Niemeyer launches Congressional bid

October 04, 2023By Chuck Abraham
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Lake County Councilman Randy Niemeyer launched his Congressional bid on Sunday in Lowell. Photo by Chuck Abraham

Randy Niemeyer, Lake County District 7 councilman and former Cedar Lake Town Council president, announced his bid for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Congress in Indiana’s First Congressional District on Sunday at Niemeyer Auction Service and Realty in Lowell.

Niemeyer is the owner of Niemeyer Milk Transfer of Cedar Lake.

One noteworthy endorsement Niemeyer received was from former candidate Jennifer Ruth Green, who ran for the same seat in 2022. Green, an African-American conservative Republican, made a splash nationally when running against Rep. Frank J. Mrvan (D-Highland) last year. In a recorded message, Green described Niemeyer as “so motivated to learn what we need” and is “a man of principle and makes decisions that are best for Hoosiers.”

Niemeyer said his bid for the Congressional seat was “completely unexpected” for him. In July, he and his wife, Madeline, took a trip to Washington D.C. to start exploring what it takes to run for a federal office, and spoke about why he ever decided to seek public office.

The launch party for Randy Niemeyer’s Congressional campaign was Sunday at Niemeyer Auction Service and Realty of Lowell, complete with a potluck style meal.

Niemeyer explained it goes back to when he was a child when he would ride in cars with his grandfather and great-uncle, Ernie Niemeyer, while he campaigned for state senate and county commissioner. And he even acknowledged his family’s long legacy of political service in a humorous fashion.

“Our family reunions are actually run with Roberts Rules of Order,” Niemeyer said. “No kidding. If you come to a Niemeyer family reunion, you’ll think you stepped into a county government meeting.”

And while there have been and are many Niemeyers who have held public office, the Cedar Lake native said it was actually his grandmother, Delphine, who had the biggest impact on him.

Niemeyer said she was the cafeteria director at Jane Ball Elementary School, and if there was a student who didn’t have lunch money, she would open up her purse to make sure the child ate. He said when she passed away, there were hundreds of people who showed up at her visitation.

“She was the greatest public servant I’ve ever known,” Niemeyer said. “That to me was my inspiration as a 16-year-old to say sometime in my life, I have to do something that’s bigger than me. That this isn’t about what I can accomplish, what I can take with me. This is about what I can leave behind, and she gave me that inspiration at 16-years-old.”

Niemeyer said the nation is currently seeing the results of “bad policy.” He was asked if he thought President Joe Biden won the election.

“The answer to that, unfortunately as we look around us, yeah, he is our president,” Niemeyer said. “So with that, I’m inspired to try to make a difference in Washington.”

Niemeyer also said that Washington D.C. is “not dysfunctional because there’s too many of you serving there.” He said too many “career politicians and Washington lawyers that run that city.”

“Right now, there are 28 million government employees in this country,” Niemeyer said, “and 15 million union employees. This thing is upside down, folks. This government has gotten too big and too out of control. When you elect me as your next Congressman, I will bring that common sense to Washington with me.”

Niemeyer called inflation the “largest tax increase” on the middle class in our lifetimes, and he also said that he would like to take a “common sense approach” to energy independence, which would call for a more gradual transition to renewable energy that wouldn’t “put the nation into poverty to do so.”

Niemeyer ended with a quote from former president Theodore Roosevelt.

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better,” Niemeyer said. “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena. Whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. Who strives valiantly. Who errs. Who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming, but who actually does strive to do the deeds. Who knows great enthusiasm, the great devotions. Who spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at the best, knows at the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place will never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory or defeat.”