Republicans have had clubs for years. The Fishers GOP Club hosted a candidate forum prior to the 2019 municipal elections. Other communities around Hamilton County have had Republican clubs for some time. Democrats are now getting into the picture with their own local clubs.
Stu Clampitt has a story in the Sunday edition of the Hamilton County Reporter about the growth of Democratic clubs in Hamilton County generally, but specifically the recently-formed Fishers Democratic Club. The club president is Hamilton Southeastern School Board member Julie Chambers.
“We started in December,” Chambers said. “We had the first meeting to form the club in November. We got all the paperwork together and officially filed everything in December and had had our first meeting with officers and accepting memberships Monday (Jan. 13).”
In those two months their membership has more than doubled, and they already need to change meeting locations to account for the number of people attending.
“At our first meeting in November we had about 20 people, and at the last one we had just under 40,” Chambers said. “We have also had more people signing up as members online through our website. We have already outgrown the place we met at last week. Now we will be meeting at Aurelio’s, which has a bigger space. We will meet on the second Monday of each month at 7:30 p.m.”
When asked why Fishers needed its own organization, Chambers told The Reporter, “The Democratic Party is just growing. I think you saw that with the election of Samantha DeLong and Jocelyn Vare to the city council.”
In addition to DeLong and Vare in Fishers, Miles Nelson won a council seat in Carmel in November.
“We recognize that the cities within Hamilton County have different issues they are dealing with between Carmel, Westfield, Noblesville and Fishers,” Chambers said. “We are a one-county party but each city and part of the county have different things they are looking at. Having those city clubs helps bring people together in each city.”
Chambers stressed that the Fishers Democratic Club is a social club and thus is not trying to replace the county party. The organization does fall under the state Democratic Party guidelines.
Chambers said that while they will work to help candidates who are running for office, most of the club’s focus will be directed at helping the community. As a member of the Hamilton Southeastern Schools Board of Trustees, she is focusing their first outreach project toward local children in need.
“I am going to put out a call to people who come to our next meeting to bring food donations for the youth assistance programs that provide snacks and lunches for kids in HSE schools to take home on weekends,” Chambers said. “They pack snacks and lunches over breaks and weekends for kids who are food insecure. A lot of people don’t realize that need is here. Working with organizations like that really helps the community. It’s not just a political organization. We really are trying to help.”
The Fishers Democratic Club’s next meeting will be 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 10 at Aurelio’s Pizzeria, 13147 Parkside Drive, Fishers (near 131st Street and State Road 37).