Editorial: Midterm legislative retirements cheat voters out of ability to pick

State Rep. Rita Fleming, D-Jeffersonville, said this week that she would immediately step down from her Indiana House seat before her term ends and would take her name off the November ballot.

The announcement came a week after the primary, meaning Democratic voters will not have the opportunity to pick the party’s nominee. Instead, precinct committee people—who are generally party insiders—will pick both someone to finish Fleming’s term and someone to replace her on the ballot.

It’s highly likely that will be the same person. That’s because the person who is appointed to the remainder of the term will be able to run as an incumbent during the campaign—and in general, despite overall skepticism about elected officials, incumbents tend to win.

Fleming has picked the person she wants to succeed her: Wendy Dant Chesser.

Chesser is the former CEO of One Southern Indiana, a business development group that serves the communities on the Indiana side of Louisville. If precinct committee people agree with her, Chesser will land in the seat and on the November ballot, all without ever facing voters.

We don’t think that’s a good way for the system to work—at least not regularly.

We’re not picking on Fleming or Chesser, who was on IBJ Media’s Indiana 250 last year. Neither are we just calling out Democrats. Lawmakers have been retiring midterm and recommending successors to precinct committee members for years. Both parties do it. In fact, party leaders occasionally encourage lawmakers to leave the Legislature this way because of the political advantages that can come with choosing successors through the caucus system.

Of course, there are legitimate reasons—health, relocation, family emergencies—for public officials to retire midterm. There must be a process in place for dealing with those inevitabilities. Otherwise, seats would sit vacant for long periods, and constituents would go unrepresented. That’s obviously not a good idea, either.

But resigning right after a primary or general election cheats voters of the ability to pick the people who represent them. And it’s more common than you might think.

An analysis by The Indianapolis Star in 2021 found that more than a fifth of Republican and Democratic lawmakers serving at that time were initially caucused into their seats by party officials. Many of those lawmakers remain in the House and Senate today, which means most by now have been through a primary and general election.

We wish the best to Fleming, who said she recently realized “how essential I am to my family.”

“I have 15 grandkids, and my family’s needs have changed over the years,” said Fleming, who was first elected in 2018. “I feel a responsibility to step down now because I know that moving forward, I cannot give my role as state representative 100% of my efforts.”

We certainly respect that choice. But we urge all public officials to think about these decisions before filing for reelection so that others who are interested in running have an opportunity to make more informed decisions.•

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