Matt Justak: A High Impact Young Professional’s View of the 2010 Election

Matt Justak on the 2010 Elections

My journey as a Political Director for the Vanderburgh County Republican Party has been a roller coaster ride that I will never forget.

Fun, strenuous, unpredictable, erratic, and downright remarkable are words to describe my time serving the local GOP. I just completed working on the most historic Republican Election since Mayor Russ Lloyd Sr. took office in the early 70’s. So many headlines to take away from November 2nd, “Indiana now has two Republican U.S. Senators”, “The Bloody 8th is all GOP”, “Hermann takes down twenty year incumbent”, and the list goes on and on.

I started working for this grass roots organization in the summer of 2009. Keep in mind, this was when Obama’s popularity was at an all time, and the notion of a Republican come back was laughable. The cover for the May 2009 issue of Time Magazine pictured the GOP Elephant logo, with the caption “Endangered Species”.

Well, a lot has changed since then: Obamacare, Cap & Trade, Mayor Weinzapfel’s attempt at taking away our Homestead Tax Credit–then having Governor Daniels overrule him and giving it back, building a Downtown Arena without a referendum, and many other political miscalculations that have happened within the Democrat Party, both national and locally, has fueled a Republican comeback for the ages. Add this to our great slate of candidates who ran on the 2010 ticket, and it was an unstoppable avalanche that was bound to happen. You see, Chicago Politics mixed with Left Winged agendas is a dangerous potion, and will never ever adhere to the Hoosiers that make up the great state of Indiana. We are hard-working, honest, conservative, Americans who aren’t standing on the sideline waving the white flag for our Government to swoop in and fix things. I believe this was the message sent to Washington D.C. on November 2nd.

Again, it starts with the great slate of candidates and campaigns.

Sure the National-Anti-Incumbent-Wave helped a whole lot. But how do you explain a former Vanderburgh County Sheriff, running for U.S. Senate, losing in his own backyard, by 4,000 votes? How do you explain an ex-State Representative losing his old district in the 8th Congressional Race? How does Nick Hermann, in a rematch with Stan Levco from 4 years prior, swing 9,000 votes to secure a victory? How on earth does Wendy McNamara, first time running, defeat a State Senator in a HEAVY democratic district?
You can blame it on the conservative wave, the Tea Party Movement, and so on, but with the questions listed above, you have to accredit the candidates one-hundred percent for winning their races.
I was just happy to go along for the ride, and help them out with whatever they needed. Whether if it was to stuff envelopes, set up a fundraiser, make voter ID phone calls, put out 4×8 yard signs, hand out flyers at the Fall Festival, or find volunteers, I was content on serving them with the reward of winning their election. And, as history panned out on November 2nd 2010, that reward came to fruition.

With the proper guidance from our Chairman, Wayne Parke, and generous support from other Central Committee members, I was able to put together a solid GOTV plan that involved contacting would be Republican voters, and reminding them to get to their polling place. Judging by the polls leading up the Election Day, we knew this would be a special day and we wanted to leave zero doubt in turning out the vote; which is a stark contrast from 2008, when I volunteered my time helping out the Party. This go around, people were angry, motivated, and generous to give up an hour or two of their time to ensure victory on November 2nd. Aside from the Mitch Daniels campaign, I did not see this kind of intensity in 2008.
We hope that this momentum carries over into 2011 for the Municipal Elections (Mayor & and City Council seats). Perhaps it is time for the first time in over 40 years for Republican candidates to have an opportunity to assume power and lead the City of Evansville to prosperity. Ronald Reagan once ask the question “are you better off than you were 4 years ago”, and the American people responded by electing him to be their President.

The people of Evansville should ponder the question “are you better off than you were 40 years ago”? The harsh reality is that with respect to crime, wealth, earnings, population, educational attainment, economic growth, basic infrastructure, and listening on the part of elected officials that Evansville has been on a continuous downward spiral. Perhaps 2011 will be time to change leadership.

Editor’s Note: Matt Justak is prototype of the type of young person that Vanderburgh County’s future depends on. He is a young bright educated professional who has found a way to throw himself into an effort that he believes in that can make a positive difference to Evansville and Vanderburgh County. Unlike some of these locally grown young professionals who leave town as fast as they are accredited, Matt has chosen to seek his fortune right here. As we are kicking off a series of profiles of young professionals, Matt is our first profile.