Vicki Morton, Kosciusko County Democrat chair, left, is shown with the three speakers for the annual Kosciusko County Democrats SS Lillypad Cruise. To Morton’s left are Blythe Potter, secretary of state candidate; Kelly Thompson, 3rd District Congressional candidate; and Sen. Andrea Hunley.

Text and Photos
By Deb Patterson
InkFreeNews

SYRACUSE — Messages of encouragement, promises and even a call to action were heard by a large group of local Democrats Sunday afternoon, Sept. 7, aboard the SS Lillypad II. This was the eighth year the Kosciusko County Democrats hosted the cruise with keynote speakers rallying the party faithful.

Redistricting, voting, access to ballots and the voting box, health care; environmental concerns and affordable housing were topics touched by each of the women. Vicki Morton, county Democrat chair, introduced each of the speakers.

Indiana State Senator Andrea Hunley, Blythe Potter, candidate for Indiana Secretary of State and Kelly Thompson, 3rd District Congressional Candidate were special speakers for the event.

Sen. Andrea Hunley talks about redistricting.

Hunley, who represents District 46, ran for office in 2022. She had been an Indianapolis Public School principal for 10 years. “I decided the people in charge needed to have someone, who could see the needs of children and families each and every day, be in office to help make laws at our statehouse. So, I decided to run.”

She credited the community coming forward, her family helping her in numerous ways and small time donors helping her get to “where I am today. If you hear nothing else I have to say, I want you to hear this loud and clear. If I can do it, you can do it.”

She stated she ran for office with hardly “any infrastructure. But the community was behind me then. I know that you can, too, because there’s an incredible community that I’ve already seen here today and I know each of you would have each other’s back. We need people to run. We need folks to run. Get their names on the ballot, because there are so many ways to win an election,” she said.

Those ways noted included contacting people and building a list. “We need to know where our pragmatic people in our communities are. We need to know where people are who think like us. We need to know where the people are who are interested in supporting communities, who are interested in supporting our unions, interested in supporting our teachers. We need to know where those folks are and we need to give them a little bit of hope on their ballot.”

She encouraged people to run for clerk treasurer, the school board, even state offices.

Blythe Potter, candidate for Secretary of State, addresses the group.

She talked about the redistricting plans.

She explained there are nine Congressional seats in Indiana, seven are held by Republicans. Two are held by Democrats, one in the Lake County area, and the other in the Indianapolis area. She explained what is happening is “they are trying to craft Democrats to make sure they are diluting their vote in ways of making it harder for Democrats to be re-elected. They are also making it harder for us to have our voices heard … things we care about: our communities, infrastructure, food safety inspectors in the USDA, get what we need out of the farm bill this time … we need folks who are going to uphold those Democratic values, to fight for the entire state of Indiana.”

Henley noted as of today, it is legal to create and draw a map based on political affiliations; however, today, it is not legal to draw maps based on race. She noted that is being looked at in the Lake County and Indianapolis area. These two areas have large minority populations. “There are large populations of black folks, large populations of immigrants, who are here legally that can vote, and we have large populations of Latinos as well. So, we want to make sure that those voices are not diluted,” Henley stated.

She added if there are new maps, there will be a special session, which will be expensive, and if there is redistricting based on race, “then you can bet we will have a lawsuit.”

She encouraged people to contact their state representatives, state senators, speaker of the house, president of the senate and governor, telling them to not waste taxpayer money. “We already have maps and we’re not to be redistricting in the middle of a decade,” she stated, adding it is also against the Indiana Constitution. “If it’s illegal or insane, it’s rigging. Rigging and cheating plain and simple … make your voices heard. Talk to your neighbors so they understand the impact.”

Candidates Speak

Potter, a military veteran serving eight years in the reserves and has a masters of business administration, is seeking the nomination for secretary of state. She is from Johnson County. She noted she had been told her entire life her vote didn’t count and she was in a red state, “so it’s not worth voting for anyone else.” She noted votes had been suppressed with “terrible marketing. In my opinion, get the voting up by better marketing with our tax dollars. I’m a mom and military. I know how to clean up a mess. Diego has made a hot mess of the secretary of state office.”

She noted it was time to get rid of no-bid contracts and unrestricted travel and it was time to bring “a little bit of boring back the office.”

Kelly Thompson, Third District Congressional Candidate, addresses the group.

She noted she is an activist and organizer. She questioned who had received information from the secretary of state, who is in charge of elections, regarding when the election is and who is on the ballot. No one responded. “I think we should do that, other states do,” she said, adding the more Hoosiers, who have access to ballots, the more they vote and the more they vote, they tend to vote blue.

She encouraged people to voice questions over Diego Morales’ agenda to move municipal elections to the presidential years, taking voting locations in each precinct and turn them into voting centers, affecting rural voters.

The final speaker was Thompson, who highlighted a number of areas. “I thought about what to talk about. The first think I want to say is WTF. We’ve not been here in our lifetime before.”

She noted her running for office is a job and because it’s a job, she needs to show up to events every chance she can and if you don’t show up when you’re applying for a job “the chances are you’re not going to show up to do the job.” She added she believes the representatives in Washington, D.C., don’t understand what the job is. “This is what I am going to talk about today. WTF all of these things.”

She went on to talk about the need for health care, environmental issues unique to Indiana when it comes to water, soil, and air and affordable housing.

She noted resolving these issues were not rocket science and in several instances, it was because those who were elected and trusted are cashing checks from big insurance and big pharma companies, lobbyists and big corporations.

She said those areas would be her whole spiel in normal times. But “these are not normal times. WTF comes in to play,” she said. She said there is an unchecked executive branch, an administration that can do what it wants, elected officials doing whatever they are being told to do, to make their master happy.

Jennifer Bennett, 3rd District party chairwoman, left, and Brian Smith, 2nd District party chairman, share information with guests.

She stressed the need to flip the House and flip the Senate. “That’s the only way we can put control on him (President Trump) and we have to do this. … the reason I’m talking 2026, it’s the first chance we have as a people to come together and say I feel less safe, less free, have less opportunity than I ever have in my life before. … first chance to say no more. It stops now. They are so afraid that we, the people, are fed up with their policies and their budget that they are asking for states to redistrict … admission of guilt …”

She noted her family is black, brown, white, gay, straight, trans, union worker, single mom. “When I fight for my family, I’m fighting for your family and I’m fighting for this country because I don’t want my grandchildren, especially my black granddaughters, to have to live in a country where they feel like they don’t belong, they are not wanted and they are not paid. Not on my watch. It’s not going to happen … we simply have to win. We have to do this …”

Asked why she is running, she stated she is “running for my grand babies and there is no amount of money that anybody can give me that will make me vote against their best interest. It doesn’t exist.” She also noted her slogan is “run like a mother.” As a mother, “we know what we do for our families. We know how we dig down and find (things) when we have to. Every woman understands what I mean when I say I’m running like a mother.”