MORGAN COUNTY — Election Day is near, and some local Morgan County candidates are feeling the pressure.
While much of the country will be focusing on contests between Republican and Democratic Party candidates, here in Morgan County, the Libertarian Party has mounted a challenge to the reigning Republicans.
The Libertarians are hanging their hats on two local candidates, one running to be judge in Superior Court 1, and the other looking to hold onto his township advisory board seat.
Libertarians and Democrats both are looking to ride a wave of discontent with Republican governance, starting with the White House. An Oct. 15 Free Press Indiana poll conducted by Bellwether Research found 54 percent of likely voters surveyed disapprove of President Donald Trump’s job performance, while only 44 percent approved.
Meanwhile, residents have grumbled for months about political decisions made at the local level, particularly surrounding Google’s data center.
“I think there’s definitely some concern that people will vote for other parties (in the midterms),” said Morgan County Republican Party chair Carole Snyder on Monday.
Regardless of next week’s election results, the Morgan County Republicans will retain their grip on local politics, even if the handful of Libertarians, Independents and Democrats all won their elections. Nevertheless, the GOP does not want to concede an inch.
In a leaked email sent out from the local Republicans to members of the party, recipients were encouraged to attend an Oct. 23 event to support Jerry Smith, the Republican nominee for Superior Court 1 judge.
“Many of us know Jerry,” the email reads. “He has been a long time active and supportive Morgan County Republican. The Libertarians are determined to use this judge seat to break the Republican monopoly in our county. Let’s make sure this does not happen.”
The email refers to Smith’s opponent, Libertarian candidate Jarrett Ksenak. Ksenak joined the race after sitting judge Dakota VanLeeuwen lost her primary election to Smith. Ksenak decided to run on the Libertarian ticket in order to protect the privacy of those who had signed his petition for an Independent bid, as he feared some supporters might face reprisal from the local GOP.
Snyder said she did not write the leaked email and was unaware it was sent out, but nevertheless disagreed with the sentiment that the Republicans hold a “monopoly” in Morgan County.
“I take issue with the word ‘monopoly,’” Snyder said. “‘Majority’ is a better word. ‘Monopoly’ makes me feel we don’t let anyone else in, and I don’t feel that way.”
Eric Allen, chair of the local Libertarian Party, obviously had a different take, saying that in his view, the email showed voters the GOP’s true colors.
“They gave us a freebie there,” Allen said. “Monopoly doesn’t have a good connotation. But that tells Morgan County voters everything they need to know about (the GOP).”
Signs of tension
Though the Libertarians are only fielding two candidates at the local level, some Morgan County Republicans are raising alarm bells about their potential election, and heated disputes have arisen — particularly in the judicial race.
Near the end of September, a dispute arose after the two parties each held respective events at the Martinsville Youth Development Center. The Republicans were holding an organizing event inside the building proper, while Ksenak was hosting a Libertarian event at the gym next door, where he is a tenant operating a business.
Controversy arose when Washington Township trustee Kathy Taylor, a Republican, removed campaign signs Ksenak had placed against the windowsill of the youth center.
Taylor told The Correspondent that she removed the signs because the youth center is a nonprofit, and it was her understanding that as such the youth center legally could not be associated with political parties or candidates.
“It was nothing directed at him, personally,” Taylor said. “(Ksenak) just went a little too far.”
“That’s just more intellectual dishonesty from (the Republicans),” Ksenak told The Correspondent. “They can’t have their cake and eat it, too.”
When asked why it was wrong for Ksenak to put his signs on the youth center but not wrong for the Republicans to host a meeting at the nonprofit — something they have done multiple times — Taylor acknowledged the contradiction. She said that at the board’s next meeting following the September incident, the board voted to no longer hold political events of any kind at the youth center.
Ksenak was very unhappy that his signs were removed, and said that Taylor had “no legal authority, whatsoever” to remove the signs.
Political signs are typically only removed by candidates or by the owners of property where the sign is located. Taylor said the youth center was owned by the nonprofit’s board, and as a board member, she believed that gave her authority to move the sign.
“Any board member could have done it,” Taylor said.
Smith also weighed in on the sign incident, both on Facebook and in a conversation with The Correspondent on Tuesday.
He said Ksenak was wrong to place his signs where he did, as their placement potentially threatened the youth center’s nonprofit status. Moreover, Smith said Ksenak made it seem like Taylor and the Republicans had stolen his signs, when in reality, they simply gave the signs back to Ksenak.
Smith was also critical of Ksenak’s supporters, whom he said harassed Republicans online as a result of this incident.
“They’re getting nasty messages from his followers,” Smith said. “He has hurt their reputations by not giving the full picture of what happened, and that’s not fair.”
Hearts and minds
Meanwhile, in Madison Township, some Republicans are hoping to sink Libertarian candidate and incumbent advisory board member Matt Pranger by painting Libertarians as extremists.
