Analysts discuss Indiana's political landscape

INDIANAPOLIS — When asked who’s in, who’s out and who’s got clout in Indiana politics after the November elections, Mike McDaniel didn’t hesitate with his answer.

Republicans are in, Democrats are out and Republicans have clout in the state, said McDaniel, executive director of governmental affairs at Krieg DeVault LLP, at the Indiana Farm Bureau Virtual State Convention.

“A couple facts about the Indiana Democrats,” he said. “They’ve lost every statewide race since 2014. They control two out of 11 federal offices in Indiana — two members of Congress.

“They’re a super-minority in both houses of the Indiana General Assembly by wide margins. Now they have about a third of the mayor’s office in all of Indiana.”

Democrats have 10% of county commissioner positions and fewer than 20% of county courthouse offices, McDaniel said.

“It’s pretty difficult, in what’s supposed to be a two-party state, to get much lower than that,” he said. “They have some challenges ahead of them.”

Jim Shella, retired political reporter at WISH-TV and former host of Indiana Week in Review, said the Indiana Democratic Party needs a strong leader.

“The leaders that they have at the Statehouse are not established, they don’t have a state chairman at the moment, they don’t have a prospective candidate for Congress, they don’t have a prospective candidate for governor in four years, they don’t have a prospective candidate for Senate in two years,” he said.

While Republicans control politics in Indiana, federal politics are a different story.

“The person who suddenly doesn’t have the clout he thought he had would be President Donald Trump,” Shella said.

As President-elect Joe Biden prepares to lead the country, Americans remain more divided than ever.

“We’ve got a circumstance, everywhere from the state Legislature to Congress to national politics to cable TV, where nobody is interested in listening to the other side or compromising,” Shella said. “There’s a huge divide in this country. Can that be fixed?”

In answer to his question, McDaniel said he fears it will take a catastrophe to unite Americans.

“I think the only thing that brings us back together is some kind of national tragedy, a time when Americans band together and do what we have to do to protect our country,” he said.

The internet and social media are further dividing people with differing political views, McDaniel said.

“Everybody is in silos,” he said. “I listen to the people I agree with. You listen to the people you agree with. Nobody is getting the blend of the two.

“It’s really kind of sad. That’s not the politics I was brought up in. I believe in talking to people.”