Two Candidates (for Mayor), One Cup (of Bourbon - a BIG Cup)


Popcorn Moment

Blog > Tony Katz > Popcorn Moment > Two Candidates (for Mayor), One Cup (of Bourbon - a BIG Cup)


Merritt and Hogsett Tout Benefits of Mass Transit in First Mayoral Debate


State Senator Jim Merritt and Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett squared off in their first debate last night. If you watched it in full and were not reaching for booze at the midway point, I can only assume you're on the wagon these days. Keep it up, by the way. That 30-day sobriety chip is right around the corner!

There were moments during Thursday's mayoral debate that were so infuriating for me as a conservative that I actually turned to my wife and said, "Well honey, we could always give the state of Iowa a try."

The most skull-hammering point in the debate came as the REPUBLICAN candidate for Mayor, Senator Jim Merritt expressed his enthusiasm for the disastrous IndyGo Red Line. 

"I'm excited about the Red Line," said Merritt. "When I become Mayor, I need to make it safe, and I need to make it clean."

Okay, so Merritt is pro-Red Line. Good to know.

"Bartender? Shot of Jack Daniels, please."

Oh, but it got so much worse. Moments later, Senator Merritt conveyed his belief that additional public transit options such as light rail could be beneficial.

"Bartender? Another shot, please."

"I'm for the light rail. I think anything from Uber to E-scooters to the Red Line to light rail is the right way," said Merritt. "The more options we have in mobility, the better off we're going to be."

"Bartender? Tell you what, why don't you just go ahead and leave the bottle." 

So the Republican candidate for Mayor wants light rail in the city of Indianapolis?!? The REPUBLICAN?!?!

You know what? I'll go get sauced and let WIBC host Tony Katz take it from here.


"Senator Merritt, I'm going to try to explain this to you the best that I can. The reason Uber and Lyft and scooters work is because it actually allows for mobility - it allows travel from specific point A to specific point B. Light rail and buses allow travel from where the government determines is point A and point B, and those places are not specifically the places where you want to go or where you're at. So don't you dare put the two things together, because they're separate things. One allows for actual mobility, and one involves central planning that doesn't make my life better, but sure as hell takes up a lot of parking spaces, and makes traveling by car worse."

Click the link below to hear Tony's full commentary.

Recommended Articles