Notes from the Chair

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Chair, Hendricks County Democratic Party
317-874-8590
chair@hendrickscountydemocrats.com

For all of you readers who are wondering what to do in these uncertain political times– run for an elected county office. Hendricks County and local government is just like it is at the statehouse – a supermajority of one party. One party rule is one of the reasons we find ourselves in the chaos we are living in – one size does not fit all of us. Other voices must be represented.

Those of you who choose to become a candidate for a local or county office will have increased support and assistance from the HCDP. We are hard at work building the infrastructure to help candidates get elected. A new resource for us is Contest Every Race (CER). CER provides us a layer of resources and technical support, including phone and text banking, and candidate/campaign training.

For the past few years, due to excellent fundraising, HCDP has been able to provide monetary assistance to candidates. After the primary election, candidates fill out a grant form and submit it to the Executive Committee for consideration. Last year, $8,000 was awarded to HC candidates.

Volunteers are a necessary part of a successful campaign at any level. HCDP has committed to building a robust volunteer pool in large part due to active recruitment and training of Precinct Chairs and Vice Chairs.

Hendricks County is In Congressional District 4. CD4 is currently rolling out a Candidate Training Guide. This is a necessary tool for anyone wanting to run for any level office – it lays out the nuts and bolts of what needs to be done, and when.

For more information:

• county/town offices are up for election next year
• the duties and responsibilities for each one.

If you'd like to discuss further, please call or write.

Linda Lasiter, Chair, Hendricks County Democrats
chair@hendrickscountydemocrats.com • 

317-874-8590 

Volunteers are on my mind a lot of the time. We have several wonderful people donating their time to the work of the HCDP. We have committees working hard to find ways to expand our voice and keep Democrats in front of the Hendricks County voters.

I’ll bet each of you reading this has noticed the efforts that have been made toward improving many aspects of the party. Yet every chair of every committee has told me they need more help so they can meet OUR expectations.  Some of those hard workers are on more than one committee and doing the work of 2 or 3 people.

This is the very reason many county Democratic parties are non-existent in Indiana.  When one person is doing the work of 3 year after year, and rarely has any extra help, they tire out. They quit and back away.

Just this year, one of the 16 counties in our 4th Congressional District didn’t have enough interested people to make up a ballot for the Reorganization election in March. There is a real reason why Democrats say, “I thought I was the only Democrat in Hendricks County!”

Because 55 people are trying to represent 52,516 Hendricks County voters!

So I am asking the readers of this newsletter – will you help? If not now, when?

If you are thinking this is too harsh, sorry/not sorry. We must move, friends. There is no good enough reason not to, and all the reasons in

the world to step out.

June is Pride Month! Be sure to visit the HC Pride Picnic on June 29th, noon-5pm. The new location for this year is Washington Township Park in Avon. Let's all support our LGBTQ+ family, friends, and neighbors by showing up!

I want to thank all the HCDP folks who have enthusiastically jumped on the bandwagon that is rolling toward electing democrats in 2026! I feel like we are still feeling our way forward, and I am so energized about all the work being done. It all may seem a little wobbly right now, but as we move forward, we'll get more solid and be ready to take on 2026 like a cyclone!

Congressional District 4 is also in a building phase, and the State Central Committee is brand new too. Thank goodness this is a non-election year, so that we have the time and opportunity to get strong. All of the HCDP committees are moving forward, some more than others, but forward is the direction we want to go. Keep it up, Dems!!

Following the District 4 strategic planning session on February 15, Chair Matt Maeger asked Theresa Brandon and Joe Mackey with putting together a task force to develop a candidate training program for the district. As they worked through this issue, it became clear that training campaign staff would also be needed.  Theresa Brandon will be presenting the bones of this program at our May meeting. I hope you plan to attend!

 As a reminder, we will be having our 

pulled-pork fundraiser from 6:00-6:30.  Come hungry!

I have been a political party chair for a month. BTW - Just how long is the 'honeymoon period'?
It's a bigger job than it looks. But I have all the help and assistance I need. Besides, the success we will enjoy will not be because of me - but because of all of you. 

So, I got no worries.

As we move through this next term together, I would like to encourage you all to share our successes with the world. If we have fails, share those with only me and this group. I want to keep our business our business, not turned into gossip and inuendo and hearsay for social media pages and GOP friends.

We are a big group of individuals and there will be times when we will disagree on things. Let's decide now to work through them by discussion and problem solving, then move forward and let the dogs lie. 

So far, so good.