by Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, Esq.
May 7 cannot get here soon enough.
As much as I love politics, there comes a point where if I hear “outsider”, “proven conservative leadership”, “axe the tax”, “small town Indiana”, or some biblical verse, I’m going to scream. So, between a contested primary for Governor and contested races in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Congressional districts, May 7 can’t get here soon enough. I’ll get to the 7th in a bit. But below is where things are standing right now.
In the race for Governor, it looks like Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch has the momentum right now. While earlier internal polling had Mike Braun in the low to mid-40s’, Braun’s numbers have been slowly dropping. In our own Indy Politics/Crossroads Public Affairs poll of 500 likely Republican voters released last month, Braun was at 33 percent, Crouch Eric Doden and Brad Chambers were averaging about 10 percent each, Curtis Hill was under five percent and Jamie Reitenour was at 1-point-something percent. Thirty percent were undecided.
We hear that Crouch is picking up momentum. The latest polling has her in the 20 percent category. Braun is still in the low 30s. Eric Doden and Brad Chambers were in the low 10s. Curtis Hill and Jamie Reitenhour were both between three and five percent. The question is, can Crouch galvanise and consolidate that 20-30 percent undecided vote, and can she do it in time for the primary next Tuesday?
CD 8 is basically a two-man race between Mark Messmer and John Hostellter. In CD 3, we are told Marlin Stutzman is the front-runner. However, outside groups have been really hitting Hostettler and Stutzman.
Jefferson Shreve is leading in CD 6. While he has 91 percent name ID, his support is in the teens. The race is fundamentally between Shreve and Speedy, but there are a lot of undecided voters out there, and there is a path for Jamison Carrier.
In CD 5, I am asking if this is 2024 or 1924. Businessman Raju Chinthala is on CVS’s laundry list of candidates hoping to replace incumbent Victoria Spartz. Well, here’s where the racism comes in.
Chintahla was apparently at a political event last week in Howard County and was handing out plates, taking a page out of the Mike Pence/Diego Morales playbook. Well, while he was there, an individual who was nearby apparently said he didn’t want some “f***** Indian” handling his food. There is also talk that this person also used the “n-word” to describe Chinthala.
But wait, there’s more.
Apparently, Chinthala was not invited to a candidate forum in Fishers. Although Victoria Spartz, Chuck Goodrich, Mark Hurt, and Max Engling were all invited, Chinthalla was left out because “he wasn’t competitive.” Although he was right behind Spartz and Goodrich when it came to raising money, we will let you draw your own conclusions. Liberty Bell, was the group that sponsored the event.
Did we say 1824? We meant to say 1724.
And now for the 7th. Obviously, this one is pretty much in the bag for Democrat Andre Carson. Why, first of all, because of the district’s political demographics. Secondly, when your opposition is a dead woman and a candidate who filed fraudulent campaign finance reports, claimed endorsements from groups that don’t exist, a plethora of default judgments for unpaid bills, and wastes everyone’s time filing fraudulent petitions for orders of protection, questionable complaints filed with the Indiana election division and total bullcrap complaints with the Indiana Attorney Disciplinary Commission, all of which were dismissed, Carson could not get a better candidate.
Like we said, May 7 cannot get here soon enough.
Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is an attorney and the editor and publisher of Indy Politics.
