Hogsett, Shreve win Indianapolis mayoral primaries

With all votes counted, Mayor Joe Hogsett will face Jefferson Shreve in the November election for Indianapolis’ next mayor. Shackleford called Hogsett to concede the race around 8:45 p.m.

Decision Desk HQ, an election results reporting platform partnering with IndyStar, called the races based on an analysis of current and previous primary returns at 8:30 p.m.

Mayor Joe Hogsett won with 58% of the vote in the Democratic primary. State Rep. Robin Shackleford had 38% of the vote.

Hogsett weathered criticism from within and outside his party, especially on crime, throughout his campaign cycle, but ultimately Democratic voters decided to stick with him.

"Well friends, tonight the voters of the Marion County Democratic Party sent a resounding message that they are ready to roll up their sleeves and work with me to ensure our city’s brightest days are yet to come," Hogsett said in a victory speech at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers hall downtown.

He emphasized that while the pandemic may have delayed many of his administration's plans, he could not afford to deny Indianapolis the progress it deserves. He also recognized Shackleford's efforts, boldness, and the way she raised critical issues in his speech.

Shreve had 66% of the vote in the Republican primary. Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, a lawyer and political commentator, has 26% of the vote.

“In my heart, I’m convinced I can bring something better and bolder to lead our city than that which we have today,” Shreve said to applause in a victory speech at his watch party, held at Hotel Tango in Fountain Square.

He repeated a theme of his campaign — that Indianapolis is in decline — and said that the neighborhoods in which he grew up in Perry and Lawrence townships have moved from civility to decline.

"And that makes me sad," Shreve said. "And we see so much of that within the townships of Indianapolis."

Money matters

The two top funded candidates won, showing that money matters in elections, experts said. Many in Hogsett's party have stood with him, and Hogsett’s incumbency advantage and $4 million in campaign cash proved difficult for Shackleford to overcome, experts said, even as many political watchers called her his strongest opponent yet in the weeks leading up to the election.

"What you see is a lot of similarities between Hogsett and Shreve: people who’ve been involved in local government, much more in terms of the status quo, and much more the idea that money matters," Laura Wilson, a University of Indianapolis political scientist, said. "They represent well-funded and organized campaigns."

The largely self-funded Shreve on the other hand spent a whopping estimated $2 million on campaign advertising as of May 1, his campaign told IndyStar, flooding Indianapolis airwaves with television, radio and digital ads, as well as direct mailers that ultimately swayed voters support him.

Now, he becomes the Republican party’s hope for a GOP mayor in a heavily-blue city. He will likely faces an uphill climb in November, experts said.

Shreve was seen by political experts as the more traditional Republican candidate, while Shabazz had more libertarian leanings, including legalizing marijuana and embracing gay marriage.

Shackleford 'ran out of time'

Political experts said that Shackleford ultimately could not win with a grassroots-only campaign. In such a big city, where she would have to reach 40,000-odd primary voters, she would have needed a huge number of volunteers and coordination, Indiana political expert Andy Downs said.

That never materialized.

"We didn’t have a huge war chest, but we had heart, dedication, and passion," Shackleford said in an emotional concession speech flanked by her campaign volunteers at Blue Crab Juicy Seafood in Castleton. "We gained an incredible amount of momentum toward the end but simply ran out of time."

She added that she was disappointed, but will do whatever she can to ensure the Democratic Party comes together for the general election and plans to meet with Hogsett to see what changes need to be made for the community.

"We heard the voices of the people in the community," she said. "We heard them say we want to do better and we can do better."

Shabazz had uphill battle

Shabazz spoke to IndyStar to say that he was disappointed but he knew it was going to be an uphill battle, given his inability to self-fund his campaign the way Shreve did.

"It took somebody with $2 million to beat us," he said. "We couldn’t self fund, that’s why we ran a very targeted campaign to target Republican voters."

Voter turnout increased

With the end of party-backed slating, voter turnout increased 45% over the 2019 primary election, according to the Marion County Election Board. Early voter turnout was more than four times higher this year than the last municipal primary election, with 15,566 people voting early. On election day, 62,671 voters came to the polls compared to 49,879 in 2019.

In total, 78,237 voters cast votes in this year's municipal primary election, or 12.5% of registered voters.

Both Democratic candidates stood to make history if they became mayor. If Hogsett wins in November, he will become the only mayor outside of Republican Bill Hudnut to serve more than two terms since 1970 when Unigov consolidated the city and county governments. Shackleford would have become the city's first Black, first female, and first non-white mayor, something which she's said is long overdue.

More: 'Reckoning:' Racial justice, equity issues take center stage in Indy mayor's race

Shackleford hit Hogsett hard on the issues of public safety, including restoring police accountability, addressing crumbling infrastructure, and proposed policies to address disparities in healthcare, education, housing and economic development.

Her candidacy represented increasing division within the Marion County Democratic Party that spilled into public eye last year when Black Democrats, including Shackleford, slammed party leadership over the since-ended slating process that they said shut out candidates of color.

Hogsett on the other hand suggested that Shackleford did not do enough to lobby for the state to address the road funding formula, which shorts Indianapolis of money, during her 10 years at the Indiana General Assembly. She was criticized by fellow Indianapolis Democrat at the Statehouse, Rep. Blake Johnson, for what he said was unnecessarily divisive political mudslinging during her mayoral campaign.

Hogsett's pitch to voters had been to stay the course, saying that what his administration is doing has been working to fix problems like gun violence and infrastructure gaps.

More: Hogsett faces 'real competition' in Shackleford as Indianapolis mayoral primaries heat up

He wanted a third term to complete what he thinks is unfinished business by the city forestalled by the pandemic, including the city’s $150 million violent crime prevention program and its historic $1.1 billion 5-year infrastructure plan.

Republican primary

Across the aisle, the Republican candidates have campaigned hard on crime and what they said is the Hogsett administration's failure to curb it.

Shreve, a former city-county councilor appointed to two vacant seats in 2013 and 2018, has campaigned on an anti-Hogsett message, seemingly with an eye toward November. Downtown development, making downtown vibrant to visitors, and tackling crime, through improved police officer hiring and recruitment, are Shreve's key priorities.

A former businessman who sold his storage company, Storage Express, for $590 million last year, Shreve has waged an expensive, self-funded campaign on a scale that is practically unheard of in municipal primary elections.

More: What to know about Republican candidates for Indianapolis mayor

Shabazz had a cash disadvantage but the boost of name recognition from decades as a radio talk show host and political commentator in Indianapolis, political experts said.

He said he's an economy-first conservative and thinks the social issues that have dominated the agenda of statewide Republicans should not be the focus of elected officials. Reducing crime, as well as restoring infrastructure and public trust, have been his priorities.

He had proposed ideas including harsher sentences for crimes committed in low-income neighborhoods, which was controversial, and post-secondary education as an alternative form of sentencing for first-time non-violent offenders.

The election is Nov. 7.

Contact IndyStar reporter Ko Lyn Cheang at kcheang@indystar.com or 317-903-7071. Follow her on Twitter: @kolyn_cheang.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Hogsett, Shreve win Indianapolis mayoral primaries