CARMEL — Primary voting will be completed on Tuesday in the congressional seats that opened up with the retirements of Democrat U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky and Republican U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks. They are leaving Indiana’s two urban districts that mirror each other. The Cook Partisan Index lists Visclosky’s 1st District +9 Democrat and Brooks’ 5th District +9 Republican, but Democrats believe that district has become more competitive.
The open 5th District has turned into a GOP referendum on President Trump. This past week, Club For Growth Action PAC, which has endorsed State Sen. Victoria Spartz, began airing two attack TV ads at Spartz’s two main rivals who pose the biggest threat to her nomination, former Marion County prosecutor Carl Brizzi and Atlanta businesswoman Beth Henderson.
The ad against Brizzi features him on a WIBC radio show, saying, “I’m not a Trump guy. I know the orange man does crazy things. I did not vote for Trump.” The ending voiceover says, “If you want President Trump in the White house, you don’t want Carl Brizzi in the House.”
An ad against Henderson features a CNN video clip with Henderson saying about Trump, “I don’t like his outbursts and his inappropriateness with the public and his scruples.” The ending ad voiceover says, “Beth Henderson: Wrong about Trump, wrong about Congress.”
Club For Growth President David McIntosh, who lost a 2012 race in the 5th CD against Brooks, is banking on the notion that in a 15-candidate GOP race, it will be ardent Trump supporters who will give Spartz enough momentum to win the nomination.
Spartz is another self-funder (joining U.S. Sen. Mike Braun and U.S. Rep. Trey Hollingsworth in using personal wealth to fund campaigns), loaning her organization $750,000, while Henderson has given her campaign $254,000. Brizzi isn’t as rich, but served eight years as Marion County prosecutor and entered the race with the highest name ID in the field.
Spartz, Henderson and Brizzi have had more TV ad exposure than the rest of the field. So McIntosh has taken aim at Henderson and Brizzi, using Trump as a wedge. He’s betting it delivers the nomination to Spartz, who was elected via caucus to finish out Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley’s General Assembly term, then bolted her reelection campaign and opted for this congressional race. Should Spartz prevail with the nomination, it would mark one of the strangest routes ever taken by a congressional candidate. This is the first election where she has actually appeared on a ballot.
Tying her fate to Trump could problematic in a fall showdown with the expected Democrat nominee, Christina Hale, the 2016 Democratic lieutenant governor nominee. The reason Hale entered the race was the notion that the 5th CD was turning purple. U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly carried the district in his 2018 loss to Sen. Braun, and Democrats picked up Senate District 29 with J.D. Ford’s defeat of State Sen. Mike Delph. Senate Majority Campaign Committee polling on behalf of Delph and neighboring State Sen. Jim Merritt in 2018 showed that Trump was under water in their districts.
Trump probably remains popular in the northern part of the 5th CD, an area where Henderson is expected to do well. Thus, the Club For Growth threw in the wedge issue, using the president as the fulcrum. Brizzi’s base is in Indianapolis, where Trump is very unpopular.
In the middle of blue Indy and the red north are suburban Carmel, Fishers and Noblesville where Spartz’s State Senate district is located. Thus, McIntosh’s gamble carries some risk. The pro-Trump TV ads aimed at Brizzi and Henderson could galvanize moderate “Lugar Republicans” to coalesce around the former prosecutor or Henderson, who has been endorsed by Sen. Braun, Kenley and former congressman Dan Burton.
In the 1st District, Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott, Jr. has doubled the fundraising over his three main rivals, Gary attorney Sabrina Haake, North Township Trustee Frank Mrvan, and State Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon. Visclosky has endorsed Mrvan and helped engineer support from the United Steelworkers and the Gary Precinct Organization.
McDermott has been endorsed by Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez, Prosecutor Bernard Carter and the mayors of Crown Point, Hobart and Lake Station.
McDermott told me, “I have raised more than my closest opponent times two. I have super PACs supporting me to to the tune of an extra $165,000, running TV ads and direct mailers like The Region has never seen before. By most accounts, I have made a good name for myself and represented Hammond well in the 16 years I’ve been mayor.”
McDermott was cautionary about his prospects next Tuesday. “I am running against the candidate chosen by Rep. Visclosky to succeed him. Without these advantages, brought to the trustee from Congressman Pete, he wouldn’t be hard to beat at all. I feel good about my chances on Election Day, but I have too much respect for my opponents to guarantee any type of results.
“It’s all up to the voters now,” McDermott said.
The columnist is publisher of Howey Politics Indiana at www.howeypolitics.com. Find Howey on Facebook and Twitter @hwypol.
