Welcome to a new feature here at Indy Politics. We call it “Not Necessarily the News”. I got the title from an old mock news show that ran on HBO back in the mid-80s. Yes, I am dating myself.
This will basically be a place for items that by themselves aren’t necessarily blog post worthy but a little more than gossip, rumor and blatant innuendo, i.e. the Cheat Sheet. We hope you enjoy it.
___________________
Early voting in Marion County is actually up over four years ago. As of earlier this week, more than 7,900 voters visited an early voting site and cast a ballot this weekend. The number was about 4,700 four years ago. What’s interesting is that, believe it or not, Republicans are actually running ahead of Democrats in early voting. Yup, that surprised us, too. You know how the drill works, Democrats tend to vote early, while Republicans tend to vote on Election Day. By our guestmates, Republicans are running ahead of Democrats by about six percent in absentee ballot requests and about three percent in actual early voting. As this is part art and part science, you can’t assume that every R voted for Jefferson Shreve and every D voted voted Joe Hogsett, but at face value, this is good news for Shreve. We’ll see what happens next Tuesday.
Speaking of elections, we’re hearing there may be a new candidate in the race for Lt. Governor, State Sentaor Chris Garten. Garten is from Southern Indiana. If he decides to get in, this means the race for LG will be a contest. The only other declared candidate is conservative activist and minister Micah Beckwith. Garten may not be the last one to get in the race. We’re told there may be at least four candidates when it’s all said and done. And for those of you who aren’t aware, the Lt. Governor isn’t chosen in a primary but by delegates at the state convention.
Talk about timing; you might not have heard that Donald Trump has endorsed Mike Bruan for Governor. Don’t feel bad if you haven’t. That news came out the same day that former IU basketball coach Bobby Knight passed away. You can guess which was the bigger story.
Speaking of Trump, Democrats are trying to make him a factor in the Mayors’ races in Indianapolis and Lawrence. They are running TV ads against Jefferson Shreve and just dropped negative mailers this week against Dave Hoffman. We’re not sure how effective these will be. They were very effective back in 2019 when Trump was in office.
Don’t be shocked to see some major changes next legislative session to township government in Marion and Lake Counties. The recent fight between the Center Township Small Claims Court and Center Township constable is causing some lawmakers to reconsider both their roles.
The Family and Social Service Administration’s Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning awarded more than $8.7 million to childcare providers to expand access to high-quality early education for Hoosier families.
Public Advocates in Community re-Entry (PACE) has been selected to receive a Christel DeHaan Family Foundation (CDFF) Legacy Grant in the amount of $2.748 million. The Legacy Grant will be used for an endowment to fund PACE’s long-term needs.
Gov. Eric J. Holcomb Thursday honored community and business leader Albert Chen with the 2023 Sachem Award, the state’s highest honor,
