Democrats face a pivotal opportunity to influence direction of their own party

Democrats in Indiana’s 5th Congressional District must participate in the 2026 primary to strengthen the party and choose their nominee to unseat Representative Victoria Spartz.

Voting Democrat in the primary is essential for building party momentum, energizing supporters, and proving the candidate’s viability to donors. Pulling a Republican ballot does not benefit Democrats and instead weakens the party’s efforts in a self-defeating strategy. Primaries serve as a crucial method for parties to identify voters and mobilize supporters because general election voting information is private.

By voting for the most palatable candidate in the opposing parties’ primary, Democrats risk becoming invisible to their own party and inadvertently positively impact the other parties’ funding ability.

It is also essential to vote for your party in the primary to ever run for office or hold a party position without special approval from the County Chair of the party.

The primary elections typically have lower turnout than the general election, which means that the primary votes carry a greater weight in shaping the Democratic Party’s direction.

All of the Democratic candidates running for Congressional District 5 are exceptional candidates running to unseat Rep. Spartz. Democrats need to educate themselves on the platforms to determine the best candidate from the party to represent Hoosiers.

Representative Spartz’s recent Trump endorsement clearly defines her loyalty expectations, so Democrats must show up to shape the party in the 2026 primaries to flip the District 5 seat blue in November.

Learn more about all of the great candidates in this race and find ways to get involved in this election, at hamcodemsin.org/vote.