Earlier this month, outgoing township trustee Larry Ellis and his wife, Trudy, were seen dropping off fliers at various houses in Madison Township promoting supposed Republican policies and beliefs and criticizing supposed Libertarian beliefs.
The fliers encouraged people to vote for Republicans because Republican candidates “believe in secure boarders (sic),” “believe in protecting American citizens,” “believe in protecting life-not killing life,” “believe God created two sexes male and female,” “believe in President Trump’s policies,” and others.
Libertarians, on the other hand, “are for open boarders (sic),” “are not for protecting United States citizens,” “believe abortion is ok,” “support LGBTG” (sic), “are for open prostitution,” “are not Trump lovers,” and more, according to the Ellises’ fliers.
Snyder said she did not tell the Ellis’ to put out these fliers and only found out after the fact. She was critical of the couple for passing them out, and said she would have never done it.
The Correspondent attempted to reach Trudy Ellis multiple times to ask about this incident, but was unsuccessful.
Larry Ellis, however, briefly spoke to The Correspondent over the phone, saying that he had “no comment” other than to clarify that the couple stuck the fliers inside newspaper boxes, and not mailboxes, which would have been a crime. Ellis then hung up.
Allen defended Pranger and Ksenak from Republican attacks in his interview with The Correspondent, calling the candidates’ records “impeccable.”
“They can’t attack our candidates, so they’re attacking our platform,” Allen said. “Obviously, I don’t like it. But we have two excellent candidates, three if you include Secretary of State (candidate Lauri Shillings).”
The Libertarian Party’s national platform largely corroborates — though not completely — the accusations on the fliers, though they use more positive language than the Ellises’ used.
The party supports allowing members of the LGBTQ community to get married, for example, and wants to decriminalize sex work and most currently-illegal drugs. Additionally, the party supports “unrestricted movement of human as well as financial capital across national borders.”
Until 2022, the party supported a woman’s right to have an abortion, but in recent years, the party has acknowledged disagreements among its members on the issue, and has therefore initiated a policy of neutrality.
As for whether Pranger endorses all of these views is a separate question. He spoke with The Correspondent last week about the fliers, which he said “don’t accurately represent our views.”
While he declined to go point by point, he did say he does not support open borders, doesn’t “even know what open prostitution means,” and scoffed at the idea that he doesn’t believe in protecting American citizens, highlighting that part of his job as a township board member was to keep the fire department funded.
“They haven’t been challenged like this in the past,” Pranger said of the local Republicans. “They’re starting to make desperate choices.”
“If you’re a Republican, (the fliers) should offend you,” Pranger added. “I don’t think this will hurt me.”
Civil war?
If Pranger or Ksenak win their races, the Libertarians will have their first elected candidate in Morgan County’s history.
Previously, back in 2022, the party declared their first victory when Martinsville school board member Luke Jackson won his election, but he was running as a non-partisan candidate. This time, if their candidates win, it will mean voters were consciously choosing a Libertarian to be their representative.
Snyder’s problem with this is slightly different than what might be expected.
“The problem is — they’re Republicans,” she said of the candidates running on the Libertarian ticket.
Snyder said Pranger and Ksenak have frequently voted for Republicans in the past, and she questioned their Libertarian credentials.
Ksenak, for example, previously told The Correspondent he identified as a “conservative,” and only decided to run for judge because VanLeeuwen — whom he believes is more qualified than Smith — lost her election in the Republican primary election.
Pranger, meanwhile, was caucused into his current board position as a Republican, though he has previously said he never identified as one and that the Republican Party should have done their due diligence before caucusing in a Libertarian.
“They have split the party,” Snyder said. “And now they’ve put their friends in the party in awkward positions. They can put the little ‘L’ by their names all they want, but they are Republicans.”
Snyder referenced former precinct committee member Angie Turley, who was recently removed from office as a Republican at Snyder’s request because she supported Ksenak and Pranger’s election campaigns.
Snyder’s comments aside, Ksenak and Pranger both have leaned into the Libertarian moniker, and they were critical of the idea of a Republican “monopoly” in Morgan County.
“I did not run to break up anything,” Pranger posted to Facebook in response to the leaked GOP email. “But if more choices for voters is a side effect, I am glad.”
“I thought it was an alarming statement,” Ksenak said of the “monopoly” comments. “Competition is a good thing. But they don’t believe it is when it comes to political power.”
Smith doubts Ksenak’s conviction, and told The Correspondent that it was difficult to discern Ksenak’s beliefs, accusing his opponent of hiding his real positions.
“He wants to smack around the Republicans to get attention,” Smith said. “He calls himself a conservative Libertarian, but you can’t find out what he believes. He’s said on Facebook that a judge can’t talk about issues, so he can be whatever people want him to be.”
Whether or not the Republicans will maintain their “monopoly” on county politics will be put to the test next week. Allen likes his party’s odds of finally breaking through, but it can be tough to break the voter habit of choosing “straight ticket.”
Republicans will still be king of the county, but outsiders are hoping to claw back a bit of the kingdom — Tuesday will be the test.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 6 p.m.
