Thinking back to my days playing college basketball, I always wanted to defy expectations. Even when facing our toughest competition, with our only hope being to keep the score close enough to win on a buzzer-beating shot, I wanted to win and to win big. The success of Indiana’s Republican Party is built on a similar approach.
We don’t want to win; we want to run up the score and continually defy expectations.
And through the tireless efforts of our volunteers, the constant generosity of our donors and the relentless pursuit of governing excellence by our elected officials, we’ve put in place a model of success that can – and should — be replicated by Republicans nationwide.
We invest in the fundamentals of grassroots politics, we draw up policy game plans that notch wins for Hoosiers, and we always have an eye on making our team bigger, stronger, and better in the long run.
From the time I became chairman, we immediately put an emphasis on data, including hiring two full-time staffers to procure and analyze data that could be utilized to connect with voters. Over the past two election cycles, that investment has yielded over 8.5 million voter contacts, 1.5 million at doors, 4.5 million over the phone and 2.5 million by text message.
To fuel Republican efforts up and down the ticket, State Party and Governor Holcomb’s campaign combined forces on fundraising. With the added strength of this first-of-its-kind joint-fundraising effort, over $25 million was raised over the four-year cycle breaking records for both entities. The real-world impact is seen when the two entities were able to invest $400,000 in the Attorney General and Statehouse races over the last three weeks of the campaign.
After a strong showing for Indiana Republicans in 2016, many thought the party had reached its apex. But we doubled down and targeted more wins. And they came. Knocking off an incumbent in the top targeted U.S. Senate race in 2018. Setting a new all-time high for mayors by winning 71 in 2019. And in 2020 we set a new high mark for votes for Governor Holcomb and we won the second most competitive U.S. House race in 2020.
And we are not done. On November 4th, we started planning for more wins in 2022.
There is still room to grow. We have long been a leader in promoting women and have four female statewide elected officials and two members of Congress – but we need more. And our party has initiated a first of its kind diversity program to help establish better trust and connection between Black and Latino Hoosiers and Indiana’s Republican Party.
I’ve told my team on more than one occasion that winning the first championship is easy. But winning year after year requires four or five times the effort than the first. It means staying true to core beliefs and values. It means fighting for economic opportunity for every American. It means showing compassion to all and including everyone in the conversation. It means going to places where we haven’t been welcomed before. It means thinking big and offering bold solutions to our nation’s challenges.
That’s the Indiana model of politics and policy and why our campaign theme this year was One Indiana — For All. It’s a model that continues to defy expectations. I wish you all a happy New Year, with an even brighter 2021 to come.
