Karen Celestino-Horseman: Five takeaways from the May 5 primary

Primary elections are often treated as mere previews of November, but last week’s contests delivered several revealing lessons about the state of Indiana politics.

Here are my takeaways from the May 5 primary.

Perseverance pays off. Paul Woods ran for constable three different times before winning the Pike Township Democratic primary for constable, making the fourth time a charm.

In politics, the saying goes that if you lose three times, your time in the arena is up. But like all rules, there are exceptions.

Woods took lessons from each of his campaigns, worked to develop relationships and most importantly, never burned any bridges by finger pointing and blaming his opponents and their supporters for his losses.

In other words, he set his goal, did his homework and worked hard to win.

Dead men tell no tales, but they do get votes. Bobby Kern, a Democratic candidate for Marion County clerk, died on April 3 and, by law, his name remained on the ballot. He captured 6% of the vote.

Why do voters vote for candidates no longer living and unable to serve? In Bobby’s case, a perennial candidate himself, there were probably voters who cast a ballot as a remembrance.

For others, it could have been a protest vote against the system, or maybe they had a beef with the two female candidates or maybe they wanted to support a man.

Rack up another win for Congressman André Carson. The one candidate that Marion County continually agrees upon is André Carson. For the first time, Carson faced not one but two potentially viable primary opponents who ran aggressive campaigns.

While he did not win the primary with his usual 90% of the vote, he did handily win with approximately 62% of the vote. The good news is that if Democrats can win the midterms, Indianapolis will be represented by a congressperson with significant seniority.

Diego Morales loses. Secretary of State Diego Morales and his wife lost their bid to be named as delegates to the Republican state convention.

Common political wisdom tells you that because Morales had the highest name recognition, he should have prevailed in a relatively small pond.

Of 18 candidates vying for delegate, Morales came in 12th and his wife came in 17th. Only the top six earned delegate sports.

Also interesting is that the names of the six who finished lower than Morales were candidates with non-English ethnic names.

Those capturing more votes than Morales had English names that were not ethnic.

Years ago, a candidate for statewide office with a Latino last name told me that he had calculated his last name had cost him 6% of the vote. Does that same rule apply today? Has it been made worse by the ill-feelings generated by anti-immigrant laws?

As Indiana secretary of state, Morales has highlighted his enforcement of those same laws.

Was it the money or Trump’s name? Of the seven legislators targeted by President Donald Trump due to their opposition to mid-decade redistricting, one won, one is in a deadlocked race as of the time of this writing and five were defeated.

Trump and company may crow that Trump’s name carried the day, but I suspect it was the money.

Trump-related PACs, organizations such as Turning Point USA and PACs overseen by U.S. Sen. Jim Banks and Gov. Mike Braun poured millions into the revenge effort.

If they had seriously thought Trump’s name would carry the day, then they would not have spent record-breaking amounts. The money tells the tale.•

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Celestino-Horseman is an Indianapolis attorney. Send comments to [email protected].

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