GREENFIELD — The Republican Party has remained strong in Indiana, and Hancock County is definitely no exception.
Nearly 200 local GOP supporters gathered for the party’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner on Friday night at Addagios Banquet Hall. It was a night of celebrating the party’s accomplishments and "winning streaks" over the past several years and an occasion to decry their Democratic foes in Congress.
Also attending the dinner were U.S. Rep. Greg Pence, Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill, state Sen. Mike Crider, state Rep. Bob Cherry and Speaker of the House Brian Bosma. Dozens of city, county, town and township officials attended, attesting to party’s grip on power in the county.
Pence, who represents Indiana’s 6th District, which includes Hancock County, said he’s hoping to open an office here. The congressman, who took pride in his votes on anti-abortion measures and bills to support veterans since taking office, derided the new group of "socialists" in the U.S. House of Representatives, adding his office is across the hall from another freshman lawmaker: Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York.
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Kyle Hupfer, chairman of the Indiana Republican Party, was the keynote speaker. He reflected on the 2016 general election, in which Hoosiers overwhelmingly voted to elect President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence as well as Republican candidates to fill statewide offices. In 2018, Mike Braun was elected to the U.S. Senate, and the party now holds 80 percent of the state’s county offices, he pointed out.
Hancock County has a "powerhouse team" at the Statehouse, Hupfer said, with Reps. Bosma and Cherry representing the House and Sen. Crider in the Senate.
The GOP party delivers on promises, Hupfer said, adding voters need to ensure the party’s majority stands. The state, he said, has had back-to-back years of record job growth under the leadership of Gov. Eric Holcomb, who has an approval rating of about 65 percent.
Hupfer said Indiana Republicans have the upper had heading into the 2020 election cycle.
“I’ve seen nothing to see it’s diminished," he said of GOP support. "If anything, it’s gotten stronger.”
But how do they keep those winning streaks alive? Focusing on people, Hupfer said.
"We need to talk to people where they are; we need to listen to them," Hupfer said. "We need to go and be part of the communities they live in, whether that’s online, on-air or in their local communities."
Hupfer said many young people need to know the history and the values of the "real" Republican Party, adding some of them aren’t receiving "basic civics lessons" in school.
"And I believe that it’s that lack of education that allows them to be swayed by some empty promises of socialism that they read on Facebook or Twitter," Hupfer said, perhaps foreshadowing a key Republican talking point about the Democratic field heading into 2020. "We have to combat the message of AOC (Ocasio-Cortez), Bernie (Sanders), Pocahontas (U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren) and the like that are out there going further and further and further to the left every time they get a microphone put in front of their mouth."
Hupfer encouraged local Republicans to get out of their comfort zones and help grow the party.
"I don’t know about you," he said, "but I’m not tired of winning yet."
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Ray Richardson, former Hancock County attorney and state representative, was awarded a Distinguished Hoosier Award at the end of the Lincoln Day Dinner. Richardson served 24 years in the Indiana House of Representatives and 50 years as Hancock County attorney. The county commissioners replaced Richardson as attorney in January.
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