Samuel Ujdak thinks there’s work, home and a “third place.” That can be church. A 24-hour diner. The dive bar. But he said that community space, the third place, has eroded.
“We’ve lost the Steak ‘n Shake of high school, right?” Ujdak said Tuesday.
He said without it, people have lost regular face-to-face time with their neighbors. That’s something he wants to change as Monroe County Democratic Party chair.
Monroe County Democratic precinct committee representatives chose Ujdak to be the next county party chair Saturday. He was unopposed. Ujdak succeeds David Henry, who was chair for three years after taking over for Jennifer Crossley, who resigned after being picked to fill a vacancy on the Monroe County Council. Both Henry and Crossley now serve on the council.
Ujdak is director of grant development at Ivy Tech Bloomington. He was previously director of development and grants manager at Middle Way House and taught “History of the Arab Israeli Conflict” at the University of Michigan.
Ujdak said his family’s involvement with Democratic politics goes back generations, including in St. Joseph County, where he’s from. His involvement locally started after the 2016 election, though, when his friends distraught by the results who recognized him as the “political nerd” asked him what they should do to get involved.
He said after getting questions of when he’d run for political office — which he said he doesn’t have a lot of interest in — he decided to see how else he could get involved.
That involvement started with knocking on doors, and he eventually became chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party fundraising committee in 2019 and party treasurer from 2021-22.
Ujdak also recruited Thomas Horrocks, the Democrats’ candidate for Indiana’s 62nd House District last year. Horrocks lost by a thin margin to incumbent Republican Dave Hall.
Ujdak said he and Horrocks particularly agreed Democrats have focused far too much on the Republican policies people should vote against instead of what issues face citizens. One example, he said, was income concerns from farmers he heard while knocking on doors this summer.
“We weren’t really hearing anybody talking about that,” Ujdak said.
He worked with the Horrocks campaign and party during the election as deputy chair for strategy and infrastructure, which was around when he decided to run for chair.
Ujdak also thinks the state Democratic party needs to try something new. He said there’s an instinct to “chase the middle,” but the party should recognize the issues specific to where they’re running.
“It’s okay to have different messages in different parts of the state,” Ujdak said.
In Monroe County, that includes a better “ground game”: listening to people, pitching a larger tent and training volunteers.
Ujdak hopes to get a new, permanent headquarters by the end of his four years where campaigns, the Monroe County Young Democrats and other groups can have a space: a third place. The current headquarters is in a suite on Second Street by Gold Casters and a Big Red Liquors. Ujdak said some people have a hard time finding it, and others wandered in during the day last year.
He also wants to reach more renters, who make up much of Bloomington.
Amid uncertainty with federal and state funding, Ujdak said he wants the party to focus on people at home by being ready to volunteer at food banks, clothing drives and more. There’s only so much the local party can do to respond to outside actions, he said, but he wants to focus on the state and national impact on people locally.
Part of his planned push for community is instating quarterly caucuses for Monroe County Democratic Central Committee members. He hopes that’ll allow them to share what’s working, what’s not and other ideas in a shared space.
“It helps mitigate problems before they grow out of control, and it just makes you healthier as a community,” Ujdak said. “It’s a good check-in.”
Ujdak said he’s looking for candidates who are passionate about an issue and looking for an avenue to do something about it.
“This is sort of tongue-in-cheek, but I also kind of mean it: my number one trait for a potential candidate is somebody that doesn’t want it,” Ujdak said.
