INDIANAPOLIS — On paper, Republican U.S. Sen. Todd Young looks to be in the catbird seat as he seeks a second term next year. He sits on a war chest approaching $5 million. He’s undefeated, having dispatched since 2010 current or former members of Congress including Mike Sodrel, Baron Hill, Marlin Stutzman and in 2016 defeated Democrat Evan Bayh by 10%. His reelection comes in a mid-term cycle that normally favors the party that does not control the White House.
Waiting in the wings is five-term Democratic Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., who filed last week for the challenge. McDermott is following a path forged by Hoosier lawmakers John Brademas, Phil Sharp, Mike Pence and Dick Lugar, which is to seek a seat in Congress after suffering a defeat in his first attempt.
His 1st Congressional District Democratic primary loss to U.S. Rep. Frank J. Mrvan in the pandemic-delayed 2020 Democratic primary election by about 2,800 votes, despite raising more than $150,000 more than the winner, threw McDermott for a loop. “I went through a crisis, the process of grieving,” McDermott told me on Monday morning. “I was mad and I was in denial. Then there was acceptance. I did the whole thing. I went out and bought two cars.”
It’s a path similar to Lugar’s, who lost his first Senate race to Sen. Birch Bayh in 1974, only to come back two years later to defeat U.S. Sen. Vance Hartke.
McDermott’s Democratic credentials are solid, having served as Lake County party chair as well as on the Democratic National Committee. But he has a long history of attracting Republican support. His father was a two-term Republican mayor of Hammond between 1984 and 1992. McDermott upset Republican Mayor Duane Dedelow in 2003 by 52.1% to 47.9%, a margin of just 700 votes. After a narrow first reelection by virtually the same margin, McDermott has been a Region juggernaut, winning his last two terms with 82% and 87% of the vote.
McDermott says that Sen. Young has become “corrupted” by Washington money influences as well as by Donald Trump. Young voted to acquit Trump during two impeachment trials. “He’s a veteran, an Annapolis grad, and quite frankly, should know better,” McDermott said.
McDermott traces his leadership style to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as well as his father. “I read Rudy Giuliani’s book called “Leadership” and it’s how to be a mayor, basically. He was a really good mayor; he recommended a number of things and I still do all of them every single day for 18 years.”
That includes his monthly “Mayor’s Night Out,” his close relationship with his police department, coming in an era when Democrats have been linked by their GOP opponents to “defund the police." From his father, he learned to “never touch money” when it comes to campaign fundraising, a valuable lesson for a politician coming from the notoriously corrupt Region political scene.
As for Sen. Young, McDermott claims that while the Republican is not “corrupt,” he’s been “corrupted” by the Washington political scene. "Washington, D.C., is broken, let's be honest," McDermott said. "In particular, the U.S. Senate, in my opinion, is the place where good bills go to die, and Todd Young is part of the problem."
In his "Left of Center" podcast in June, he assailed Young for opposing a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection as well as opposing the American Rescue Plan. "Our nation’s capital is attacked ... and the Republican Party is refusing to even open an investigation into it,” McDermott said. “It’s a disgrace. Sen. Young knows better. He knows what the right thing to do about the Jan. 6 insurrection is."
While McDermott's party credentials are solid - he's been a Lake County Democrat chairman and served on the Democratic National Committee - he says, "I’m glad I am a Democrat but it doesn’t mean I’m a liberal. There are some things progressives will agree with, my stance on marijuana which I think should be decriminalized and legalized. I have had a free tuition plan for the past 13 years and it’s a wonderful program.
"At the same time, I have a lifetime permit to carry a weapon and I do," McDermott said. "I believe in the 2nd Amendment. I also realize we have a problem in America in that too many people are getting shot. I don’t think our forefathers envisioned semi-automatic weapons and mass killings of civilians when they made the 2nd Amendment."
McDermott acknowledges that he will an underdog. But in the three U.S. Senate races in Indiana since 2012, two times the seat has changed parties.
"You asked earlier how I can compete with Todd Young; well nobody’s ever seen a candidate like me in Indiana," McDermott said. "I am not a humongous fan of President Trump at all. I think he did a lot of damage to our country. However, what we have to realize in our party is that President Trump did something effective to get elected. What he tapped into is something I’ve tapped into. I’m a very popular mayor; I get 75% of the vote. I get Republicans crossing over. This was a Republican city when I took over.”
The columnist is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana at www.howeypolitics.com. Find Howey on Facebook and Twitter @hwypol.
