For the first time in over a decade, two Republicans are challenging Democrats for statehouse seats in a city that has long rejected their party. Their campaigns highlight the challenge of reshaping political narratives in one of Indiana’s bluest cities.
While history shows a win for either candidate is unlikely, their campaigns themselves are noteworthy.
Will Miller and Ivan Ursery II are running for state Senate and House seats that have gone unchallenged by Republicans in the past five election cycles. Both candidates are making their respective cases in hopes that their personal connections to the community and shared experiences will increase receptiveness.
Miller, who sits on the Gary NAACP chapter’s executive board, is vying for the 3rd District Senate seat against first-year Gary Common Councilman Mark Spencer. The councilman is endorsed by Mayor Eddie Melton, who held the seat prior to coming into office this year.
Ursery is challenging Democratic veteran Vernon G. Smith for the 14th District House seat. First elected in 1990, Smith hasn’t faced a general election opponent since 2010, when Republican Carrie Campbell received just 13% of the vote against him. A fixture in Gary politics, Smith served on the Gary Common Council from 1972 before moving to the state legislature.
Ursery says his conservative values were shaped growing up in a Christian household with a Republican father and a mother who leaned conservative, though she voted for both parties at various times.
“I let voters know that the values they were raised on like hard work, a man and a woman in a household, and all the things our grandparents taught us — those are conservative values. We as a Black community have a foundation in the church, and a lot of those things are Biblical principles.”
Ursery ran for the Gary Common Council in 2023 as an at-large candidate, a rare move for a Republican, and secured just 6% of the vote. Now, he hopes voters will look beyond party lines at the polls.
“One of my slogans is, just because you Black, you don’t have to vote Democrat,” Ursery said. “On paper, there’s not a lot of Black Republicans in Gary. There are Black conservatives that don’t consider themselves Republicans.”
Research shows more than one-third of Black Americans identify themselves as conservative. But of that group, more than 90% support the Democratic Party.
A recent University of Chicago GenForward poll found that over a quarter of Black men ages 18 to 40 plan to vote for former President Donald Trump. The poll supports data showing younger Black male voters are more aligned with the Republican Party than previous generations. According to Pew Research, 17% of Black voters under 50 lean Republican, compared with just 7% of those over 50.
Leah Wright Rigueur, an associate professor of history at John Hopkins University and author of The Loneliness of the Black Republican, sees the trend as a reflection of missteps by Democrats as opposed to successes by Republicans.
“The moment that we see now is not because there’s any existential thing that the Republican Party or Donald Trump has done to woo over these Black voters, but instead is about the Democratic Party failing at every level to answer the very real concerns and problems and complaints of their most loyal constituency,” she told Capital B Gary.
Though polling does indicate a rising trend, the overwhelming majority of Black people in America continue to support Democrats, which Wright Rigueur attributes in part to Republican antagonism towards African Americans.
“The fact of the matter is that Black voters, even in their dissatisfaction and their frustrations and their tensions with the Democratic Party, continue to make these very weighted decisions where they say which party is best for me on issues of civil rights,” said Wright Rigueur.
Ursery also pointed to the Democratic Party’s visible presence in the community as a key factor influencing voters.
“Democrats have done a good job of being active in our communities and being there where somebody needs something,” he said.
“Republicans may be more like individualism, you can pull yourself up, you can do it yourself and all that stuff. But Democrats have done a good job of actually being there to support the people.”
Back in Gary, Ursery is trying to distinguish himself through his values, starting with the delicate issue of abortion. Ursery aligns with traditional conservative views on the topic but stresses the importance of legislation to ensure proper care for children after birth.
“I’m pro-life, and I’m for saving the baby’s lives, but if we save the baby’s life and these people don’t want these babies, what are you going to do? Ursery said. “So, I want to take away all the cost of adoption and cut the red tape so we can get these kids in homes.”
Ursery recognizes one of his economic ideas may be controversial. “I want to limit welfare to five years, but during that five years I want to make it available for state sponsored trade schools or cosmetology, where the person that’s on welfare during that time can also work. We’re going to take care of their tuition and get them into the trades. After that five years [is] up, they will have a trade, they will have [an] occupation, and they will have something that they can do after that.” Indiana currently has a two-year lifetime limit for adults to use TANF. Children under the age of 18 are allowed to remain for up to five years.
Ursery is in support of a number of policies proposed by former President Trump including the elimination of income tax in favor of consumption based taxes, drilling for natural resources as opposed to clean energy sources like windmills, and, more controversially, preventing biological males from participating in girls sports.
Miller, on the other hand, has created space between himself and the larger Republican Party, even omitting the word “Republican” from some of his campaign materials in an effort to be seen as an individual candidate.
If elected, he plans to lean on his experience in workforce development and health care when considering legislation. The former member of the Gary Public Transit Corp. board currently sits on the Gary Plan Commission.
“I’ve benefited from the environment of being on the board of the Gary NAACP, being at Ivy Tech teaching the navigator course, and helping Dr. [Roland] Walker bring Marram [Healthcare] to town to look at the fact that we had the highest morbidity rates in the nation for African American men. It’s not Republican or Democrat. It’s just straight up. This is where we’re at. How do we find solutions?
Miller said he would also attempt to boost Gary’s involvement in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 3 program, which according to the department, offers training, employment, contracting, and other economic opportunities to low-income residents and to businesses that support economic advancement in underserved communities.
“How about splitting your ticket? If you don’t like Trump, you don’t like Trump. He didn’t do everything to endear himself to the nation,” Miller said.
“I’m all about growth business, but I’m not about bad business. We got to have good business, because good business grows businesses around them.”
If primary voting totals are any indication, Miller and Ursery will have to win uphill battles to earn seats in the Statehouse. Despite the challenge ahead, Ursery believes it is within reach.
“All it takes is a generation,” Ursery asserted. “All it takes is a change of guard for people to actually start considering other things. So I know we’re right at that time.”
Early voting began Oct. 7 in Indiana. Please refer to our Voter Guide for more information.
