The Megathread for All Things Hoosier!

[StateBoiler]

Attended the Allen County Caucus last night as part of the Indiana GOP Convention. Our county chair said we were the only 1 of the 92 counties to do it. (Our seats were all setup 6 feet apart if you're wondering.) It must've been true though because all 4 Republican candidates for Attorney General showed up to speak live. So we saw the 4 Attorney General candidates speak, then we watched the WISH livecast of the GOP Convention.

Ballots are expected to start arriving in the mail beginning Monday.

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

Hopefully Curtis Hill wins renomination. He would lose the general if nominated.

[StateBoiler]

Hopefully Curtis Hill wins renomination. He would lose the general if nominated.

This is the ballot I'm casting:

1. Nate Harter
2. Todd Rokita
3. John Westercamp
4. Curtis Hill

[StateBoiler]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xKnGu2Ocn0Y

Abdul Hakim Shabazz's latest Indiana Issues show with a representative from the 3 official state parties. Starts off with Covid's budget impact than moves to the Attorney General race.

[StateBoiler]

Republican Nomination Day! We will see if Suzanne Crouch will indeed be the Lieutenant Governor nominee listed on the ballot in November.

Also, the Attorney General spot is up for grabs.

Ballots will be delivered around 10am to Indiana GOP headquarters. The ballots then removed from envelopes to ensure anonymity, and they'll start counting ballots at noon in front of representatives from all 4 candidates.

[StateBoiler]

Hupfer tweeted Crouch was renominated for Lieutenant Governor. Shocking I know.

1797 total ballots. As of Wednesday, Eric Berman of WIBC said the party had received back 98% of them.

While we wait, Abdul Hakim Shabazz has an article at Indy Politics asking does Joe Hogsett still want to be the Mayor of Indianapolis? http://indypolitics.org/does-joe-still-want-to-be-mayor/

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

https://twitter.com/WIBC_EricBerman/status/1281643860708388864

Likely border on safe R or outright safe R? I'm thinking the latter.

[Roll Roons]

I wonder if Luke Messer will endorse the Dem just to spite Rokita.

[StateBoiler]

98.5% of all ballots were returned.

Rokita won with 52.15% of the vote.

Rough idea of 3rd ballot vote based on percentages announced is Rokita 918, Hill 842.

Harter finished 3rd and Westercamp 4th.

[TrendsareUsuallyReal]

https://twitter.com/WIBC_EricBerman/status/1281643860708388864

Likely border on safe R or outright safe R? I'm thinking the latter.

I think the consensus was that Hill had to be denominated for Dems to have a chance here. Oh well.

[StateBoiler]

Round totals, a lot more love given to Harter and Westercamp than I thought:

Round 1:

Hill 655 37.4%
Rokita 479 27.4%
Harter 327 18.7%
Westercamp 289 16.5%

Total Votes: 1750
Majority: 876

Round 2:

Hill 701 40.4%
Rokita 601 34.5%
Harter 432 24.9%

Total Votes: 1734
Majority: 868

Round 3:

Rokita 873 52.2%
Hill 801 47.8%

Total Votes: 1674
Majority: 838

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

Sad to hear the bad news. Looks life Weinzapfel might not win this after all.

[StateBoiler]

Sad to hear the bad news. Looks life Weinzapfel might not win this after all.

Well sorry, Indiana Republicans don't consider the opinions of Maryland Democrats when making choices on who to represent them in general elections.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Sad to hear the bad news. Looks life Weinzapfel might not win this after all.

I'm glad Rokita won, it means no matter what happens in the GE, IN won't have a sex predator as it's AG.  That's the most important thing here.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Sad to hear the bad news. Looks life Weinzapfel might not win this after all.

I'm glad Rokita won, it means no matter what happens in the GE, IN won't have a sex predator as it's AG.  That's the most important thing here.

Considering Weinzapfel's chances were always slim, even against Hill, I tend to agree.

Snapshot from the fundraising email I got yesterday:

When you can't even get your mailing list to care about your one statewide pickup opportunity ...

[StateBoiler]

https://howeypolitics.com/Files/HPI200716-081471ba98af4d2086c5ba7d7de8272a.pdf

Three columns on the AG race from Howey, Pete Seat, and Mark Souder. Recommend reading Howey and Souder.

Person in charge of counting votes for Rokita was State Senator Erin Houchin.

[StateBoiler]

Former Governor Joe Kernan - who ascended from Lieutenant Governor to the Governor position in September 2003 after the sudden death of Governor Frank O'Bannon, ran and lost against Mitch  Daniels in 2004, and last Democrat to be Governor - recently died. In the end he had Alzheimers and lost the ability to speak.

[StateBoiler]

Not sure why Hill bothered with this unless he wants to give himself political cover running for higher office in, say, 2024. Howey:

Out-going Attorney General Curtis Hill called for a special session of the Indiana General Assembly on Friday to deal with pandemic issues. And the reaction? It was ignored by Gov. Eric Holcomb and the four legislative leaders.

