Democrats have not been much of a factor in Hamilton County elections as far back as I can remember.  Hamilton County Reporter columnist Fred Swift recently pointed out that, with only a very few exceptions, Republicans have governed Hamilton County for the past 150 years.

But local Democrats are saying they have a chance to grow and make a difference now.  Sam Quinn of the Indianapolis Business Journal wrote a story recently about local Democrats and their efforts to become competitive.

County Democratic Chairman Joe Weingarten sent me the picture shown above to send a message that there are Democrats in Hamilton County and they are organizing for the November election.

Weingarten says he will be appointing candidates to several local offices that have no Democrat on the ballot as of now.  That announcement will be coming in late June.

I am often asked when we will know whether Democrats will ever become a factor in Hamilton County elections.  I have a simple answer.  We will know when a Democrat is elected to office, or at the very least, is competitive in a general election.  Then we will know true progress has been made.

Until then, the key elections in our county will be in the Republican primary.