House Minority Leader Scott Pelath (D-Michigan City) says his caucus took a step back in 2014 after losing two seats but promises 2016 will be a very different election.
House Republicans grew their supermajority from 69 to 71 members Tuesday. Pelath says while he wasn’t expecting huge gains, he had hoped to chip away at the GOP’s lead. And he says responsibility for those losses rests with him.
“That is on me; that is on nobody else," he says. "That is my responsibility. It’s not the president’s fault, it’s not the party’s fault, it’s not the people who work very hard for us.”
Pelath says with a ticket led by Democrats running for president, governor and U-S senator, 2016 will be a much more positive election cycle for his party.
And he says between now and then Democrats will continue to make a difference in the House when they can -- just as he says they did last session.
“Mass transit in central Indiana would not be anywhere without Indiana House Democrats," Pelath says. "Another one – we would have been voting on marriage this past election were it not for Indiana House Democrats.”
Pelath says he and Speaker Brian Bosma will also look for opportunities to work together, as they have in the past to reduce the state’s unemployment rate.
