Greg Ballard, who had previously announced his independent candidacy for Indiana Secretary of State, will use the partisan label “Lincoln Party”. That way, assuming he gets on the ballot and polls at least 2%, a party with that name will automatically become ballot-qualified. See this story.
Ballard is a former Mayor of Indianapolis. When he was Mayor, he was elected as a Republican.
ANY 1860 ABE LINCOLN RELATIVES IN OFFICE / RUNNING FOR 2026/2028 OFFICES ???
Ballard’s run when he was an Independent affected the Secretary of State race only. Now that it’s for a party, it’s pretty much a political earthquake for the state’s political system. To explain why, as far as ballot access and the makeup of the state and county election boards, the Secretary of State election controls that for the entire state for the next 4 years. If Ballard gets on the ballot (I think he will, although he will get fought the whole way) and then gets 2% (he definitely would), the Lincoln Party is ballot qualified for the next 4 years. If Ballard gets 10% (I think he would as long as he stays campaigning until November), they become a major political party and would have state-funded primaries.
At an election board level, the county election boards consist of the elected Clerk of Court and the top 2 finishing political parties in the county in the Secretary of State. There’s a very real possibility the Republicans can under current state law lose representation on the Marion County (Indianapolis) Election Board. For Democrats, any strong Ballard run would remove them from a ton of rural counties in the state. The State Election Commission where the Democrats and Republicans each have two people giving both an effective veto, I don’t know if it’s top 2 parties in Secretary of State election or all parties that receive 10% (probably the former).
State law cannot be changed in 2026 because the legislature has gone sine die and I doubt they can justify special session for this to change the rules after the debacle that was Redistricting 2025. And the reason this is that much a threat is Diego Morales is beyond incompetent and corrupt as Indiana Republican Secretary of State aided and abetted by people in the party that pretty nakedly don’t care about corruption or competence and only value loyalty, and the Democrats don’t know their identity, running a 3rd generation Bayh that is transparently running and getting support because he’s a nepotism baby, and the more progressive activists see through that charade.
Ballard sounds like a communist.
Maybe he could revive The Whig Party. Lincoln was first elected to Congress as a Whig.
The Modern Whig Party was a pretty big disappointment. I don’t know if they ever had an Indiana chapter, but they never really caught on.
I’d likely never vote for Ballard, but given the Indiana Greens don’t seem to be running anyone (after running Wolfe in 2018 and David Wetterer in 2022), it’s still interesting from the perspective of a Hoosier.
I agree with Steve. Dishonest She was a war criminal and tyrant. Not someone to emulate at all.
* dishonest Abe
If the South would have won, we’d have had it made. They still owe us restitution for taking our property. If at first you don’t secede try and try again !