Indiana GOP Primary Upsets Reveal Voter Anger Over Property Taxes, Career Politicians, and Failed Leadership

It is indisputable that Trump endorsed candidates had a good night last night. They did. They did. It looks like they’re going to get six of the eight, and we’ll get to the two that are winning right now in just a second, with the sort of that Trump Turning Point alliance. Now what’s very odd about all of this is Trump and Turning Point were not aligned on all the candidates because Trump’s endorsement was about Trump, wasn’t about you, it wasn’t about Indiana, it was about Trump being mad about redistricting. So Trump endorsed people who have done immense harm to our state. This is why I was so frustrated by all of this. If Trump had come out and been like Ron Alting screwed everyone on property taxes, vote for Richard Bagsby, okay. If Trump had come out and said Liz Brown screwed everyone on constitutional carry for years and enforcing immigration laws in Indiana, vote for Vote, it was weird, right, the guy she was running against was named Vote. If all the Trump endorsements were related to stuff of our state, no issue for me. The problem is he endorsed people like Ron Alting, and he endorsed people like Liz Brown, who have done horrible harm to our state, but they voted for redistricting. So it’s very hard to make sense of all this, and for everybody to try to lump it into one thing is not accurate.

Indiana Republican Primary Results Reflect Growing Frustration With Incumbents

Let’s start with the big races, though, because there’s three I want to talk about. Redistricting brought Trump and it brought the money and resources, there’s no doubt about that. Zero. Endorsement and the money and resources that it brought helped these challenges get across the finish line. No doubt. But it’s not the reason the incumbents lost. It’s not. It’s just not. Let’s start with Travis Holdman, arch nemesis number two that went down. Number one, Diego. Number two, Travis Holdman. Travis Holdman, northeast Indiana, got smoked for these reasons. Number one, he’s been there since the earth was young. Number two, he’s 9 million years old. Number three, if you’ve ever had a conversation with him, the guy comes off like a complete unlikable ass who doesn’t care about anybody but himself. In Senate hearings, he looks like he’s annoyed that he had to be awoken to go participate. And most importantly, he was the architect on the Senate side of the property tax bill that the entire state hates. That’s why Travis Holdman lost. Look, Travis Holdman ran against a guy, Victor Blake Feichter, who didn’t even know he was running until Trump tweeted his name, had no idea what he was doing. He then decided it was too hard and too much work, so he quit. He literally quit, announced he’s quitting in the middle of the race and then unannounced showed up back at the White House, like I’m back in the race, baby. That’s who won. This guy was not a good candidate at all. Travis Holdman was so hated because he screwed the entire state on property taxes. The people were like, we’ll vote for a guy who only ran because Trump tweeted his name and in the middle of the race said it was too hard and he quit. That’s our representation. That’s why it’s a complete joke to think these people are going to go fight for us. This guy, running was too hard. Running, like all you gotta do, hi, my name is Blake, vote for me. That was too hard for him. You think he’s going to be in there fighting for you? You think he’s going to go to war with Senate leadership or House leadership or Braun? He couldn’t even run.

Property Tax Anger and Longtime Political Careers Hurt Key Republican Senators

Holdman lost because of Holdman. And we told you guys Holdman was one of the ones we thought was going down because he was the architect of a property tax bill that the entire state, including his own district, hated. He also was in on the data center giveaways. He was in on the casino stuff. There were numerous reasons to the people of that district that Travis Holdman needed to go, and God bless him, God bless them. See, this is the thing. Like all the people last night, I bet Rob’s really mad. No, I’m not mad at all. I’ve told you guys for weeks on this show I think we lose either way. I’m so glad to get rid of Travis Holdman. I have zero confidence in a guy that was so weak he couldn’t even campaign. Well, what am I supposed to say? Yeah, Blake’s awesome, man, he’s great. That guy’s amazing. He quit in the middle of the campaign. Okay, so that’s Holdman. That’s the big fish, right? Like, he was the biggest name to go down last night, but he didn’t lose because of redistricting. Trump got mad at him and went at him because of redistricting, which brought the money and the resources, but he lost because the people in his district were pissed off about a whole bunch of things that had nothing to do with redistricting. Let’s talk about the second biggest name that went down last night, and that was Jim Buck. Jim Buck, the Westfield area all the way up to Kokomo, same first two issues that hit Holdman. He’s been there forever. Buck has been in the General Assembly since 1994. Go home. 32 years. I was in the fourth grade in 1994. He’s still there. He’s been in the Senate, I think, since 08. He’s also 80 years old. Go home. He voted on property tax. He voted on a lot of these things that people are unhappy with. Here’s the other thing. Jim Buck led people to believe he was not running again. And so Tracy Powell is the guy running against him, ran an aggressive campaign, a good campaign, quite frankly, long before redistricting was on anyone’s radar. Buck lost because he’s too old, out of touch, out of ideas. And the guy running against him ran a great campaign way before redistricting was a thing. Again, redistricting brought attention. It brought money. It brought resources. But redistricting isn’t why Jim Buck is not a senator anymore or about to not be a senator. The third one, Greg Walker. Greg Walker, been there 20 years. Same thing. Greg Walker won a huge upset 20 years ago on the idea of people staying in office too long. The guy he beat was a lifer, a long termer, and Walker was the young guy. He won. He’d become the person he ran against. Greg Walker, that’s Columbus, the Johnson County area, Bartholomew Johnson, Johnson County. He had been there too long. He ran against Michelle Davis, a state rep, a known quantity. Greg Walker made a lot of votes that pissed people off that vote in Republican primaries, things related to vaccines, things related to boys and girls sports, a lot of social issues that really pissed off Republican voters. Again, redistricting brought Trump. It brought money. It brought attention. Greg Walker did not lose because of redistricting. Greg Walker, also like Jim Buck, let everyone believe he was not running again. Michelle Davis, good candidate, big head start. All of these people lost because of issues not related to redistricting, and we’re doing a huge disservice to fixing the mess, which, by the way, Michelle Davis voted for a lot of the same stuff, a lot of the same stuff that Greg Walker has. We’re suddenly led to believe what, she’s going to be some warrior now for all the things that will help us, property taxes, utility bills. Get out of here. Status quo beat status quo. I’m not gonna lie to you and act like anything’s gonna change. Why would anything change? She’s in the system. She has not been fighting for us. Are we suddenly led to believe because she’s now a senator instead of a state rep, she’s going to change who she is? No no no no no no.

