Democrats nominated Beau Bayh for secretary of state with 61% of the vote. That means 39% of convention delegates were willing to throw away another election.
Maybe the stakes just feel low to Democrats. After all, Bayh is probably going to lose in November based on simple math. Indiana leans strongly toward Republicans, and Republicans have won every statewide election since 2012 regardless of candidates or political trends.
On the other hand, Bayh might win. He’s an A-plus candidate on the two strongest predictors of success: He has a famous-in-Indiana last name and he’s raised over $2.4 million so far. That is the profile of a person who can break through Democrats’ structural disadvantage in Indiana.
Winning is kind of the point
And yet. A sizable portion of the Indiana Democratic Party preferred Blythe Potter, a wellness business owner and Iraq War veteran, who had a 100% chance of losing in November. They didn’t just support Potter, but adopted a Potter-or-bust stance.
Since Bayh defeated Potter at the June 6 Democratic Party convention, many Democrats have said on social media they’d rather vote for independent Greg Ballard (if he gets on the ballot) or leave their ballot blank than vote for Bayh. That is a loser mentality.
Too many Indiana Democrats seem happy to lose. Learned helplessness has infected Democrats and convinced a substantial number of them that it’s better to fail with friends and social media followers than to possibly win with an external candidate who isn’t well traveled in melancholy #resistance.
It makes sense that Bayh isn’t the most endearing candidate to long-suffering party insiders. The grandson of Birch Bayh and son of Evan Bayh is a product of privilege. Democrats, who peddle class warfare, have taken exception to Beau Bayh’s elite education and access to money. They don’t like Bayh’s lineage, they don’t like his campaign donors and they don’t like that he was recruited by The Establishment as opposed to rising up through grassroots like Potter.
That’s all completely fair! Voters are free to feel however they want to about political candidates. It’s reasonable to like Potter and not like Bayh.
But the whole point of political parties is to win elections and bend public policy toward your side’s ideas. The Democrats throwing tantrums over Bayh’s nomination are demonstrating that purifying their irrelevant social club is more important than trying their best to win elections.
Democrats equate fundraising with corruption
When City-County Council Democrat Jesse Brown made the case for Potter in an IndyStar column, he cited Bayh’s education and wealthy campaign donors as evidence that Bayh is unacceptable.
Brown is concerned that Bayh is “accepting massive donations from Israel-first billionaires,” as he put it. Others are mad that Bayh accepted money from William Oberndorf, a California billionaire who has lavished money on Republican causes, including school choice.
As far as I can tell, Bayh has integrity and is likely to side with Democrats more often than not. It’s not like Democrats are choking down a candidate like Diego Morales. The problem seems to be politics rather than character.
So far, Bayh has declined to brand himself as a progressive for a variety of reasons, including that it would hurt his electability in Indiana; partisan policy views don’t matter much in a secretary of state’s race and he’s likely more moderate than the party’s progressive wing.
The anti-Bayh Democrats have pointed to his lack of definition, on top of his wealth and campaign donations, to assert that Bayh is basically a Republican. That, of course, would be news to the actual Republicans who have been melting down over Bayh’s candidacy.
The implicit attack on Bayh from the left is that he is corrupt by association. The obsession among some Democrats with taking down Bayh has blinded them to the actual job at hand, which is winning the secretary of state’s office from a party that has wielded it with demonstrable corruption.
If raising millions of dollars is disqualifying, then Democrats should just pack up their tiny tent and leave Indiana to the party that is actually serious about winning.
Winning changes everything. Maybe that’s the problem.
Much of politics can be understood through the lens of pro wrestling. This story is no different.
When the Rock took a break from acting to main event WrestleMania in both 2012 and 2013, a lot of full-time wrestlers were mad that they were getting pushed aside to make room for him. But here’s the thing: Those two WrestleManias set records for pay-per-view sales and gross revenue, which meant virtually every active WWE wrestler made more money because the Rock showed up.
Indiana Democrats don’t have a Dwayne Johnson-caliber name, so they’re settling for Bayh, the man who can convince California billionaires to scratch checks.
If Bayh can win in November — something almost no other conceivable Democrat could do — then the entire Indiana Democratic Party will benefit, right on down to the leftists who spend all their time fixating on the Middle East instead of Indiana. A Bayh victory would instantly rebuild Democrats’ decimated statewide infrastructure and give the party a legitimate path to future statewide competition.
As I wrote in September, I wouldn’t bet on Bayh winning. But he has a real chance. His mere presence in the race has forced Republicans to take Democrats seriously and clean their own house. That’s because Republicans think he can win. Bayh’s donors obviously think he can win.
The Democrats opposing Bayh in the general election surely see it, too. They’d rather lose than win with Bayh. As Milton wrote, “Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav’n.”
Contact James Briggs at 317-444-4732 or james.briggs@indystar.com. Follow him on X at @JamesEBriggs.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Too many Indiana Democrats are happy to lose | Opinion
Reporting by James Briggs, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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By James Briggs, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