[StateBoiler]

4. Mayor McDermott sounds off!

 Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. finally spoke about his June 1st CD primary loss to Frank Mrvan in a podcast with Kevin Smith: "Let me tell you something, the Steelworkers are freaking superstars. Man, the Steelworkers kicked (expletive). They did. There's no comparison with any union that I've ever been supported by compared to what the Steelworkers did for Frank Mrvan. Just because I'm going through reasons I lost the election doesn't mean that I don't think Frank Mrvan was a bad candidate. He's going to win the general election and he's going to be our next congressman. There's no doubt in my mind, and I'm going to vote for him. I have a stench, like a dead man's stench. I think it ruined my career. My political career is over. Which is why I'm doing a (expletive) podcast. Because I'm going to do a podcast, and I'm just going to be honest and tell people what's going on. And I'm going to piss people off."

[Pollster]

Woody Myers quietly put out a launch(?) video produced by Mark Putnam a few weeks ago, and it is genuinely quite stunning in its content.

[StateBoiler]

Outgoing Superintendent of Public Instruction McCormick endorses Weinzapfel for Attorney General. McCormick was elected a Republican, and in 2019 was reported as running as the Lieutenant Governor nominee for Democratic State Senator Eddie Melton, who in the end chose to not run. The state teachers' union also endorsed Weinzapfel.

Two points:

1.) This doesn't really move the needle as no one in the general public knows who McCormick is.
2.) This shows that the Democrats consider Weinzapfel for Attorney General their only winnable race and is the basket they're putting all their eggs in. She didn't bother to endorse or talk about Woody Myers when McCormick has a lot of grief for Holcomb.

In today's edition of Howey Politics, because it's never too early to talk about the next election (although Weinzapfel and Rokita for Attorney General in 2020 is also about Governor in 2024), State Senator Jim Merritt is leaving the legislature in November. Merritt who was the Republican losing nominee for Mayor of Indianapolis last year to Joe Hogsett has said he's not retiring, will stay involved in politics, and will test the waters for 2024.

Some other early names:

As for the 2024 field, those we expect or suspect to consider running include Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness, U.S. Reps. Jim Banks and Trey Hollingsworth, and Health & Human Services Sec. Alex Azar are names we’re hearing.

Azar is interesting. Banks - my Representative - surprises me as I thought he would be more about seeking a Senate seat. He's always been a strong organizer and if he does run should be considered the representative for the social conservative wing. Hollingsworth I don't give a chance in hell and think he would be embarrassed if he went through with it. Crouch I know some Republicans want to have a woman nominee and if Holcomb made himself involved, Crouch is probably his pick and she'd benefit from him, but in a 2-way serious contender primary, the best she could do is be 1 of the 2 and it then becomes a case of who the anti-Holcomb/Crouch candidate is, which was probably going to be Curtis Hill originally but that's over. There's also the real danger of Crouch becomes what Kelly Mitchell was in the 5th CD Republican primary this past June where Mitchell in spite of being elected statewide as Treasurer was an also-ran. The paragraph does not mention Rokita which I find odd.

[StateBoiler]

IndyPolitics' poll on the governor's race has caused probably the only stir in the race so far. A lot of talk on how accurate it is. It was a poll of 1033 likely voters conducted September 3-7. Margin of error at a 95% confidence level is 3.1%.

Holcomb (R) 36
Myers (D) 30
Rainwater (L) 24
Undecided 10

Large change in the favorable/unfavorable. Holcomb was going easy here but is 35/46 now. Myers meanwhile showing the problem his whole candidacy has had, is 16/13 with 52% saying they have never heard of him.

Poll for president is Trump 53, Biden 39, Jorgensen 5, Undecided 3. Indypolitics' article say 16% of Biden voters backing Holcomb. Over a third of Trump supporters in the poll say they'd vote for Rainwater if election held today.

Attorney General: Rokita 49, Weinzapfel 34, Undecided 18

Favorable/Unfavorable:
Rokita 17/24, Weinzapfel 9/8 with 64% saying they have never heard of him.

Issues:

Federal government handling of Covid-19: 40% approve, 53% disapprove
State government: 41/49
City-county government: 43/40
Schools: 33/44

Governor extending mask mandate: 40% in favor, 36% not in favor
Opening economy too quickly/risking further infection: 46% serious concerns, 53% did not
Opening things back up too slowly/hurting economy: 66% concerned, 23% were not
Opening schools too soon/risking parents and kids getting sick: 49% worried
Opening schools too slowly/making it harder for parents to go back to work: 61% worried

Support no excuse mail-in balloting: 44% yes, 53% no
Approve of Black Lives Matter protests: 37% yes, 56% no
Approve of local police: 71% yes, 18% no

[BuckeyeNut]

I want to go out on a limb and say IN-AG is only very likely Republican, but it still seems like wishful thinking. A narrow win for Rokita seems on par, though.

[MadmanMotley]

https://www.facebook.com/rainwater4indiana/posts/3029048920556027


_{source: Me screencapping and uploading it.}

A Republican State Rep. Jim Lucas endorsed Rainwater today.

http://indypolitics.org/lucas-endorses-rainwater-for-governor/

[Horus]

https://www.facebook.com/rainwater4indiana/posts/3029048920556027


_{source: Me screencapping and uploading it.}

A Republican State Rep. Jim Lucas endorsed Rainwater today.

http://indypolitics.org/lucas-endorses-rainwater-for-governor/

Seems like a swell guy.

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/15/indiana-speaker-penalizes-lawmaker-who-posted-meme-black-kids-celebrating-free-money/5201295002/