Hornedo: Leadership Means Rebuilding Power, Not Explaining Its Collapse

As attention grows in IN-07, Hornedo says voters want results—not insider politics—and points to record-setting field operation as proof of what rebuilding actually looks like

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Monday, February 9

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Indianapolis, IN — As the IN-07 Democratic primary attracts new attention, congressional candidate George Hornedo said the moment demands clarity about what has actually gone wrong and what it takes to fix it. Hornedo reiterated a warning he first laid out nearly a year ago in a May 2025 memo in which he said Indianapolis—the heart of Democratic power in Indiana—has been hollowed out and Hoosiers are living with the consequences.

 

“Voters don't care about insider politics or personal score-settling. They care about higher costs, weaker schools, crumbling roads, and a government that feels absent.” Hornedo said. “Those are the consequences of turnout collapse in Indianapolis. And the truth is this collapse happened on Congressman Carson’s watch. Leadership isn’t narrating decline or outsourcing responsibility; it’s reversing it. And it means not confusing candidacy with the capacity to actually rebuild power.”

Hornedo pointed to collapsing turnout and the erosion of precinct-level infrastructure as symptoms of a party that stopped organizing year-round and of a safe-seat incumbent who failed to treat rebuilding power as part of the job.

 

“I’m using this campaign as a proof point for what rebuilding actually looks like not as a concept, but in practice,” Hornedo continued. “During the redistricting battle, we built the largest Democratic field operation in Indiana to fight back—knocking 26,831 doors and making 43,673 phone calls to educate neighbors and drive action. And we’ve continued that same bottom-up work—now having knocked 33,451 doors and making 408,529 calls—not as a slogan, but as a strategy. Show up. Earn trust. Build something real. That’s why this campaign is the largest Democratic field operation run in Indiana in years.”

 

Hornedo added that rebuilding Democratic strength in Indianapolis is not optional if Indiana Democrats want to compete statewide again. 

 

“Republicans don’t win because they’re unbeatable. They win because we’ve allowed our base to disengage. That has to end and it starts with leadership that treats organizing as a responsibility, not an afterthought.”

 

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