Indiana: Hoosiers vs Losers
This state's history with the KKK is straight up appalling.
Topline Takeaways
Indiana was one of the most reliably Republican states in the 20th century, supporting the party in almost every presidential election over the past 100 years.
Indiana’s ugly history of supporting the Ku Klux Klan provides an important look into the state’s ancestral connections to the Protestant church and its history with racism and xenophobia.
The state’s urban-rural divide continues to grow, but urbanized counties hold much of the state’s population growth, threatening Republican prospects.
Donald Trump’s win in Indiana was preordained, not solely because former governor Mike Pence was his running mate, but primarily for the fact that the state is practically obsessed with Republican presidential candidates. The only Democratic presidents to flip the state since the 1920s were Barack Obama, LBJ and FDR.
Indiana was settled “from the bottom up” so-to-speak: new settlers primarily came from the South, crossing the Ohio River. In 1850, 34 years after officially becoming a state, 44% of its US-born residents were born in the South. This has led Indiana to resemble more of a Southern state rather than a Midwestern state. It has a larger population of evangelical Protestants than any state it borders (besides Kentucky). This conservatism extends beyond social issues and into economic views as well, with voters routinely supporting candidates that favor low taxes and small government. All of these factors led to a particularly dark era in Indiana history when the Ku Klux Klan became a major force in state politics.
The Ku Klux Klan’s success in the state was part of the group’s re-emergence in the early 1900s. (This was often dubbed the “Second Klan” as the “First Klan” rose in popularity following the Civil War and was forcibly disbanded in 1869.) Leaders capitalized on voters’ connections to the Protestant church to gather an audience then stoked fear by promoting racism and xenophobia to keep them in line. According to Historian Dr. James H Madison, “The folks who joined the Klan in the '20s were Protestants. They were Methodists and Baptists and Disciples of Christ. They were… god-fearing Protestants.”
As their numbers swelled in the state, social pressures led many to align themselves with the group out of fear: “There were two things there: One was that people agreed with the message. But the other was that people feared what their neighbors would think of them if they didn't join the Klan. That they weren't 100 percent American.” This dominance in Indiana communities directly led to political organizing, convincing many political leaders in the state to align themselves with the group.
While the KKK’s prominence did not last in the state, (largely due to their leader being convicted for raping and murdering a schoolteacher) many agree that the “Klan left such a stink in Indiana.” Their success in the 1920s is “a powerful expression of intolerance and exclusion that rests deep in Indiana and American history.” The parallels to today’s Republican party are not lost on some Indiana voters:
With all of that background, Biden’s agenda of big government, social justice and higher taxes for the wealthy was never palatable to the majority of Indiana voters. Even in counties holding some of the state’s larger cities, like Ft. Wayne and Evansville, Biden’s urban-focused agenda didn’t help him produce many county-level wins. However, several counties in the state shifted towards Democrats between 2016 and 2020. Hamilton county, north of Indianapolis, is the state’s fourth most populous and fastest growing county. Biden was able to swing Hamilton toward Democrats by seven points.
Forecasting the Future: Realistically, the national Democratic party still doesn’t have much of a chance in Indiana. Despite the small leftward shift that Biden was able to produce, much of the party’s agenda sits directly at odds with what Indiana voters favor. Voters have shown that they are willing to entertain conservative Democrats on the congressional and local levels; the problem is that these types of “Blue Dog” Dems are quickly going extinct. Expect Republicans to retain their grip on the state, especially if Trumpism continues to direct the party’s future.