A Republican candidate with a history of failed campaigns on white supremacist platforms has filed for U.S. Representative in Indiana’s First District with the Nazi salute in his ballot name.
Richard Benedict Mayers filed as a Republican candidate for the First District and listed his ballot name as Richard Benedict (Sieg Heil) Mayers, according to election records.
Lake County Republican Party Chairman Randy Niemeyer issued a statement Thursday that he was aware of a candidate “using a blatantly antisemitic nickname.”
“The Lake County Republican Party does not condone nor offer any refuge or support to those who seek attention by these means,” Niemeyer said. “None of the officers of the Lake County Republican Party, Porter County Republican Party, LaPorte County Republican Party or Indiana GOP First District Committee has ever met the candidate and jointly express our disgust with this filing.”
The party will pursue legal avenues “to remove this moron” from the ballot in the primary election, Niemeyer said.
“Unfortunately, we witness ridiculous filings every election season,” Niemeyer said. “We will work to have him removed from the primary ballot.”
In January 2002, the Cook County electoral review board removed Mayers as a candidate in the Illinois 9th Congressional District Democratic primary after he did not have enough nominating petition signatures, according to the Evanston Review.
At the time, Mayers, who didn’t live within the Illinois 9th Congressional District, filed 203 signatures and needed 600 to get on the ballot, according to the Evanston Review.
Mayers, who filed last-minute against U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, said his election platform includes banning the abortion of white babies and giving judges the right to deport Black prisoners to Africa, according to the Evanston Review.
He also said he wanted to spend more federal money on education and change the government’s pro-Israeli Middle East policy, according to the Evanston Review.
“Some of my views are controversial,” Mayers told the Evanston Review. “But I think I could do good in some places. There could be some people that wouldn’t like me, but that’s the nature of politics.”
In Illinois, Mayers lost the 2000 Democratic primary against U.S. Rep. William Lipinski, D-3rd, of Chicago and lost a write-in campaign in that district in the 2000 general election. He also lost races for the 43rd state House district in 1998, for Berwyn Township Democratic committeeman in that year, and for a seat as a Berwyn alderman in 1993, according to the Evanston Review.
In 2000, Mayers was challenged for three constitutional amendments he filed in Cook County that would’ve banned interracial marriage, prohibited abortion of “healthy white babies” and sent Black prisoners “back to western Africa.”
The legal challenge to the referendum questions was filed because Mayers didn’t have the required number of signatures, according to WGN Chicago.
Indiana code stipulates that candidates for U.S. Representatives don’t need to collect signatures unless a candidate wants to file as a minor party or as an independent. If a candidate chooses to run as a minor party or an independent, then the Indiana Secretary of State “will determine whether enough valid signatures are certified for the candidate to be placed on the general election ballot,” according to the code.
Under Indiana code, there is no requirement that a candidate for United States Representative must reside within the district or be an inhabitant of Indiana until the date of the November 2026 general election.
To establish political party affiliation, a candidate for U.S. Representative has to have voted for candidates of the political party in at least two primary elections in Indiana or the political party chairman of the county in which the candidate lives in can certify the candidate’s party affiliation, according to Indiana code.
Officials with the Indiana Election Division did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Lake County Board of Elections and Registration Director Michelle Fajman said Thursday she had been fielding calls about Mayers’ candidacy filing and called his ballot name “racist.” For federal office, candidates file in the Indiana Election Division in Indianapolis, she said.
Fajman shared with the Post-Tribune an email she sent to a constituent who reached out about Mayers’ candidacy. In the email, Fajman thanked the constituent for sharing concerns about the “nickname” a candidate for U.S. Representative used.
“While I understand your concerns, the Lake County Board of Elections and Registration does not have the authority to remedy this issue. The appropriate course of action is to file a candidacy challenge with the Indiana Election Division,” Fajman wrote.
In the email, Fajman included paperwork for candidacy challenges for the constituent to consider. The form is a sworn affidavit, which requires a notarized signature, and has to be returned to the election office before 12 p.m. Feb. 13, Fajman said.
“I have also sent you a list of Lake County legislators. You may wish to contact them regarding any potential changes to the law related to candidate nicknames,” Fajman wrote to the constituent.
U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, who serves in Indiana’s First Congressional District, said in a statement he agreed with the statement by Lake County Republican Chairman Niemeyer and shared in the “disgust and belief that the candidate is not reflective of our region’s Republican Party and public officials.”
“There is no place for racism of any form in our politics, and I believe the decision of the candidate in question to proclaim his antisemitism on the ballot is abhorrent and disqualifying from serving in public office,” Mrvan, D-Highland, said.
Porter County Commissioner Barb Regnitz, R-Center, who also has filed to run in the primary for the seat, agreed.
“This is a repulsive stunt that has absolutely no place in American politics. This individual is not a Republican and has no business running in this primary,” she told the Post-Tribune Friday.
Lake County Democratic Party Chairman Michael Repay said, “The climate on the Republican side seems to encourage that behavior.”
“It’s sad he thinks it’s okay,” Repay said. “We certainly don’t want him on anyone’s ballot – Republican or Democrat.”
akukulka@post-trib.com
