty. It came to a head last week at an election debate when Nelson challenged Finkam to denounce the group itself.

She was silent, drawing a groan from the crowd and swift reaction on social media. Finkam later told IndyStar she doesn't know enough about the group to condemn anything about it beyond the offensive use of the Hitler quote.

The debate about Moms for Liberty is a strong contrast to the cordial working relationship Finkam and Nelson have displayed on the Carmel City Council since Nelson was seated in 2020, and likely a sign of the power struggle as Democrats and Republicans jockey for leadership in growing Hamilton County.

"It's certainly my perception, if not reality, that this is a very competitive race," said Laura Wilson, a political science professor at the University of Indianapolis. "There's a lot on the line."

Sue Finkam: Q&A with the Republican running for mayor of Carmel

Carmel debate and aftermath

When Moms for Liberty's Hamilton County chapter quoted Hitler, Nelson immediately denounced the action in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Finkam in remarks at Carmel Pride a few days later also denounced the quote, saying it was “unacceptable and directly hurt members of our community.”

Since then, Nelson has asked Finkam to denounce the organization itself and at the mayoral debate last week at the Palladium took the opportunity to publicly ask her to condemn the group. She didn’t respond, which drew sharp outcry in the audience and on social media following the debate.

Finkam posted last Thursday on X that she had been harassed following the debate, and members of the Carmel City Council said the city increased police presence at a council budget meeting last week.

“I've been called a Nazi, racist and money hungry whore,” Finkam wrote in the post.

Nelson immediately condemned the attacks in another post on X, but in an interview with IndyStar Nelson said he's also been attacked during the campaign for his positions and noted that during the debate, Finkam called him "Magic Miles" and said he didn't have a plan for the city.

In an interview with IndyStar after her post, Finkam said she did not denounce Moms for Liberty because she does not know the group.

"I've never met with this Hamilton County group, so I'm not going to denounce a group I don't know," Finkam said. "All I hear is what people say, but I don't know if it's Hamilton County. I don't know if its Moms for Liberty nationally. I don't know if it's people who support them but not the organization. I don't know. The reality is I'm focused on running a campaign for mayor. We talk about roads, streets, police and finance."

Finkam said denouncing Moms for Liberty would have led down a never-ending path of having to criticize groups in the future.

"I had heat for me in June to also denounce Carmel Pride. I had heat on me to denounce the state legislature because of transgender issues," Finkam said. "There's always things we're yelled at to denounce and I think if we just keep denouncing every group that someone is outraged with, there will be nobody left to denounce."

Nelson told IndyStar that Finkam does know Moms for Liberty and pointed to screenshots his campaign shared in an email after the debate of an exchange between Finkam and Paige Miller, who is the chairwoman of the Hamilton County chapter, on the social media site Nextdoor.

In the screenshot, Miller writes that Finkam refuses to meet with her, questions her conservative credentials, but says that Finkam has her vote so Carmel doesn't turn blue. Finkam in the screenshot responds to Miller's comment that she didn't know Miller wanted to meet. Finkam also provided her email address for Miller to contact her, the screenshot shows.

“You've been hiding under a rock if you don't know who Moms for Liberty is and what they stand for," Nelson said. "The only individual in our community that has more recognition, or more name recognition than Moms for Liberty is Mayor Brainard. My opponent needs their votes to win.”

Kory Wood, a senior advisor to Finkam's campaign said Finkam has not met with Miller after the exchange on Nextdoor and called Nelson's focus on Moms for Liberty "a distraction."

Miles Nelson: Q&A with the Democrat running for mayor of Carmel

Election pressures

The back-and-forth in the Carmel mayoral race is not indicative of Finkam and Nelson’s amicable relationship on the Carmel City Council.

Finkam and Nelson rarely engage in public conflict at city council meetings and both have records encouraging diversity in the community. But Wilson, the political science professor, said less-engaged voters are more likely to zero in on the messaging of the election campaign.

"They're going to look at the debate and look at the campaign and think 'Oh, these are people that are two polar opposites,'" Wilson said.

Finkam, who has served on the Carmel City Council for 12 years, has advocated for diversity-related training for city employees following the 2020 murder of George Floyd and voted for an anti-discrimination ordinance in 2015 that provides protections for the city’s LGBTQ community.

Nelson, who was the first Democrat elected on the city council in 2019, worked with Brainard in 2021 to bring forward a resolution to declare June Pride Month in Carmel. He also has been an advocate for religious diversity and has spoken favorably on the construction of Carmel’s first mosque.

In fact, both candidates sponsored Carmel Pride this year, an annual June event held in the city since 2021. Moms for Liberty attacked the event on the group’s public Facebook page and questioned the sponsors' support of "perversion" in the organization’s infamous June newsletter.

Conservative Noblesville pastor Micah Beckwith, a member of the Hamilton East Public Library Board and candidate for lieutenant governor, also questioned Finkam’s conservatism in a July post on X regarding her Carmel Pride sponsorship.

The 2023 Carmel election comes at a historic point for the city. Brainard, a Republican, is not running for mayor for the first time since 1995. Carmel, as its population grows, has also seen Democrats gain and even win in races in the city.

"This matters quite a bit for the Republican Party, Democrats and for them individually," Wilson said.

With less than a month to go until Election Day, both Finkam and Nelson say they would like a positive end to the race.

"It's important that we lower the temperature and get back to actually talking about what a mayor is actually doing," Finkam said.

"There's so much enthusiasm," Nelson said. "I want it to be positive."

The election is Nov. 7. Early voting begins Wednesday.

Contact IndyStar's state government and politics reporter Brittany Carloni at brittany.carloni@indystar.com or 317-779-4468. Follow her on Twitter/X @CarloniBrittany.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Carmel mayor election 2023: Moms for Liberty is leading issue