Scoop: Buttigieg campaign to file in IN's presidential primary Thursday

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett will file on his behalf.

By Adam Wren and design by Kris Davidson

DAYS TO NEW HAMPSHIRE: 6

FIRST IN IMPORTANTVILLE: Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett will file papers for former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg to get on Indiana’s presidential primary ballot tomorrow around noon at the secretary of state’s office at the Statehouse, according to sources briefed on the campaign’s plans.

To qualify for the ballot in Indiana, candidates must submit at least 4,500 petition signatures, including 500 in each of the state's congressional districts. As of Tuesday, Buttigieg had filed nearly twice that amount—8,382 signatures.

Hogsett and Buttigieg are longtime political allies. Last April, the Indianapolis mayor attended Buttigieg’s launch event in South Bend. In September, Hogsett, locked in a re-election bid, was missing from a list of 58 mayors nationwide who endorsed the candidate. The two appeared at Black Expo last summer, shortly before Buttigieg addressed the Young Democrats of America Convention.

Buttigieg raised eyebrows last fall when he hired an Indiana state director, Arielle Brandy—a surprising move given the state’s May 5 primary.

“Part of it, of course, is that we have a special relationship to the state of Indiana no matter what,” Buttigieg told me last October. “But part of it’s also recognizing that with so many candidates it’s unlikely that anyone will clinch the nomination very early in the spring. I think that makes Indiana very relevant.” 

Buttigieg, who is campaigning in New Hampshire ahead of the state’s primary, is scheduled to return to Indianapolis for a fundraiser on Feb. 13.