The Monroe County Democratic Party on Tuesday met for the first time since the general election.
Despite cinching county races, party members lamented losses in state and national elections. They stood by local efforts.
Thomas Horrocks lost one of Indiana’s tightest statehouse races by a few hundred votes to Republican incumbent Dave Hall.
He carried Monroe County, but lost in Johnson and Brown County, which make up the rest of District 62.
Horrocks said he has no regrets about his campaign but isn’t sure if he’ll run again.
“One of the things that I was most afraid of with this campaign is that we would run a near perfect race, and I think that we did, and that we would still lose, and that people would become demoralized and lose hope for the future and say, ‘What the hell is the point?’” Horrocks said. “That's still my deepest fear going forward. My encouragement to you is, don't give up hope.”
Democrats won less than a third of the vote for Indiana’s District 9 congressional seat, held by Republican Erin Houchin.
Challenger Tim Peck received slightly fewer votes than the previous two Democratic candidates, despite raising nearly three times as much. Chair for the Monroe County Democrats David Henry isn't sure why.
“That's something we're gonna have to look at,” he said. “Maybe there's a baseline in our district that we really don't move more than 30-something percent in the very gerrymandered ninth district we live in. We have three different candidates and three very different looks over a six-year cycle.”
Although total votes dropped in Monroe County since 2020, Henry pointed out that Kamala Harris won a similar share of the vote as President Joe Biden. Monroe County remains solidly Democratic while Indiana Republicans maintain control of the statehouse, senate, and major offices.
