8th DISTRICT RACE: Four Democrats vie to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Messmer

Cheryl Shultz, vice chair of Indiana’s Democratic 8th Congressional District and chair of the Vanderburgh County Democratic Party, has thrown her support behind one Democratic candidate whom she predicts will succeed. “We feel like Mary Allen may have the best chance of winning the primary. She started last year and has been knocking on quite a few doors, raising money, engaging with all 21 counties,” said Shultz. Allen can often be found meeting people at the library or going to county party events to talk one on one with voters. “Mary is a unique person with a lot of gifts. I’ve never heard anyone say a negative thing about her. She serves on our city council,” said Shultz. “Mary is known for her kindness, compassion and empathy.” Shultz said that if Allen were to win the 8th District, there would be a huge change in Congress. “We can see a lot of things change. We can bring health-care changes. People who have lost the ability to have Medicaid, and their medical bills are going up, and the cost of their insurance is going up,” said Shultz. Allen told TheStatehouseFile.com there’s a lot at stake this year. “There’s a lot of people struggling with the general landscape,” she said. “The national narrative, the economy, the war, immigration.” Allen said people are frustrated with their current representation. “The war in Iran has increased our fuel prices, which then increases diesel prices,” said Allen. “Our farmers are really struggling. All farm equipment runs on diesel, so those prices are higher.” Allen said that in special elections around the country, red seats have flipped blue in areas where it was never expected. She said people are looking for something different. “I’ve had folks reach out to me and say, ‘I’ve voted a straight-ticket Republican since ‘84, and I’m not doing it this year,’” said Allen. The Statehouse File emailed Rector and Foradori with no response. Burke was contacted via X, his only form of contact information listed, also without a response. Zeigler’s website contact form had an error that made filling it out impossible. Messmer also could not be reached by press time. “I do think there’s a path to victory,” said Allen. “I’m not naive to the chances and what statistically the data shows. I want to come around shared common values. I want our farmers to keep their generational family farms. I bet we all want our kids to have a really great education. We all want to be able to work one full-time job and pay the bills.”