“Mel Hall won this primary by telling his story – from Hoosier farm boy, to minister, to business leader – and talking about issues that matter to working families like making health care more affordable,” said DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Luján. “Mel’s record of serving his community and creating jobs has already resonated with voters in Northern Indiana, and he is in a strong position to compete in this district in November.”
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To: Interested Parties
From: Jacob Peters, DCCC Regional Press Secretary
Date: May 8, 2018
RE: The Case Against Rep. Jackie Walorski
Rep. Jackie Walorski is an absentee Congresswoman who has failed Hoosier families with her repeated attempts to rip health care away from her constituents and reward corporate special interests with huge tax handouts. Business leader and former minister Mel Hall has the experience, independent profile, and resources to hold her accountable in November.
Walorski failed her constituents by refusing to show up and hold a town hall in the last five years. Walorski failed workers when she helped write the GOP Tax Scam that gives a huge handout to corporations and rewards them for shipping even more good-paying jobs overseas, all while raising taxes on many Hoosier families. And Walorski failed working families time and time again with her votes to rip away health care coverage and raise costs. As long as Walorski is in Washington and voting the party line, she will keep failing Hoosier families.
As a CEO and minister, Mel has dedicated his life to helping others – creating good-paying jobs in Northern Indiana with equal benefits for everyone, improving hospital care for patients, and lifting up low-income communities that need help most. From Hoosier farm boy to minister to business leader, Mel Hall will take that same accountability and common sense thinking to Congress and fight for Northern Indiana.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
“Walorski sits in a district that voted for President Trump 59 to 36 percent and has won plaudits for her focus on combating the opioid crisis. But the last time hometown favorite Sen. Joe Donnelly was on the ballot in 2012, his coattails nearly cost her this seat. This time, Democratic healthcare businessman and minister Mel Hall is running and already has $432,000 in the bank. It’s worth watching.” [Cook Political Report 2/8/18]
Washington Post: Will Democrats’ Pennsylvania playbook work elsewhere? This Indiana primary could tell the tale.
“Perhaps no race has been more clearly transformed by the implications of Lamb’s win than the one in Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District, whose demographics and political sensibility closely mirror Pennsylvania’s 18th District but whose recent GOP-friendly history has kept it on the margins of the House battlefield. […] In Indiana, the candidate openly claiming Lamb’s centrist mantle is Mel Hall, a 64-year-old health-care executive who has played up his farm-boy roots and his time as a Methodist minister in impoverished 1980s Detroit. As of Jan. 1, he had loaned or contributed $232,000 to his campaign and raised $260,000 more — giving him a financial leg up in the race to unseat Walorski, who has $830,000 on hand. […] With his compelling biography and strong fundraising, Hall has gotten on the radar of national party officials and Washington political handicappers — especially after Lamb’s win.” [4/2/18]
“Three Indiana members of Congress gave and received money from Ohio Rep. Jim Renacci in what experts said may have been an improper straw donor scheme — including two Indiana congressmen running for the U.S. Senate. The Senate candidates, Reps. Todd Rokita and Luke Messer, denied any wrongdoing. Rep. Jackie Walorski’s campaign did not respond to multiple phone calls and emails seeking comment. […] While Rokita and Messer have supported Renacci’s congressional campaigns in the past, their decision to support his gubernatorial primary bid was an unusual one. Neither they nor Walorski, for example, have donated to the state campaigns of several other Republican members of Congress who, like Renacci, were competing in primary contests for governor.” [Indianapolis Star 4/27/18]
Rep. Jackie Walorski: Partisan Politician Failing Hoosier Families
Party Line in D.C., Absent in Indiana
When Rep. Walorski is in D.C., she is a reliable vote for Republican Party leadership. Walorski votes with her party 99% of the time. When Walorski is in Northern Indiana, she restricts her presence to carefully scripted events with little access for constituents. The last time she held a public town hall was 2013, and that’s the only time she has ever held one. This despite repeated attempts by her constituents to get her to speak with them. The grassroots pressure swelled around Walorski’s vote in favor of health care repeal, when 500 constituents attended a town hall with health care experts and Walorski was a no show.
Constantly Attacking Affordable Health Care
Rep. Walorski is deeply out of step with the district’s desire for affordable and accessible health care. She has voted 11 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement. Then she voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a law that would leave 36,600 Hoosiers in her district without health coverage, gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions, reduce access to addiction treatment, and impose an age tax on older Americans. Undeterred by failures and grassroots pressure, Walorski was an architect of the GOP Tax Scam that gutted a core provision of the ACA that will increase premiums in Indiana by nearly 20 percent.
Helped Write Tax Giveaway to Corporations
Rep. Jackie Walorski was an architect of the GOP Tax Scam that gives more than 80% of its benefits to the wealthiest 1% of Americans and a huge handout to large corporations. The bill Walorski helped write even incentivizes corporations to ship jobs overseas, all while making millions of middle class families pay more over time. And because of how the tax scam blew up the deficit, it has given Republicans an opening to revisit their favorite topic: cutting Social Security and Medicare.
THE PATH TO VICTORY
Indiana’s Second Congressional District has been tough for Democrats, but Mel Hall clearly represents the largest threat Walorski will have faced since narrowly winning the seat in 2012. Walorski has doubled down on a deeply unpopular Washington Republican agenda, consistently voting the party line despite the changing environment and Hall’s strong candidacy.
Hall has combined his rural upbringing and time as a minister with his proven track record as a job creator to forge a strong profile that can appeal to the working class voters needed to carry this district. Furthermore, Hall’s rejection of corporate PAC money produces a strong contrast to Walorski – who has a record of supporting corporate interests in Congress and then funding her re-election campaigns with corporate PAC donations. And at a time when voters are frustrated with dysfunction in Washington, Hall’s “relentless pragmatist” message has the potential to break through the noise and appeal to voters across the spectrum.
The district is just over half-rural and more than 40% suburban. Nearly 30% of the district is on Social Security, making Republican suggestions of cutting the program and Walorski’s previous support for privatization particularly damaging. Democrats have had success in this district in the past – President Obama won with just over 50% in 2008. Senator Donnelly, who previously represented the district, carried his old seat with 52% of the 2-way vote in 2012. Donnelly has a unique appeal in his home district, particularly with the same type of working class voters that Hall will be working to persuade, and will be at the top of the ticket again this November.