(La Porte, IN) – Current La Porte County Auditor Tim Stabosz believes there was an all-out blitz by his critics to stop him from gaining the Republican nomination for La Porte County Commissioner District 2 in the Primary Election this past Tuesday.
Among the efforts leading up to Tuesday’s election were public officials purchasing blocks of airtime on local radio stations to denounce Stabosz about the ongoing heated conflict within county government. In addition, an anonymous five-page flyer depicting Stabosz as incompetent, a source of chaos and hatred, as well as a kingmaker in local Republican politics also began showing up in mailboxes and on social media. “Stop the madness” and “Time to clean the toxic environment” were alongside other similarly minded statements on the front page of the flyer.
Steve Holfield, a farmer from Mill Creek, defeated Stabosz by more than 500 votes to gain the Republican Party nomination for the District 2 seat on the three-member La Porte County Commission.
La Porte County Republican Party Chairman Allen Stevens said at least 700 Republican ballots were pulled by voters who previously cast Democratic ballots in the 2022 Primary Election. He said it’s difficult to say what the motive was for such a high crossover, but many times it has to do with Democrats wanting weaker Republican opponents in the November General Election.
Stabosz stated that he believes the main reason for his loss was Democrats crossing over “in droves” to vote Republican in the election, however he thinks the crossing over by Democrats had more to do with a lack of interest from their party, having just one contested county government race, and a desire to help State Senator Mike Bohacek of Michiana Shores. Bohacek, a former Democrat, won the party’s nomination for a third term in the State Senate District 8 race.
Stabosz said he felt another contributing factor in his defeat was “the false and malicious attacks by his political enemies to misrepresent my record and the truth.”
Stabosz said his focus now is on serving the remainder of his term as La Porte County Auditor, which expires on January 1st, and supporting Holifield in the upcoming campaign. There, Holifield will face retired La Porte County Police officer Mike Kellems, who ran unopposed for the Democratic Party nomination.
“We both agreed that we’ll be courteous and nice to each other and run on the facts,” he said.
The extreme political infighting began after Stabosz and Commissioner Joe Haney took office nearly three and a half years ago. Most of the allegations have involved ongoing claims of political corruption and county government being run by a "good old boys' club," resulting in fiery exchanges mostly during commission meetings.
La Porte Mayor Tom Dermody has often called for an end to the political fighting. He feels feels most voters are tired of the negativity and they spoke their minds at the polls on Tuesday.
“It’s great to see those individuals winning that just want to get stuff done. Enough of the crap. I think it’s a good day for good government,” Dermody stated.
