Photo provided Local Republicans attend an information session at Otter Creek Golf Course on April 7 to discuss the GOP state convention.
A flood of people in Bartholomew County have filed to run for GOP convention delegate in the May 3 primary — elected positions that normally don’t receive much attention but can have a significant impact on Indiana politics.
This year, 51 people in Bartholomew County have filed to run for the county’s allotment of 24 Republican convention delegates — more than twice the number who filed in the previous two presidential elections combined.
That includes 45 people who are vying for 19 at-large spots and six candidates who are contending for five spots designated for Columbus Township, according to the Indiana Election Division.
By comparison, 23 people filed to be Republican convention delegates in 2020, according to the Bartholomew County Clerk’s office. Twelve people filed in 2018, while 24 filed in 2016.
Local Republicans have different ideas on what may be driving the surge in interest in a normally obscure office for most voters.
Delegates are selected in the primary and cast votes on the nomination of certain GOP candidates for the general election and changes to the party’s platform. This year, delegates will gather a the party’s convention in June to vote for candidates for secretary of state, treasurer and auditor.
Some local officials say the increase in delegate candidates is simply due to “more people wanting to be involved in the (political) process” and is a reflection of how “energized” local Republicans are heading into the midterm elections.
Others attribute the steep rise in interest to “really competitive” races for the GOP nomination for Indiana secretary of state and treasurer, which will not be decided in the upcoming primary, but rather by delegates at the party’s state convention.
Some officials cited differences in opinion on certain issues, including election security, which they believe has “played a role in the number of folks who have stepped forward” to run for convention delegate. Indiana’s secretary of state is the third highest constitutional office of the state government, and the individual serves as the state’s chief election officer.
But all officials agreed that this level of interest in being a GOP convention delegate is not typical.
“Honestly, I am (surprised),” said Bartholomew County Republican Party Chair Luann Welmer, referring to the number of people who are running for convention delegate. “But I think that just goes to show you that people feel like there possibly needs to be a change nationally and they feel like if they can get involved locally and be more informed, get better educated, that they will make a difference.”
Former Bartholomew County Clerk Jay Phelps, who oversaw elections in the county from 2014 to 2021, said the number of GOP delegate candidates “is a substantial increase in Bartholomew County from years past.”
“I remember when we didn’t even have enough delegate candidates to have contested races,” said Phelps, who is running for one of the county’s 19 at-large slots. “If there aren’t contested races, we don’t even have to put them on the ballot.”
Many of the candidates are city or county officials, including Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop, county Auditor Pia O’Connor and county Treasurer Barb Hackman, among others. But there are several people on the ballot who have never filed to be a delegate before, or at least not during the past three elections, according to the clerk’s office.
Welmer, who is a candidate for one of the GOP convention delegate slots in Columbus Township, said she encouraged all local Republican officials and active members of the local GOP to run “because I feel like they probably are the ones that are most knowledgeable to make the selections for state office.”
“I encouraged many people to commit,” Welmer said. “It’s a time commitment. …(The convention) is a long day of voting and listening to the candidates speak and there’s also a ($100) fee that’s involved.”
Hackman, former local GOP party chairwoman, said she never saw this many people run for delegate during her eight years at the helm of the local GOP and attributed the increase, at least partly, to a grassroots conservative group called “We the People,” which regularly meets in the county.
Secretary of state race
The increase in interest in GOP delegates in Bartholomew County has coincided with an increase in attention and money flowing into campaigns for secretaries of state across the country following the 2020 presidential election, The New York Times reported. This year, 27 secretary of state positions are up for election.
Some 23 secretary of state candidates in 19 states have expressed views or made comments that cast doubt on the results of the 2020 election — including one presumptive Indiana Secretary of State candidate who has made campaign stops in Columbus, Diego Morales — according to States United Action, a nonpartisan organization that is monitoring secretary of state races across the country.
The race has pitted Gov. Eric Holcomb-appointed incumbent Holli Sullivan against challengers Knox County Clerk David Shelton and Paul Hager, according to records from the Indiana Republican Party. Sullivan was appointed by Holcomb last year to replace Connie Lawson, who stepped down from the role to focus on her health and family.
