Exclusive: Q&A with Jefferson Shreve, the Indy Republican who wants to be mayor

In conversation with the storage executive and former city-county councilor on his vision for the Circle City.

Indianapolis Republicans have been wandering in the political wilderness for years. But Jefferson Shreve could be the Republican to help them find their way out—and back to electoral victories.

The wealthy storage unit executive and former city-county councilor is carpet-bombing the Indianapolis market with nearly $2 million in ads, in what appears to be an unprecedented amount of spending on a mayoral primary. And he has the backing of some heavy-hitting Indianapolis Republicans ahead of the May 2 primary. Attorney and political gadfly Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, pastor James Jackson and John Couch are also running on the GOP side.

“I think that our city has been drifting along in a competitive marketplace where marking time is not enough,” Shreve told me. “And that’s rooted in my business background, where I’m doing business across the half dozen states, and I have some some basis for comparing Indianapolis to Columbus, Ohio, to Nashville, Tennessee—to even smaller cities like Grand Rapids and bigger cities like Chicago, where I’m doing business in a business that—pedestrian as it is—it’s driven by housing starts and multi-family construction, and all those sorts of indicators of people’s interests in voting with their checkbooks and their feet to where they’re going to make their home.”

Here, in an exclusive interview, Shreve talks about his vision for the city, his gun record, and his favorite dive bar.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.