EVANSVILLE — Mary Allen is ready for more conversation.
Allen won the 8th District Democratic primary Tuesday evening with more than 67% of the vote across 21 counties – all of which she visited during her campaign, talking to potential voters as far away as Vermillion and Fountain counties.
In Vanderburgh County, where Allen lives, she took 83.45% of the vote totaling 5,733 residents. She defeated opponents Mario Foradori of Terre Haute, Tell City resident Chris Rector and Covington resident Tabitha Zeigler.
Allen, who is currently an at-large member of the Evansville City Council, will face Republican incumbent Rep. Mark Messmer on Nov. 3.
Speaking to local media Tuesday night, Allen said she was “relieved, excited, motivated.”
As the campaign for the General Election begins Wednesday, her priorities aren’t changing. She wants to be in as many places as she can, meeting people and listening. But there is a shift when moving from a primary, facing opponents from her own party, to facing Messmer, she said.
Allen and her campaign were building a base heading into the primary, she said: making connections with the Democrat organizations across the 21 counties to bolster relationships and find volunteers.
But Allen said she knows there is diverse thought in the district. She’s even met people who tell her they pulled a Democrat ballot for the first time in their lives to vote for her in this primary.
And she’ll need more of that if she wants to beat Messmer in November.
The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan, independent analysis of elections and campaigns for the U.S. House and Senate, as well as many other offices, has the 8th District as “solidly Republican.”
Its race summary simply states, “the district once known as the fiercely competitive ‘bloody 8th’ is now the most conservative in the state.”
Local Democrats are excited about Allen’s campaign. As of the Saturday before Election Day, 76% of Vanderburgh County voters who voted early pulled Democratic ballots.
Speaking to the Courier & Press, Vanderburgh County Democratic Party Chair Cheryl Schultz said that turnout was an indicator that Allen’s campaign for Congress has galvanized local Democrats.
“Mary has worked very hard. Mary has knocked on so many doors in canvassing,” Schultz said. “In all 21 counties, actually. She and her volunteers have just done a terrific job, and I think there’s just a lot of enthusiasm there for Mary, because I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like Mary after they meet her.”
The local Republican Party chair chalked it up more to the fact that they didn’t have a high profile primary to offer.
‘They want someone who is going to show up and represent them’
While traveling the district, Allen said she heard voters say they want someone who will show up and represent them.
“That’s what I hear a lot,” she said. “They say, ‘thank you for coming to our small town. We feel forgotten.’ I want them to know that every single voice matters. Every single town matters.”
Allen said she wants to bring their voices to Washington D.C.
“That’s truly what this position is about,” she said. “It’s been about bringing the people’s voice to the People’s House. And I don’t know that people feel that way right now.”
There are a lot of the same struggles across the district, as well. Allen said she heard from people about Social Security, affordable healthcare and the overall cost of living. They want to be able to have one job that pays all the bills, she said.
“No matter where you live, whether urban or rural, a lot of people are struggling with those same things,” she said. “… Even though we are very diverse, there are a lot of shared values.”
‘We’ll outwork them’
Allen has also signed on to the Take Back Congress movement, which she feels a lot of people have resonated with. That includes candidates who have promised to support everything from congressional term limits to overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which allowed corporations and the rich to flood elections with unlimited cash.
“They are tired of money infiltrating our campaigns and infiltrating our representatives’ decision-making,” she said.
On her campaign site, Allen states that overturning Citizens United is essential, as well as banning congressional stock trading, two of the main tenants of Take Back Congress. Allen has pledged not to take money from AIPAC or corporate political action committees.
She knows Messmer will raise more money than she does. But she said having donations from voters as individuals shows their buy-in. Allen said she met a woman in Terre Haute who told her she set aside $10 from every paycheck to donate to the campaign.
“I don’t take that lightly,” she said. “People are sacrificing right now. It’s hard.”
Whether through donating dollars or donating time, it’s going to take everyone to win in November.
“We know we’ll be outraised,” she said. “But we’ll outwork them.”
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Mary Allen wins 8th District Democratic primary with ease
Reporting by Sarah Loesch, Evansville Courier & Press / Evansville Courier & Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
