Thanks for proving our point
A workman adds the finishing touches to a ReCenter Indiana billboard on I-465 near Allisonville Road in Indianapolis, April 16, 2024.
Where did you come across ReCenter Indiana’s advice this spring that “Even Democrats can vote in the Republican primary”?
If you saw one of our video ads on social media, you had a lot of company. Our metrics show they rang up 177,089 impressions.
Or perhaps you saw one of the billboards we posted in six Indiana cities. There’s no solid way to measure how many people read them, but they clearly captured the public imagination.
For instance, did you see any of our “earned media” coverage? It’s called that because ReCenter’s campaign was noteworthy enough to merit dozens of news stories across the state – on television and radio as well as in print and online newspapers.
Leading up to the primary, the headline on a column by IndyStar opinion editor James Briggs said it all: “Obviously, Democrats should vote Republican for Indiana governor.”
Briggs’ argument was the same as ours: The last time a Democrat was elected Indiana governor was 24 years ago. So, Hoosiers’ best chance to influence the outcome of the November election would be in the Republican primary. Besides, Jennifer McCormick had already secured the Democratic nomination for governor.
Some of you may even have learned about our campaign thanks to criticism by Republican and Democratic leaders alike. In Hamilton County, the chairs of the competing parties united to oppose us. The Democratic chair implored Hoosiers to “vote genuinely, and not be influenced by tricky strategy or – I don’t even know what to call it.”
Well, one thing you could call it is revealing. In Hamilton County, Brad Chambers went on to finish just 19 votes behind U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, who won both the county and the state in his quest for the Republican nomination for governor. That’s right: just 19 votes.
Chambers is a former state commerce secretary but has never held elected office, and, until this race, had little name recognition.
In neighboring Boone County, Chambers also finished second, trailing Braun by just 563 votes out of nearly 10,000 votes cast. In a field of six candidates, Chambers won in Marion County – the state’s largest – and finished third statewide.
Separate from our advertising campaign, the ReCenter Indiana Political Action Committee endorsed Chambers, labeling him the Republican primary candidate who most closely aligned with ReCenter’s centrist values.
“The primary results show widespread support for our message that voters should vote in the Republican primary regardless of their party identity,” said Don Knebel, founder and president of ReCenter Indiana Inc.
“This confirms my view that Hoosiers are tired of politicians who act in the best interests of their party rather than the interests of the public,” Knebel said. “It also helps confirm my view that Hoosier voters want their elected representatives to avoid extreme positions and move closer to the center, which is where polls show the majority of voters are.”
One thing our campaign could not improve was Indiana’s traditionally dismal election turnout. Only 17% of registered voters showed up for this spring’s primary. That’s even more disappointing than the 24% primary turnout in 2020, the last time Hoosiers chose a governor.
Even so, requests for Republican ballots were up by nearly 41,000, said Linda Heitzman, a Democrat who sits on the ReCenter PAC board. “Likely, many of those were independents or Democrats selecting a Republican ballot for the first time,” she said.
“As a young organization, to be impactful, we had to get creative,” said Adrianne Slash, a Republican who is president of the ReCenter Indiana PAC. “Our open primary campaign tapped into the frustration felt by many Hoosiers. It communicated an option for those who felt disenfranchised by the current system.”
Another ReCenter PAC board member, Azher Khan, was impressed that visitors spent a remarkably high average time of more than three minutes on the Open Primary page at https://www.recenterindiana.org/.
Khan, who considers himself a Republican, was also impressed by the click-through rate for those seeking additional information on how best to make their votes count.
Website visitors 65 years of age and older – an age bracket that typically makes a point of voting – clicked through the most. But those with the next highest click-through rate were visitors between 18 and 24, an age group that often is reluctant to engage in politics, Khan observed.
The deadline for registering for the general election this fall is Oct. 7. Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
