(La Porte County, IN) - More light has been shed on the resignation of La Porte County Democratic Party chairman Angela Henzman, who had held the position since December of 2022.
The Michigan City area woman said she stepped down to dedicate herself more to her bid to become the next La Porte County Clerk, the decision having nothing to do with more than twice as many Republican ballots being cast in comparison to Democratic ballots in the May 7th primary.
Henzman, who is the Democratic nominee after running unopposed in the primary, is facing Republican incumbent Heather Stevens in the November general election. Stevens also did not have a challenger for a second term in the primary.
“I am going to give someone else the opportunity to lead the party while I focus my attention on my campaign for clerk,” she said.
According to the clerk’s office, there were close to eight thousand Republican ballots pulled compared to slightly more than three thousand ballots cast by Democrats. Historically, the numbers between the parties are much more even in La Porte County during the primaries.
Henzman said she felt the disparity had to do with the Democratic Party having just one contested race for three county council at-large seats compared to the Republican Party, which had challengers in many races such as governor, state senate, and county commissioner. Likewise, there were also a number of primary races without Democratic candidates. She said Democrats Qiana Edwards for La Porte County Auditor and Camille Merriweather for La Porte County Recorder, have since been slated to run for those offices in the general election. More Democratic candidates are expected to be slated for the general election in other races where Republicans are currently unopposed.
“Though we did not have many contested races in the primary, the Democratic ticket is full of strong candidates and I believe that will be reflected in the fall election,” she said.
She replaced Dr. Vidya Kora, who resigned after expressing disappointment at the poor showing by most La Porte County Democrats in the November general election of 2022.
At the time, Kora said support of former Republican president Donald Trump in LaPorte County was still strong, if not, growing at a time when his support nationwide seemed to begin weakening.
Henzman, 39, said her legacy as party chairman will mostly be about her commitment to inclusion and diversity.
“My goal was to open the party to those who had previously felt excluded such as women, minorities, young people and the LGBTQ community,” she said.
Henzman said providing support for candidates in areas like fundraising and campaign finance requirements also ranks high on the mark she left on the party along with equal treatment of all party candidates in primaries.
"We really wanted to give candidates the tools they needed to be successful,” she said.
