Tritch gives Dems a credible option

She isn’t Tommy Schrader.

And that alone ought to get Jay County Democrats to the polls this spring.

There’s not much activity on the D side of the ballot this year. The Republicans seem to be having much more fun running against one another.

But the possibility of having Tommy Schrader on the ballot in November should be a motivator.

Who is Tommy Schrader? 

He’s a perpetual candidate for Congress out of Fort Wayne with absolutely no chance of getting elected. As we recall, he described himself to Fort Wayne TV newscasters as an “honest beer drinker” when they last tracked him down two years ago. He ended up as the Democratic nominee for the Third District seat simply because voters weren’t paying attention.

The reason they weren’t paying attention, of course, is that the Third District is about as solidly Republican as it’s possible for a district to be. 

Our county has bounced back and forth between Northeastern Indiana and East Central Indiana. 

When we’ve been paired with the northeast and Fort Wayne, we’ve had representatives as diverse as Dan Quayle, Dan Coats and Mark Souder on the Republican side and Jill Long and Ed Roush on the Democratic side.

When the boundaries have put us with Muncie and that part of the state, we’ve had GOP representatives like Mike Pence, David McIntosh and, back in the day, David W. Dennis, while Democrats like Phil Sharp have also held the seat.

These days, it’s very, very strongly Republican. And Jim Banks, the incumbent GOP candidate, has to be considered the favorite.

But this year, if the primary goes well, there will be a credible opponent. Her name is Courtney Tritch. She made a campaign swing through Jay County a few weeks back.

Those who have met her say she’s articulate, intelligent and serious about the campaign. In other words, she’s everything Tommy Schrader is not.

Why does this matter? 

Because even though Tritch will face a decidedly uphill fight against Jim Banks, our system of government works better when there are good candidates on both sides of the ballot. 

You can even make a case that a Tritch candidacy will make Jim Banks a better candidate for the Republicans; he’ll have to campaign a little and will be able to define himself based upon their differences.

For that to happen, however, Democratic primary voters are going to have to do their part and assure that Courtney Tritch is their party’s nominee.

It would be beyond embarrassing for the party to allow Fort Wayne’s “honest beer drinker” to be nominated yet again. — J.R.