“I am honored and humbled by the State Central Committee’s confidence in me to serve as Indiana Democratic Party Chair,” Tallian said.
INDIANAPOLIS — Former State Senator Karen Tallian was elected as the next chair of the Indiana Democratic Party, the party announced Saturday afternoon.
“I am honored and humbled by the State Central Committee’s confidence in me to serve as Indiana Democratic Party Chair,” Tallian said. “As we move forward, it is our job as Democrats to both reunite internally and reunite with the working Hoosiers who may feel left behind by the Party in recent years. I am ready to get to work electing Democrats up and down the ballot.”
Tallian served in the State Senate for District 4, and represented portions of Porter, La Porte and Lake counties from December 2005-November 2021. She also served as the Democratic Caucus Chair between 2016 and 2020.
During her time at the Indiana Statehouse, Tallian came to be known for her strong ties to labor.
She hopes to focus on winning back working class voters, strengthening what’s become a more distant relationship in recent years between those voters and the Democratic Party.
“I am going to personally speak to all the people who didn’t support me today and find out what they need,” Tallian said.
Some of the work Tallian pledged to do will include holding town halls, possible weekly podcasts, and more voter outreach.
“I think one of the biggest things we need to work on as a party, as a state, is getting people to the polls. I can’t believe the abominable voter turn-out. It astounds me that we go to war to make sure we have the right to vote in a democracy and then people don’t show up and so I think that’s what we need to do,” Tallian said.
She also acknowledges the fact that there is a lot of work ahead in a predominantly red state, where a Democrat hasn’t been elected to a statewide office since 2012.
Other leaders selected for the 2025-29 term were: Alex Nyirendah as vice chair, Erin Retif as secretary and Michael Griffin as treasurer.
