Voter profiles obtained from the Lake County Board of Elections and Voters Registration show an inconsistent voting history for Republican Jennifer-Ruth Green, which required local and state officials to sign off on a special certification for her candidacy because she voted as a Democrat in the 2018 primary.
Green, of Crown Point, is running for U.S. Congress in the 1st District. She voted as a Democrat in the last primary in which she declared her affiliation prior to the 2022 primary election. Green declared as a Democrat in the 2018 primary. Green did not vote in the 2019 or 2020 primary elections, so no candidacy was declared. She voted Republican in 2016, the first year she voted in Lake County, according to records provided by the Lake County Board of Elections and Registration.
Green is challenging U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Highland. Mrvan’s voter profile shows he has voted Democrat in every primary since 1987, except in 1988, when he did not vote in the primary, according to the record.
Indiana election law requires candidates to declare their party in the two primaries before they seek to be a candidate for that party. Candidates who do not meet that requirement can get a special certification from the county party chairman.
Dan Dernulc, chairman of the Lake County Republican Party, said Green came to him last year and asked to be certified as a candidate. He said he was approached by several people who supported her candidacy.
“Nobody was running at the time,” Dernulc said.
He discussed her voting record with her at that time and said she gave the reasons behind her declaration as a Democrat in 2018. Dernulc said he was not happy with her reasoning but understood why she voted the way she did. After some deliberation and discussions with others in the party, he said he did certify her candidacy.
Ultimately Green was one of seven candidates who ended up tossing their hats in the ring for the Republican primary nod for the seat including LaPorte Mayor Blair Milo, Martin Lucas, Aaron Storer, Mark Leyva, Nicholas Pappas and Ben Ruiz.
Michael Simpson, chairman of the Porter County Republican Party, said party officials in Porter County and the state were well aware of Green’s voting record and signed off on supporting her candidacy. He said it happened a long time ago and was a nonissue at this time.
Before the primary, Republicans refused to provide a certification for St. John town council candidate Bill Manousopoulos, who wanted to run as a Republican in the May primary but did not meet the primary requirement. Manousopoulos is running Nov. 8 as an independent.
Dernulc said the decision whether or not to certify Manousopoulos was left to St. John Republican Party President Mike Aurelio, who declined the certification. Dernulc said he honored the decision as county party chair.
Green’s campaign did not fulfill a request for a copy of the certification letter signed by Dernulc. The campaign declined to answer questions asking why she chose to run as a Republican and not a Democrat; how she defends declaring as Democrat in 2018; and whether Republican voters should be concerned about her voting record and what it may mean regarding standing behind the party’s positions.
In the statement, it said that Green is a lifelong Republican.
“Republicans are fully unified behind Jennifer-Ruth because she is a strong leader who cares about people, and she isn’t going to rubber-stamp Nancy Pelosi’s agenda 99% of the time as Congressman Mrvan has done,” the statement continued.
cnapoleon@chicagotribune.com
