New Socialist Party Launches in Indiana

Can workers turn Indiana red?

Editorial Board

On March 15, two dozen union members, elected officials, and activists held a press conference outside the historic home of Eugene V. Debs — four-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America — to announce the launch of the Socialist Party of Indiana.

At the press conference, Socialist Party chair Mary Kate Dugan said: “We’ve been locked into this corrupt two-party system for a long time. There are folks who tell me it’s too difficult to start a new party, that compromise with the capitalists is the best we can do. To that I say bullshit.”

The new party was launched with the support of an Indianapolis city councilmember, Jesse Brown. Brown won his seat as an open socialist in 2023, against the opposition of both big business and the bureaucratic union leadership in the AFL-CIO, which backed his Democratic Party opponent. Brown is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

The Indiana Democratic Party is waging war on socialists and progressives. In early February, the Democrats on the Indianapolis City Council expelled Jesse Brown from their caucus, because of Brown’s principled stance on opposing charter schools. Weeks later, the Marion County Democratic Party blocked over 100 socialists and progressives from running in internal party elections.

Socialists cannot make peace with either capitalist party. Socialists who try to stay inside the Democratic Party will either sell out or be forced out.

The Socialist Party of Indiana is running two candidates in the 2026 elections — Ben Davis for Indiana House District 13 (around Lafayette), and Harrison Jacobo for Secretary of State. They have launched an ambitious campaign to collect 38,000 valid signatures to win statewide ballot access for the party.

Jesse Brown, the Indianapolis City Councilmember who supported the party’s launch, ran as a Democrat in his last election. In a blog post about the party’s launch, he argued, “It will take an ‘inside-outside’ strategy in order to put an end to the Uniparty political monopoly in Indiana.” 

We disagree with this “inside-outside” approach. The Socialist Party of Indiana is already under attack from capitalist politicians. As the party grows, the attacks will grow. Keeping one foot inside the Democratic Party will come at the cost of building a party of our own.

Every socialist and worker in Indiana should fully break from the Democratic Party and put their energy into the Socialist Party in Indiana. So should every union and every socialist organization.

Every year, workers’ money is wasted on Democrats who sell us out. The Indiana State Teachers Association (ISTA) spent over $1 million in the 2022 elections, mostly on Democrats. Unions nationally spent $1.8 billion on political contributions and lobbying in 2024. That’s money down the drain. Union members need to fight to spend that money on independent socialist candidates and a new party instead.

We also need to draw a line in the socialist movement. The Central Indiana Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has so far refused to support the Socialist Party of Indiana. Instead, they continue to endorse Democrats who promise to “change” the party. DSA has 100,000 members nationally. They should do more than endorse the Socialist Party: they should send full-time organizers to Indiana to build it. DSA members need to fight to make this happen.

It’s time to dump the Democrats (and the Republicans). We agree with Harrison Jacobo, the Socialist Party candidate for Indiana Secretary of State: “It’s time for all of us, the working-class people of Indiana, to stand together under the banner of a Socialist Party of Indiana.”