INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett and Republican nominee Jefferson Shreve faced off in their first televised debate on Monday evening.
But over the last several weeks and months, Jefferson’s record has made it clear that there’s no doubt he’s too conservative for Indianapolis.
“From his support for Trump at the start in 2016 to his inability to build a diverse company, Jefferson’s conservative record is too extreme for Indianapolis,” said Indiana Democratic Party Chair Mike Schmuhl. “He would merely be a puppet for the gun lobby and MAGA Republicans as mayor.”
“Unlike Jefferson, who won’t try to repeal Indiana’s near-total abortion ban, Mayor Joe knows how dangerous the near-total abortion ban is to Indianapolis’ future. He led the fight against the women’s healthcare ban and will continue doing everything in his power to fight bad laws, and protect Indianapolis.”
Reporting this spring from IMPORTANTVILLE revealed that Jefferson never once promoted an African-American person to the executive board of Storage Express in his 30 years of ownership.
Jefferson has also admitted to being a proud member of the NRA —- and bragged about his top “A” rating from the NRA during his 2016 State Senate campaign.
On the City-County Council, Jefferson voted with all Republicans against a commonsense ordinance to report missing or stolen firearms to police.
On abortion, Jefferson’s history shows a long record opposing women’s healthcare. He ran an explicitly anti-choice campaign for State Senate in 2016, saying he was running to “protect the unborn”.
This year, he’s tried to downplay the ban’s economic effects on Indianapolis, and told voters he would not fight the law as mayor.
On Trump, Jefferson served as a surrogate for his campaign during the 2016 election, even going to the Republican National Convention to cast his vote for Trump to be the party’s nominee.
It’s clear from his record that Jefferson would be a MAGA puppet as mayor — he’s too extreme and simply wrong for Indianapolis.
###