Redistricting Attention Helped Challengers, But Local Issues Drove Voter Decisions

So those three people, big time people went down because of things they did that alienated people in their district, not because of redistricting. And we’re missing the plot and we’re missing the ability to have meaningful change if we just hang it on redistricting. I’ve heard nothing specific that Powell or Davis, and by the way, Davis is in on the property tax stuff, right. She’s been in the General Assembly. Powell, Davis, Feichter, any of those guys are going to do on property taxes. Have you guys heard specifics? What are they going to do about assessments? Until you fix the assessment scam, nothing’s changing. What are they going to do? And by the way, isn’t it wild? So Braun wins all these seats last night and this morning all I hear him talking about is, well, raise a wet blanket, he should quit, he should resign. Why didn’t Braun this morning lay out specific policy proposals on things that he’s mad that you got screwed on, that he wants to fix? He said last year he was coming back for more on property taxes. He came for nothing this year. And then he told everybody people were happy with property taxes. If it was really about you and bad governance in the Senate, why this morning was the first thing not a list of demands? Here’s what we’re doing, here’s the new contract with Indiana, because Braun doesn’t want to fix any of that. It’s all political. It’s not about you. If it was about you, that’s what he would have done last night. That’s what he would have done this morning. He says he’s got to quit, he’s got to go, he’s got to this, Bray’s got to that because that’s what Trump wants. It’s not about you.

Surviving Candidates Show How Local Reputation Still Matters in Indiana Elections

Let’s talk about the two people that for now have survived. And this is why I’m telling you the redistricting argument is, it’s not the reason people voted for or against candidates for the most part. There were some people who probably did. Look at the two who right now have survived. Greg Goode won overwhelmingly in Terre Haute. We told you he would. And right now, and it’s very close, but right now, and it’s subject to recounts and recanvassing and everything else, but right now Spencer Deery is winning in Lafayette. Those were the two public enemy number ones I saw. Scott Presler tried to get mouthy with me last night on Twitter. Now, that guy didn’t have a word to say when he was drawing seven people at events, but now he’s trying to take credit for the victory. Now last night he got mouthy with me on Twitter because Scott, the two public enemy number ones, the most high profile people were Greg Goode and Spencer Deery. And as of right now, Greg Goode smoked Brenda Wilson. Why? Because she was a bad candidate. She was a bad candidate. And when you add up the math, that third woman running didn’t make any difference. Add the math up, the votes she got, it didn’t matter. Greg Good didn’t piss anyone off. He had just been caucused in, so he hasn’t been there a long time. And he was seen as a person who listens to the constituency. He won. Spencer Deery, public enemy number two that Presler went after right now and Turning Point USA went after. He’s still winning. It could change. Spencer Deery, same thing. Hasn’t been there very long. Didn’t piss anybody off up there. He voted against the property tax debacle, by the way, and he just kind of went about his business. All these other people who got smoked, the Walkers and the Bucks and the Holdmans, they pissed off their constituency on key issues. So Scott Presler wants to get lippy. Ask him why public enemy number one and two have won and are still winning. Elections are local. Elections are local. Greg Goode won because he’s done a nice job with his constituency. Spencer Deery is very close or winning or going to win or whatever based on him not pissing anybody off and serving his constituency.