Hispanic Democrats endorse Latina for open Indiana seat

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) campaign arm announced its support Thursday for a Latina running to replace Indiana Democratic Rep. Pete Visclosky.

CHC Bold PAC endorsed Mara Candelaria Reardon, a member of the Indiana House of Representatives, to compete in the Democratic primary to replace Visclosky, who was first elected to the seat in 1984.

The endorsement is part of Bold PAC’s strategy to expand the CHC and to stretch beyond traditionally Hispanic regions in the Southwest, Northeast and Florida.

“Democrats are doing great work to be competitive everywhere and that includes Indiana,” said Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.), chairman of Bold PAC.

The group earlier this year endorsed another Latina, Christina Hale, to compete against Republican Rep. Susan Brooks in Indiana’s 5th District, rated R+9 by the Cook Partisan Voter Index (PVI), which measures how much more Democratic or Republican a district performs compared to the national average.

“Bold PAC is lucky to have two qualified Latina candidates in both Christina Hale and Mara Candelaria Reardon. Mara is a born and bred Hoosier who will bring over a decade of public service experience serving the people of northwest Indiana to Congress,” said Cárdenas.

Unlike Hale, Reardon is competing in a solid Democratic district, with a D+8 PVI.

So far, four other Democrats have announced their candidacy for Visclosky’s northern Indiana seat.