Last month, the Indiana GOP’s secretary of state race was on track to be the most expensive in two decades, with a collective $885,000 pouring into the candidates’ campaign coffers, a record at this point in the election, according to OpenSecrets.org, a nonpartisan group that tracks money in politics, citing state filings going back to 2002.
However, Morales — who has raised $456,390 in his bid to oversee Indiana’s elections, according to state filings — has not yet filed with the state Republican party to officially become a candidate. Candidates have until May 19 at 5 p.m. to file, said Luke Thomas, Indiana Republican Party press secretary.
So far, Morales has narrowly outraised Sullivan and received contributions from Rep. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, who voted to overturn Biden’s victory in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection, state fillings show.
“Really competitive races, I think that’s what has brought a lot of momentum to the state convention and for folks to be running in Bartholomew County,” Phelps said, adding that, if elected delegate, he plans to support Sullivan at the convention.
Morales, who has crisscrossed the state in recent months and filmed part of a campaign video near the Bartholomew County Courthouse, has said that would “lead the charge” from the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office and “help take back the presidency in ‘24,” according to a tweet about two months after the Jan. 6 insurrection.
He also characterized a statement by Trump that falsely suggests that he won the 2020 election and might run for president again as “the right policy agenda and the right politics.”
Morales recently appeared on former Trump strategist Steve Bannon’s live online show “War Room,” telling the former Trump administration official that “I don’t want to want America to become (a) socialist, community, Marxist country, and that is why I’m running for (Indiana) Secretary of State.”
In the waning hours of his presidency, Trump pardoned Bannon, who was facing charges of defrauding thousands of Trump supporters who believed their money would be used to build a wall along the southern border. Bannon is now facing two charges of criminal contempt of Congress after refusing to cooperate with the House committee investing the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“I’m intending to earn every single delegate at the state convention in Indiana by cleaning the voter rolls, by strengthening voter ID laws,” Morales said during the show. “I’m the only candidate who is promoting proof of citizenship. …We need to limit absentee ballots.”
Last month, Morales spoke at a candidate forum hosted by the Bartholomew County Ladies League, telling local Republicans, “If we don’t protect our elections now, we won’t have a country soon.” He also was photographed campaigning at the local GOP’s Lincoln Day Dinner at the Bartholomew County 4-H Fairgrounds on March 4.
There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, nationwide or in Indiana. In fact, election officials from both parties have publicly states that the election went well, and international observers confirmed there were no serious irregularities, The Associated Press reported.
However, some delegate candidates in Bartholomew County have shown support for candidates and elected officials who have cast doubt on the 2020 election results. At least one delegate candidate in Bartholomew County, Stuart Mocas, has donated to Morales’ campaign.
Others delegate candidates gave money to former President Donald Trump as he sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, including David Theile, Juli Suverkrup and Thomas Mayer, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Mayer received a credential from the Bartholomew County Republican Party to be a poll watcher during the 2020 general election, county election officials confirmed. Poll watchers observe the voting process, promote transparency and can alert campaigns and parties of perceived irregularities.
At the time, local GOP officials said at they weren’t surprised by Mayer’s request to be a poll watcher, citing comments from Trump about “having poll watchers because of the controversy of the election.”
‘A little bit more attention’
Lienhoop, who is running for convention delegate for the first time, said a variety of factors is likely influencing the increased interest in GOP delegates, including election security, social policy issues and an overall “heightened interest in politics.”
“My sense is that (the secretary of state race) has drawn a lot more attention than it has in the past,” Lienhoop said. “The secretary of state has a role in how our elections are managed. I think that has drawn a fair amount of attention.”
Lienhoop said he is already being courted by candidates who are seeking votes from delegates at the convention even though there is no guarantee that voters will elect the Columbus mayor to one of the at-large spots.
The second-term mayor said the increased interest in the GOP primary is not indicative of divisions within the party as much as it a reflection of strongly-held opinions by some members of the party that might not be as strongly shared by others.
“I wouldn’t go so far as to call it division, but I do think there are some opinions that are more strongly held by some than by others,” Lienhoop said. “Strong opinions have a tendency to energize folks, and that’s probably a little bit of what we’re seeing.”
“This is a process that usually rests in the background without much fanfare,” Lienhoop added later in the interview. “This year, I think it’s going to get a little bit more attention, and that’s probably a good thing that all of us have a greater focus on how government works and how our political leaders are chosen.”
