GOP nominates all women at convention

Kelly Mitchell won the nomination for Secretary of Treasury at the Indiana GOP Convention in Lafayette this past Friday.

After three ballots, she won against Marion County Mayor Wayne Seybold and financial adviser Don Bates.

Bates dropped out at the third ballot, and Mitchell won 63 percent of the votes, which beat Seybold at 37 percent.

“It seems like people that were supporting Bates switched to Kelly Mitchell in the third ballot,” Robert Hall said. “She’s already working in that department, so she comes with experience, and she’s fiscally responsible.”

Mitchell was the third in the line of women nominated to appear on the November ballot Friday. She joined Secretary of State nominee Connie Lawson and Auditor nominee Suzanne Crouch.

Lawson and Crouch were appointed by Governor Pence after the two previously in the positions resigned, Hall said.

Hall said the nomination of all women shows the GOP’s “war on women” is just something the Democrats have alleged.

He mentioned Republicans tend to elect more women into office than Democrats.
“I think the Democrats are hurting the economy, which is hurting women,” Hall said.

The state of the economy was a discussion point at the convention. Treasurer Richard Murdock notably compared the current economic downturn to the events before the Nazi regime before accepting an award.

“The truth is 70 years later we are drifting toward the tides of another beachhead with the bankruptcy of America,” he said at the convention.

Another significant point of concern was the party’s decision to use language promoting marriage between a man and a woman.

Though some party members disagreed with the decision, it was supported by the majority of attendees.