Longtime Democratic Party champion and supporter Trish Whitcomb of Indianapolis has officially entered the race to become the next Indiana State Democratic Party chair.

The term of current party Chairman John Zody expires in March. On Nov. 6, 2020, Zody announced he was leaving the position he had held since March 2013.

Whitcomb, a former Seymour resident and the daughter of former Indiana Gov. Edgar Whitcomb and Patricia Louise Whitcomb of Seymour, has been involved in dozens of campaigns around the state, including serving as the campaign manager in the Democrats’ last successful statewide campaign when Glenda Ritz won the race for state school superintendent in 2012.

“We Democrats care about people and the ‘kitchen table’ issues that impact their lives,” Whitcomb said. “We celebrate public service, seek justice and stand for equality for all people. As Democrats, we are bound together by Hoosier ideals of independence, respect and hard work.”

The 1971 Seymour High School graduate is the former executive director of the Indiana Retired Teachers Association and is the former president of the Indiana Federation of Democratic Women. While at the federation, it has had the most successful fundraising and membership growth in its history, according to a news release from Whitcomb.

Whitcomb wrote that she has created a plan to make the Indiana Democratic Party stronger and further those ideals. The plan focuses on four areas:

Providing resource support at the county and caucus level

Building stronger relations with community groups

Improving communications

Administering Indiana Democratic Party functions efficiently

“Our party needs leadership and dedication to our values, which my years of service exemplify,” Whitcomb said. “As state party chair, I will work closely with county, district and caucus leaders, I will listen to those who work tirelessly on the front lines and I will ensure state party support of their work.”

Zody, the third longest serving chairman of the Indiana Democratic Party, has presided over a party that hasn’t won a statewide office since Ritz’s victory back in 2012.

Edgar Whitcomb, who served as the state’s leader from 1969 to 1973, was born and raised in Hayden but lived in Seymour for 27 years before moving away in 1986. He died Feb. 4, 2016, at his home in Rome.