INDIANAPOLIS – Filing is closed for Indiana’s May primary.
Nine of the 11 remaining Democratic candidates filed the required signatures to run in Indiana. Colorado Senator Michael Bennet fell four-thousand signatures short, and former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick didn’t submit any.
Another former Massachusetts Governor, Bill Weld, will be on the Republican ballot for his challenge to President Trump.
Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg will be joined on the Democratic ballot by Senators Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar, former Vice President Joe Biden, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, businessmen Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang, and Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. Buttigieg is the first Hoosier to run in Indiana’s presidential primary since Governor Roger Branigin ran as a favorite-son candidate in 1968. Birch Bayh, Vance Hartke, Richard Lugar and Dan Quayle’s campaigns all fizzled before they had a chance to run in their home state.
The most crowded races on the ballot will be for Indiana’s two open congressional seats. 16 Republicans are running for the Fifth District seat of Susan Brooks in central Indiana, while 14 Democrats in northwest Indiana are pursuing Pete Visclosky’s First District seat. Six Republicans are running there for what’s considerd a safe Democratic seat, while Democrats consider Brooks’ seat their best opportunity for a congressional pickup in Indiana. Five candidates are running, including 2016 lieutenant governor nominee Christina Hale, Brooks’ 2018 opponent Dee Thornton, and Andrew J. Jacobs, the son of former Congressman Andrew Jacobs Jr. The Republican field includes State Treasurer Kelly Mitchell, Noblesville State Senator Victoria Spartz, former B-M-V Commissioner Kent Abernathy, former Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi, Atlanta businesswoman Beth Henderson, Zionsville doctor Chuck Dietzen, and Noblesville pastor Micah Beckwith.
Former state health commissioner Woody Myers became Democrats’ nominee for governor when he officially filed his candidacy 90 minutes before the deadline. Carmel businessman Josh Owens dropped out of the race Wednesday and endorsed Myers.
Myers started the year with less than two-thousand dollars in cash on hand. He says the crowded presidential field and what once was a three-way race for governor with Owens and Gary Senator Eddie Melton put a strain on Democratic donors. With no primary to worry about, he can bank his contributions for the fall election against Republican Governor Eric Holcomb. He says he’s expanding his fundraising team to build his war chest into a competitive position.
Carmel businessman Brian Roth filed to challenge Holcomb in the Republican primary, but is about 17-hundred signatures short of what he needed to get on the ballot.
Five members of Congress have primary challengers. Only Republicans Larry Bucshon and Trey Hollingsworth are unopposed.