Democrats to make 'historic announcement'

To name 3rd District candidate July 6

BRIAN FRANCISCO | The Journal Gazette

A “historic congressional announcement” will be made July 6 at Fort Wayne's Foster Park, according to a Facebook post promoting the event.

The announcement will be for an “exceptional candidate … whose platform reflects our values and our optimism,” organizers Sarah Hyndman and Stephen Bailey wrote in the post.

Hyndman declined to identify the candidate to The Journal Gazette other than to say she is not the person who will be seeking the Democratic congressional nomination in northeast Indiana's 3rd District.

Hyndman, an organizer of a Jan. 21 rally in downtown Fort Wayne conducted in conjunction with the Women's March on Washington, said she will share more information about the candidate announcement in coming weeks.

Madalyn Sade-Bartl, chairwoman of the 3rd District Democratic Party, said in an email that she “worked very, very hard” on recruiting the candidate, whom she declined to identify.

Two Democrats already have stated their intentions to run for the 3rd District House seat next year: perennial candidates Tommy Schrader and David Roach, both of Fort Wayne.

Schrader was the 2016 Democratic nominee for a three-candidate general-election race in which Republican Jim Banks, then a state senator from Columbia City, attracted 70 percent of the vote.

Banks is the only person to date to file a 3rd District candidacy statement with the Federal Election Commission for the 2017-18 election cycle. He raised more than $196,000 in campaign contributions through March and had more than $138,000 in cash on hand, according to his most recent campaign finance report.

The heavily Republican district includes 10 counties in northeast Indiana and parts of two others. Republicans have held the House seat since 1995.

Hyndman and Bailey wrote on Facebook that the candidate announcement will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. July 6 at Foster Park's Pavilion 1. Food and music will be provided.

The two said the event will be for people “frustrated” with the federal government and “concerned about” job prospects, health care, public education and the environment.

Their post was shared by Progressive Social Hour, which calls itself a nonpartisan social networking group that supports equal rights for the LGBT community and reproductive rights and equal pay for women.

bfrancisco@jg.net

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Wednesday, June 14, 2017