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Every time I’ve left a position in politics, my goal has been to leave a team stronger than when I started. That’s the job, after all — to build, to mentor, to prepare the next generation to lead. And yet, in too many corners of our political infrastructure, people hoard power, cling to positions long past their prime, and fail to do the fundamental work of succession planning. And then we wonder why our party struggles.
When I left my role at the Indiana Senate, I left behind a team I had helped shape. Not one, but two former interns I had the privilege to work with went on to take my role as Communications Director. That’s how it should be. When we do this work right, when we invest in people, when we recognize that institutional knowledge should be passed down rather than held hostage, we get stronger. We grow.
We fail — tragically and repeatedly — when we do not provide the protections necessary to retain the talent we develop. One of those brilliant young women who stepped into my former role ultimately had to leave. Not because she wasn’t capable, not because she wasn’t committed, but because the system would not keep her safe. Leaders on both ends of Market Street in Indianapolis lack the appetite to shield staff, especially women, from harassment and abuse. Until we face this head-on, we will continue hemorrhaging talent—not because people don’t believe in the work, but because our systems don’t protect them.
This isn’t just an issue of workplace safety; it’s a workers’ rights and retention crisis. And it’s directly tied to the larger sickness afflicting our political party structure. If you are a leader in this work — whether an elected official, a party figure, or a high-level staffer — who has been in this game for decades without producing and elevating a pipeline of new leadership, you have failed. If you cannot look at the next generation and identify people you have mentored, empowered, and helped place into meaningful positions after intentionally stepping aside from those positions, early and often, you are not a leader, you are an obstacle.
Donors who continue to invest in the same candidates over and over, prioritizing a scarcity mindset and access to government contracts over real abundance and accountability, are keeping our party small and ineffective. When money flows only to those already entrenched in power, those who have proven to be a threat to the people working with them or who have chosen to protect abusers instead of survivors, we reinforce the very problems that make us weak. Funding should hold electeds accountable, empower fresh leadership, and grow the party — not sustain mediocrity and misconduct.
We must listen, without defensiveness and ego, to the voices of the real leaders of the party in our state — the people working outside of the chattering class’ echo chamber, organizing in rural areas, in constituency caucuses, and on the ground daily. They are doing the hard, long-haul work, and we need to listen to and respond to the data they share with us from those we haven’t been able to engage with in the past.
As we fold these emergent and energetic folks into our operations, we must protect them. If you enact a code of conduct, make sure everyone knows what it is and hold people accountable when they violate it. If you value new leadership, put your money, time, and effort into cultivating and elevating it. Anything less is empty rhetoric.
The Indiana Democratic Party is unwell because we do not prioritize sustainable leadership. We cling to the past, forcing the next crop of doers to fight their way in rather than be welcomed. And as long as we operate this way, we will continue to stagnate. Leadership is not about tenure. It is about legacy. And if your legacy is only your own career, you have left nothing behind worth keeping.
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