On February 17, Indianapolis city councilmember Edward Coleman publicly announced that he had left the Republican Party and joined the Libertarian Party. Indianapolis, which has a city-county merged government (Marion County-Indianapolis), has partisan elections. Coleman is one of the 4 at-large members and was last elected in November 2007. He must run for re-election in November 2011.
Indiana does not have registration by party. Therefore, there is no piece of paper that makes Coleman’s switch “official” other than his becoming a dues-paying member of the Libertarian Party, and of course his declaration of candidacy if he runs for re-election in 2011. See this Chicago Tribune story about Coleman’s party switch.
HOORAY!
The state and county LP organizations in Indy just keep getting stronger by the minute. This should add some momentum and credibility as we look toward the 2010, 2011, and 2012 elections. What I am most excited about though are the increased turnout for local LP meetups and other related events and the precinct leader program that the Indy LP is putting together. The LPIN will have more feet on the ground promoting its candidates in the next few elections, and the quality of those candidates will be stronger than ever before.