Progressive Democrats challenge local party’s priorities in rare precinct committee races

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A series of We Make Indiana rallies recruited and encouraged Democrats to file for precinct committee positions on the May 3 primary ballot to get more progressive voices in Tippecanoe County politics. (Photo provided)

Democratic ballots in Tippecanoe County’s May primary will take another layer of research, with a surge last week in contested races for roughly one-third of the precinct committee positions, grass roots-level slots typically filled, uncontested, by party loyalists.

Calling the seats “the lungs of democracy,” progressive groups in Tippecanoe County have fielded 32 candidates ahead of Monday’s noon filing deadline to get on the ballot in precincts in Lafayette, West Lafayette and other parts of the county.

The effort to recruit and encourage candidates is part of a movement coordinated by Act Indiana, a political arm of Faith in Indiana focused on racial and economic justice, in Marion, Hamilton, St. Joseph and Tippecanoe counties.

“This isn’t a hostile takeover as much as it is that we want to see the people who have the best solutions prepared to be taking leadership on those issues,” Vanessa Pacheco, a local organizer of the “We Make Indiana” initiative and policy director of the Younger Women’s Task Force, said.