ReCenter Indiana Inc. is expanding its leadership team as it harnesses a grant to take aim at the state’s notoriously poor voter turnout and shifts its mission.
The group will no longer endorse or support centrist candidates, as it did through a political action committee in 2023 and 2024.
Jocelyn Vare has been named ReCenter’s first executive director.
“Our new mission as a nonpartisan 501c3 is to remind elected officials to prioritize Hoosiers’ needs,” Vare said. “Our efforts will now focus on collecting non-partisan data, such as the young adult non-voter survey planned for this fall, developing civic health programs, and fostering connections and partnerships with like-minded organizations.”
A news release called Vare a strong supporter of balanced government and citizen engagement. Vare made history in 2019 when her election as an at-large city council member made the Fishers City Council bipartisan for the first time. She also ran for the Indiana Senate and served as the Democratic Party chair for Hamilton County, the state’s most politically competitive county.
“Jocelyn has an impressive track record of working across the aisle for the public good. And she brings a depth of experience that is typically found only among those who have rolled up their sleeves in party politics,” said the founder of ReCenter Indiana Inc., Don Knebel. He is president of its board of directors, which consists of Republicans, Democrats and independents.
Vare encouraged Hoosiers to help drive the state’s future: “When we vote, we remind elected officials to work together and recenter on the priorities of the people.”
ReCenter Indiana is preparing a survey to be conducted this fall. Unlike most election research, which samples voters and likely voters, this survey is focused on the 18-34 age bracket of central Indiana residents who were registered but did not vote in the 2024 general election.
“The future of our state and our republic depends on civic participation by generation after generation,” Vare explained.
The polling will be done by two national research firms, one Democratic and the other Republican. Results will help shape strategies to boost voter turnout for the 2026 elections and beyond.
Supporting that research is a $50,000 grant award from the Nicholas H. Noyes Jr. Memorial Foundation.
When ReCenter Indiana was founded in 2022, its core mission was to reclaim the political center by supporting centrist candidates through a political action committee. Those efforts included a statewide billboard campaign that encouraged Democrats to vote in the 2024 Republican primary.
But as political polarization intensifies, ReCenter Indiana is refining its mission of reminding public officials to listen to “the people, not just the most extreme partisans,” according to the news release.
“The chasm between our elected officials and the people keeps widening,” Knebel said. “We can help close that gap by encouraging everyday Hoosiers to use their power, and by reminding our elected servants that the best interests of the people should always be front and center.”
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