Q&A: Josh Lowry, a former wrestler and attorney, begins political fight

Being a fighter is nothing new for Josh Lowry.

The recently selected leader of the Hamilton County Democratic Party pursued his childhood dream of becoming a professional wrestler straight out of college at Indiana University Bloomington. Then, he went from physical fighting to fighting with his words as an attorney.

While serving as a deputy attorney general, Lowry decided to run for office, a decision driven in part by his experience with his wife becoming foster parents and the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Lowry ran unsuccessfully last year for a seat in the Indiana House. Lowry received about 44% of the vote, losing to former Indianapolis Colts punter Hunter Smith, a Republican. Although that could be interpreted as an indicator that the northern suburbs will remain red for the foreseeable future, Lowry is attempting to turn the tide.

Read on for a edited transcript of his conversation with IBJ.

After you ran for office, did you plan to pursue becoming the county party chair?

No, honestly, I never really thought about it. Our county chairs over the last four years—Dayna Colbert and Jocelyn Vare—I thought had done a great job.

After Jocelyn said that she was not going to run again, I just kind of looked around and thought, “What can I do that would help the most Democrats get elected?” And honestly, I see that people are voting more and more for the party and less for the individual candidate. So I thought this would be the best chance I have to help move that toward the left.

It’s been a pretty consistent story over the past several election cycles that people are wondering when or if Hamilton County will move farther to the left or become bluer. What is your perspective on that?

Our elected officials, especially (Democratic) state Sen. J.D. Ford and Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn, have been such great examples of public servants. Voters are rejecting Trumpism and the Republican Party. 

There really has not been a whole lot of (party) infrastructure, if we’re being honest now. A lot of that was organic. I would say it’s only been the last, maybe four to six years, where you’ve seen sustained effort. I know there’s always been volunteers, and we’ve seen it continually move more and more. 

So yeah, I do think we’re going to get over that hump. We actually have people who are working on the right problems.

What are those problems?

Right-wing news. It’s Fox News, it’s right-wing podcasts. 

Over my campaigns and [campaigns for] other candidates, I’ve knocked on thousands of doors myself, and I have routinely heard people say, “I can’t stand these Republicans, but it’s hard for me to vote Democrat.” And when you ask why, they talk about having watched Fox News for 30 years. 

I’m not one of those people who think all Republicans are evil. I know a lot of Republicans who are good people and whose hearts are in the right place, but they’re watching the news channel that tells them that everything a Republican does is good.

So to me, it’s not just about talking to voters and making that one-on-one connection. If we’re not going to butt up against and over some of this information from right-wing news, it’s not going to happen.

You said that being a foster parent motivated you to become more involved. What are you seeing in regard to children’s issues in the state that needs to be addressed?

First off, the schools. The way that they’re unevenly taking funds away from public schools to push their private schools for no better benefit. That puts kids behind. 

For example, they’re trying to take away funds from Westfield. These property tax cuts are going to hurt Westfield. I can tell you, the teachers here have been phenomenal. They’ve worked with our kids who were in the foster system and have worked through the trauma and have worked through them getting behind.

But not everybody has access to the teachers that we have or access to the mental health care that we have. You cannot overestimate the effect of trauma on a child for the rest of their life. And that’s not just kids who are in the foster system.

Is there anything specific that you found during your own run for the Statehouse that needs improvement?

You can’t expect a candidate to be both the cheerleader for the party and focus on their campaign. And this is something that I really want to focus on. The party should be boosting the brand of the party. The party should be telling the voters what the party is doing to help them, and also, conversely, what the Republican Party is doing to hurt them, so that the candidates can focus on their message, their voters and their local issues. 

I think a lot of that has been asking candidates to do both, and that’s a big lift.

What’s the next big challenge for the Hamilton County Democratic Party?

I think the 5th District is a big goal.

I know it’s big, but we’ve also not had a congresswoman (Victoria Spartz) saying that due process doesn’t exist, and we didn’t have a president who intentionally tried to cause a recession.

I think there are a lot of different things that put (the district) in play. And then, of course, in 2027, we’ve got to pick up some more city council seats. There are a lot of blue districts in Hamilton County that we’ve not won, and we have to change that.