It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

A Tale of Two Parties

The Indiana State Democratic Convention was held on Saturday, June 6, 2026 at the Indiana Convention Center. It was a beautiful summer day and the energy was electric. Over 2,300 delegates crowded into the halls to get their credential badges and t-shirts from their preferred candidates. The contested race to be determined by the delegates was the race for nomination of secretary of state. Beau Bayh, considered to be the more moderate and electable candidate because of his dynastic heritage and huge war chest was opposing Blythe Potter, a grassroots candidate with a modest war chest and a more compelling and progressive message. Beau Bayh was the state party’s preferred and presumptive nominee, jumping into the race months after Blythe Potter had announced her candidacy in 2025.

Image by Marilyn Odenthal, The Indiana Citizen

Did You Know:

Hoosiers didn’t get the opportunity to choose between these two candidates because of an archaic and undemocratic law in Indiana’s constitution that gives that power to party state delegates. The 2,268 votes cast that choose Indiana’s democratic candidate for secretary of state represented approximately 1/1000th of Indiana voters. Hoosier voters did not choose Beau Bayh to be the democratic candidate. Sixty-one percent of party delegates chose him for you.

The two candidates were officially nominated by special speakers. Beau Bayh was nominated by Evansville mayor Stephanie Terry and Blythe Potter was nominated by the former Democratic nominee for Indiana attorney general, Destiny Wells. The crowd exploded when Wells appeared on stage and said:

“Our party is at a crossroads. We can choose the politics of caution. We can convince ourselves that if we soften our values, if we blur who we are, if we spend out time chasing people who already have a political home, that somehow victory will follow.”

As a delegate at the convention, I noticed a palpable electricity in the room when Potter was nominated and as she took the stage. It was clear that the room was about a 60/40 split between the candidates. But the passion and energy of her supporters was undeterred.

Blythe Potter’s campaign energized young voters, first time activists and progressive democrats who aren’t always welcomed into the inner sanctums of the Democratic Party. She became known during the No King’s rallies and has developed an enthusiastic following in the general public.

There is an emergent, people powered movement growing in this state and across the country. This movement is being fueled by people who are looking for candidates that are not connected to billionaire donors and corporate lobbyists. Voters who are not enamored by dynastic heirs. These folks are suspicious of polished talking points drafted by political consultants. That movement was alive and well on Saturday afternoon in Indianapolis.

This difference in the room wasn’t infighting, It’s what it looks like when a new energy is being born and breaking out of old structures, attitudes and beliefs. Something new is trying to break through.

Karen Tallian and party leaders are now insisting that democrats get behind Beau Bayh and support his candidacy. Bayh welcomed Potter supporters by saying, “There’s a home in this campaign if you believe in good government and honest leadership, if you believe we need something better here in the statehouse.” His comments aren’t landing very well with Blythe’s supporters.

Blythe Potter has promised and continues to make clear that she will vote for Beau Bayh. We suspect most of the 2, 300 delegates at the convention will also support his candidacy. But we aren’t the electorate.

The Indiana Democratic Party can insist on party unity, but young, enthusiastic, disillusioned voters who don’t trust either party and feel betrayed by both will need more than a scolding or lukewarm invitation to support this candidacy. These voters are enthused, engaged, hurting, and ready for a change.

The challenge for Bayh’s campaign might be a third party candidate, Greg Ballard. The former Republican mayor of Indianapolis is getting signatures to run as an Independent. If he is successful, it will be interesting to see which candidate he draws votes from. There are disenchanted voters from both sides who are engaged, paying attention and fired up. These are voters who are not loyal to party loyalists. The Indiana midterm elections may turn out to be as much as referendum on the party as it is the candidates.

Why It Matters:

The exciting news is that for the first time in decades, there are Democratic Candidates in 91 of the 100 State House districts, the highest number since 1992. Additionally, all 25 State Senate seats will be contested, the first time since 1974—over half a century!

This explosion of candidates is due in large part to this emerging, new generation of activists who focused on precinct chairs, county chairs and delegate elections, not only candidate campaigns. That’s how about 40% of the convention delegates showed up on Saturday.

We have competent, energetic and young candidates across the state working to flip the super-majority stranglehold that has captured our state legislature for over two decades. Many of these candidates have caught the national attention of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), and they have identified several local campaigns they consider flippable, including:

• House District 62 (Monroe County) Amy Huffman Oliver

• House District 43 (Terre Haute) Tony Pfaff

• House District 39 (Hamilton County) Lindsay Gramlich

• House District 36 (northeast Indy, Fishers) Kyle Pierce

We also have newly elected engaged and enthusiastic county and township party chairs and a plethora of new precinct chairs who are doing amazing work across the state. Josh Lowry, Hamilton County Party Chair, has created an emerging and powerful democratic presence in that county. In the most recent 2026 Primary Election, there was a 258% increase in voters picking a Democratic ballot. He is building a coalition of grassroots support and a network of grassroots organizations that have sprung up since the 2024 election.

All of this good news is happening within a broader context of the complete free fall of approval ratings for Governor Braun and Trump. Governor Braun is the most unpopular first term governor in history, and Trump’s approval is hovering at 37% and is showing no signs of improving.

What You Can Do:

Experts in fascism and the fall of democracies insist that the midterm elections will determine whether we are able to recover from this onslaught of loss of freedoms. The only way out of this nightmare is at the ballot box in November. We are not in normal times, and this is not just any election.

Despite the heartbreak, despair, suffering, loss of life, destruction of democratic institutions and democratic norms, rising prices and inflation, we are standing on the precipice of a re-founding. We can take our country back from the grip of corruption, greed, and fascism cloaked in white Christian nationalism. Our power is in we the people and our vote. We must elect candidates who are committed to our democracy and loyal to the people, not donors.

Our state has lead the way in authoritarianism and it may be one of the last to be freed from the grips of MAGA and radical conservatism. But we can make great strides in 2026 and again in 2028. We need to reimagine and revitalize our Democratic party, recruit candidates who are willing to be servant civic leaders, and trust that if we have the right candidate, that they can and will be elected.

Our dilemma is that if money and power is what it takes to make a person ‘electable’, that is an indictment on the system not an endorsement of the candidate. Something new is trying to be born, let’s help make that happen.

In solidarity,

Debbie and the H4D team