It’s Time to Vote

             The time has come. By the time you read this thousands of Hendricks County residents will  have already voted in the 2026 mid-term elections.

             We know this because our phone lines have been flooded with people asking when our 2026 General Election Guide is going to arrive in the mail.

It’s exciting to hear the enthusiasm of a community wanting to see the election guide before they vote. I don’t recall a time in recent history at the newspaper when the community responded this strongly to having the guide available to them.

On to the elections

             Let’s touch on a few of the races.

At the state level, the most interesting race is the seat for Sec. of State, with five candidates from five different parties competing for your vote.

             There are two statehouse races that are a repeat of the 2024 elections.

Representing the northwest part of the county in District 25, incumbent Becky Cash is facing her 2024 opponent again, Tiffany Stoner. The 2024 contest was one of the closest House races in Indiana.

             Representing the majority of Hendricks County in District 28, incumbent Jeff Thompson is also facing his 2024 rival again in Karen Whitney. Thompson won easily in 2024. It will be interesting to see if Whitney is able to make any gains from the last race..

             There are a couple of county council races to watch this year. In Council District I,  former  longtime Avon School Board member Cindy Simmons is challenging incumbent Dave Cox. In Council District III, Democrat Jered Petrey is taking on incumbent Chuck Parsons.

             As for town councils, Avon has a couple of seats being contested by Democrats, as does Brownsburg, while Pittsboro has an At-Large seat up for grabs.

Your vote matters, locally

             While our local races may not seem as exciting as all the big races around the country that will determine the course of our country for the next two years, our local races have an immediate and direct impact on you.

             Remember, neither the federal, nor the state government pays for the upkeep of our local roads, sidewalks, sewers, and drinking water.

Law enforcement, fire protection, schools, libraries, towns, and libraries are all funded almost entirely from our property taxes. It is important for you to know who will be making those decisions.

You might be okay with paying a little more in property taxes if it means more parks, attainable housing, or more educators in our community.

Conversely, you may want to see some services or programs cut if you feel you are paying more than your fair share of property taxes.

In both cases, read through the guide. Learn as much as you can about those running in our local races. Do not look to see if they are a D or an R, look to see if you connect with what they are saying. Do they reflect what you want your community to look like?

Good luck and happy voting.

Regarding the Election Guide

If you are a resident of Hendricks County and you have not received the 2026 General Election Guide by next week, please email or call the office to let us know.

The Republican provided the postage for every household in the county to receive one. We used data from the latest USPS report for the mailing.

In honor of National Newspaper Week

Yep, you heard that right. National Newspaper Week is an annual observance recognizing the vital contributions of newspapers and the journalists who produce trusted, community‑focused reporting. It was established in 1940.

With Hendricks County having a newspaper that’s been around for 179 years, it easy to forget that most communities in Indiana or the Midwest, for that matter, do not have a local newspaper.

If I may, this is a good newspaper that serves a good community.

This newspaper has stood side by side with the people of this county through world wars, pandemics, recessions, depressions, and one particularly bad run of cholera.

Through birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, celebrations, graduations, and the time Ronald Reagan spoke at the courthouse.

Treasure this newspaper. May it continue to serve this community long past my lifetime.

A comment on legal notices

Every year legislators in Indiana (yes, even some that represent us in H.C.) advance bills that are slowly removing the requirement of government agencies to publish government notices in local newspapers.

On page 2 of this issue of The Republican I reported on an interesting legal notice from last week’s issue. It is the exact type of notice the government is trying to get away from having to publish in local newspapers.

Legislators claim it is a tremendous burden for government agencies to have to provide legal notices to local newspapers. That it would be just as good to post the notices on the respective government websites. Then, they argue, the public can access the notices whenever they want to look at the websites.

And I would argue that no one is going to stop and think to themselves, “Hey, I should check IDEM’s website to see if Waste Management is wanting to expand their facility in Danville.” No one.

Tell your legislators you want public notices in the local newspapers. Remember, they were elected to serve you, not government agencies.

Have a good week.