Hoo Owns the Candidates: Jennifer McCormick

Taking a break from the Republicans to look at the leading Democrat in the Governor's race.

This is the sixth in a series entitled “Hoo Owns the Candidates?” wherein we look at the money flowing into the coffers of Hoosier political candidates as they gear up for 2024. Today, we take another look at former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jennifer McCormick, who switched parties from Republican to Democratic before her run. Previous installments have looked at Mike Braun’s big donors in the RV industry, medicine, agriculture, and extraction, and transportation. The first installment of the “Hoo Owns” series was on U.S. Senate candidate Jim Banks, and can be found here.

I am beyond tired of researching Mike Braun’s donors. As I’ve pored through the 80 individuals, two dozen business entities, and another dozen PACs that have donated $10,000 or more to the would-be governor’s campaign, I’ve learned a lot.

First, in a sign of how completely the Indiana Republican party is owned by wealthy donors, I may have chosen too low an arbitrary number by picking the $10,000 threshold. As I noted when I began the Braun mega-dump (eww) back in July, 87% of Americans who give anything to a political candidate (already only 12% of adults) contribute less than $250. For you math fans, that means only 1.5% of Americans donate more than $250 per election cycle. So, $10,000 is A LOT! And I still gave myself 115-120 items worth of homework.

Look, I committed to the bit. I’m gonna see it through. At least with Braun. So, I’ll continue to put those out. But I’m gonna set a higher threshold going forward. And I’m going to change up the format so posts are more frequent and shorter.

Which stinks, in a way - I’m leaving a lot on the table. Braun has another 100 individual donors and three dozen businesses who gave $5000 or more, but less than $10,000. That’s STILL a whole lot of money and influence. Given the time, I would gladly go through each and every one to paint a more detailed picture of the graft, but at this rate I’ll never get to the other candidates in this crowded, expensive, Republican primary. Plus, I still want to write more essays on a range of topics and not limit myself to campaign finance alone.

So, I’ll come back to Braun. But first, let’s take a quick side trip and look at the top Democrat in the race, former state schools superintendent Jennifer McCormick. Again, I’m using the 2023 semiannual report, the same reporting period from which we gleaned the data on these many, many high-dollar Braun donors.

While MAGA Mike was raking in cash from over 100 megadonors, the following is a complete list of contributors who donated $10,000 or more to Jennifer McCormick by that filing deadline:

That’s right. Nobody.

Now, since that time, she has received two large donations requiring separate disclosure forms. The first was a $10,000 contribution from Ann Stack of Indianapolis. A long-time major donor to Democrats in Indiana and beyond, she is the retired publisher of Arts Indiana magazine. A dedicated philanthropist and supporter of the arts, she has served on the governing boards at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Opera, Indiana Arts Commission, and Maple Road Development Association. Her husband, Dr. Christopher Stack, was one of Indianapolis’ leading orthopedic surgeons until his retirement in 2004. A vocal advocate of “Medicare for All,” he was a member of Physicians For a National Health Program, as well as Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan. Their son, Chris, is an actor who has appeared in several films and TV shows, including the Jack Black flick School of Rock, and ten seasons on the soap opera One Life to Live.

McCormick also received a $25,000 contribution from Local 135 Drive Fund. This is the political action fund of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters chapter based in Indianapolis. According to their website, Local 135 represents over 14,000 members in over a dozen divisions across several industries, including - Airlines; Brewery, Bakery, and Soft Drink; Building Material and Construction Trades; Food Processing; Freight; Package (UPS); Public Services, and Warehousing.

That’s it. That’s the whole list. Now, if you want to drop down to the second tier mini-megadonors, feel free to peruse McCormick’s full semi-annual disclosure statement. A total of six individuals and one PAC (American Federation of Teachers Indiana) contributed $5,000. In review, that’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 separate line items of $5000 or more for Braun and seven for the former superintendent.

Look, I understand Braun is fundraising for a competitive primary (and already spending on expensive TV advertising), while McCormick is essentially running unopposed - the other announced hopeful for the Democratic nomination is perennial candidate, gadfly, and repeat grifter Bob Kern. Still, the difference is stark. The parties are not the same. Republicans swim in billionaire money while Democrats have traditionally relied much more heavily upon small-dollar donations. Even the high-dollar contributions often come from labor unions, which are essentially pooling lots of small contributions in the form of membership dues.

Listen, I’m not a party cheerleader. I have a 2,000 pound Black Angus bull worth of beef with the Democratic Party, especially at the national level. But, for all the conservative grumbling about Washington overreach, they’ve largely succeeded in neutering the federal government and kicking power down to state capitols. Republicans at the state level are responsible for purging voters from the rolls, gerrymandering unfair districts, dismantling public education, targeting queer youth, and stripping women of their rights. For all their problems, I will still yell and scream for the next twelve months that Indiana Democrats need to contest every seat in the General Assembly and that every sane Hoosier vote for them up and down the ballot. But, if they win only one seat, we need to make sure it’s the Governor’s office. A Democratic governor can serve as a bulwark against a MAGA state legislature’s worst instincts (see: Evers, Tony) and we saw last session the kind of garbage the GOP supermajority in our state will send to the executive’s desk.

For better or worse, Jennifer McCormick is our best bet to keep MAGA extremism at bay in Indiana. The big donors aren’t going to help. It’s up to the people. Help her out if you can.