23 Years in the Marines, 8 Years as Indianapolis Mayor & One More Race | Greg Ballard, Lincoln Party Candidate for Indiana Secretary of State

On today's show I sat down with former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, who grew up on the city's northeast side, attended Cathedral, joined the U.S. Marine Corps after finishing at IU, and is now running as an independent Lincoln Party candidate for Indiana Secretary of State. Ballard served 23 years on active duty with deployments including Panama and the 1991 Persian Gulf War before he returned home in 2001 and was recruited to run for mayor despite little name recognition. He defeated incumbent Bart Peterson amid voter anger over property taxes and a major income-tax increase. Ballard describes his transition into office, key achievements including securing and hosting the 2012 Super Bowl, and leading efforts behind DigIndy by pushing the EPA mandate cost down and transferring water/wastewater to Citizens Energy to remove politics. In his run for Secretary of State, he collected over 74,000 petition signatures, formed around expanding ballot access and voter information. If you like this episode and want to hear more Get IN. episodes where I interview Hoosiers making a difference, visit getindiana.com/podcast. You are going to learn about: - Greg Ballard's Indy Roots and Marine Corps Experience - How Ballard Campaigned and Defeated Bart Peterson for Indianapolis Mayor - Ballard's Achievements as Mayor - Why Ballard Is Running as Independent for Secretary of State and What His Goals Are Thank you to our partners: Rohrman Automotive Group AccountedFor Check out these great clips from the show: 00:00 Future Vision Teaser 01:16 Guest Introduction: Greg Ballard, Lincoln Party Candidate for Indiana Secretary of State 02:47 Growing Up Indy 03:16 Joining the Marines 07:39 Quantico and OCS 09:31 Lessons From Service 10:59 Deployments and Worldview 13:20 Returning Home 15:39 From Bayer to Politics 16:24 Asked to Run Mayor 18:07 Slating and Nomination 21:50 Campaign With No Money 25:14 Debates and Momentum 28:10 Election Night Upset 32:09 Day One as Mayor 33:23 Transition Team Surprise 36:32 Early Wins Super Bowl Bid 40:19 Making Indy Super Bowl Magic 41:00 Super Bowl Village Vision 41:48 Big Ideas Zip Line Social 42:18 JW Marriott Trophy Wrap 43:18 Scarves And Service Culture 45:58 Super Bowl Legacy And PR 48:46 EPA Mandate And DigIndy 52:09 Citizens Utility Takeover 56:00 Independent Secretary Run 01:02:59 Lincoln Party Voter Guide 01:12:55 Rapid Fire Hoosier Wrap Get IN. is brought to you by our friends at Sweetwater. Whether you are looking to start a podcast or level up your current show you need to hit them up.