“There are six or seven House committee chairs and the speaker himself who are in tough battles” in the General Assembly this election cycle, declares Jeff Brantley, Indiana Chamber senior vice president of political affairs and the foundation.
That includes, among others: Reps. Martin Carbaugh (R-Fort Wayne, Insurance Committee), Cindy Kirchhofer (R-Indianapolis, Public Health Committee) ), Ed Soliday (R-Valpariso, Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications Committee) and House Speaker Todd Huston (R-Indianapolis).
“These people are leaders who control what (bills) gets heard and which do not; they are experts in their issue areas. When those people fall, it creates a tremendous power vacuum and an expertise vacuum. That makes it harder to get things done and harder to build consensus,” Brantley notes.
“This is unfortunately taking place at just the time when the Legislature needs to come together to support an agenda around economic recovery and what likely will be a very difficult budget process – tough decisions will need to be made (all-around).”
What’s contributing to this possible landscape shift at the Statehouse?
Brantley, who heads up the Chamber’s nonpartisan political action group, Indiana Business for a Responsive Government (IBRG), first points to something he – and national political leaders – having been saying for the past two years: The suburbs have changed dramatically.
“And the makeup of the two political parties has changed dramatically, even in Indiana. The Democrats are going to win in suburbs in state legislative races, and that’s not what historically happens.”
He further emphasizes the situation is driven by the current environment and not the incumbents themselves.
“This really is not about a backlash against the leadership in Indiana. Hoosiers actually think Indiana is on the right track (vs. wrong track) by a significant margin (in polling). These folks are in trouble because of what’s going on nationally and the brands of the two parties. That’s an important distinction; they’re caught up in the environment and voter anger right now.”
Brantley says IBRG is pulling out all the stops in these races.
“IBRG is highly engaged in every one of them and the team is working around the clock to help ensure these pro-jobs, pro-economy leaders pull through. It’s IBRG’s mission to grow and protect our pro-business champions.
“But, make no mistake, it is a legitimate and big threat – one we’ve not seen in a generation. We could lose people who are the most moderate, the most experienced, the most powerful.”
