https://www.blythepotter.com/

SUMMARY:

In this PIN Virtual Town Hall, Brianna - The Recovered Republican - hosts Blythe Potter, Democratic candidate for Indiana Secretary of State. Potter — an Army veteran, small business owner, and mother from Johnson County — makes the case that the Secretary of State’s office should be a boring, customer-service-oriented administrative job, and that she has the organizational and marketing background to fix it. The conversation ranges across voter accessibility, website modernization, transparency, office culture, digital disinformation, and election security, with Potter consistently returning to three themes: proactive voter outreach through a comprehensive statewide ballot book, citizen-led ballot initiatives as the mechanism for expanding voting options, and restoring basic accountability to an office she says has been hollowed out by Diego Morales’s nepotism and cronyism. Viewer questions from touched on auto-mail ballots, an Indiana Office of Digital Integrity, reallocation of overpaid political hires, and the obstacles Potter has faced from party insiders during the primary.

IN DEPTH:

0:00:22 - Introductions

- Brianna Indiana opens the town hall under her “Recovered Republican” banner, framing the evening around transparency, accountability, and substance over soundbites.

- Potter introduces herself as a mom, Army veteran, and small business owner — and argues that the Secretary of State’s office should fundamentally be a boring administrative job focused on maintaining systems, securing data, and serving the public.

- She draws on 30 years in customer service and 20 years of administrative work, and flags two core problems she wants to fix: Hoosiers who show up to vote without knowing what’s on their ballot, and the broken INBiz website that she and her own business partner struggled to navigate.

- Her pitch in brief: if you want people to know about elections, you market them — and as a small business owner, that’s exactly what she does every day.

0:04:20 - Q: What concrete steps would you take in the first year to make voting easier and more accessible?

- Potter’s centerpiece proposal is a comprehensive statewide ballot book — mailed opt-in to registered voters, available online, in Braille, and in multiple languages — that goes well beyond the current website’s bare office/name/party listing.

- She would start by adding public feedback boxes to all Secretary of State websites (including INBiz) to let end users identify what’s broken, rather than imposing top-down fixes.

- Roughly 10% of Indiana’s population — over 600,000 residents — lacks internet access, so physical mail distribution is essential, not optional.

- Funding mechanisms include HAVA grants and existing budget reallocation; the goal is to make election information so ubiquitous that voters would have to “intentionally ignore” it.

0:07:58 - Q: What specific transparency measures would you implement to end no-bid contracts and restore accountability?

- Potter would open the office with an independent audit, release the results publicly in real time, and use the findings to establish a baseline for reform.

- All contracts would be publicly posted before bidding, with unions and small businesses specifically notified so they have a real shot at winning work — keeping money in local economies.

- She frames transparency as a cultural posture, not just a procedural one: politicians should own their mistakes publicly the same way she tries to as a candidate.

- The Secretary of State’s office is inherently nonpartisan in function — no hot-button policy decisions — which makes it, in her view, the ideal place to model what responsive, ethical government looks like.

0:10:09 - Q: What new supports or resources would you provide to county clerks?

- Every county has different needs; Potter would start by visiting and listening before prescribing solutions.

- HAVA grants — which she says stopped flowing to counties like Morgan and Monroe under Diego Morales — would be restored to fund voter education, poll workers, and equipment.

- She would ensure all Secretary of State staff are certified notaries to prevent the kind of filing paperwork failures the office has already experienced, and would push county clerks’ offices to maintain notaries on staff as well.

0:11:39 - Q: What would you do to make elections safer?

- Potter notes that “election security” means different things to different voters — some fear voter intimidation (including ICE presence at polls), others worry about vote-counting integrity — and that the office should speak to both concerns.

- Her primary prescription is transparency through education: live demonstrations of how voting machines work, YouTube videos, and clear explainers on the bipartisan inspector system already in place at every polling site.

- By and large, Indiana elections are safe — the problem is a lack of public understanding, which creates a noise environment that bad-faith actors exploit.

0:13:28 - Q (viewer): Diego Morales hired family members. How should the hiring process work in your office?

- No family members, period — and no cronyism either. All open positions would be publicly posted.

- She would retain long-serving career staff who do good work and aren’t responsible for Morales’s decisions; they deserve credit for doing their jobs under difficult circumstances.

- Hiring decisions would incorporate public feedback on what qualities people want to see in office staff.

0:14:52 - Q (viewer): What steps would you take to increase civic engagement for working families, seniors, and young voters in communities like Johnson County?

- The ballot book addresses all of these groups: comprehensive, accessible, optionally mailed — and would include civics basics like how to become a precinct chair, what a township trustee does, and how to run for office.

- For seniors and homebound voters, Potter supports opt-in permanent absentee ballot enrollment — once you opt in, you receive a ballot every election without re-applying — and would publicize travel board options for those who want in-person assistance.

- She flags the shift from neighborhood polling locations to consolidated vote centers as a specific barrier for voters without cars, and says county-level needs must be assessed individually.

- Johnson County lacks adequately handicap-accessible polling locations — a concrete local example of gaps the office should identify and address.

0:18:08 - Q (viewer): What are your plans for the work environment inside the Secretary of State’s office?

- Potter would begin with an internal listening tour — asking current staff about culture, morale, and unmet needs before making changes.

- She would review and update the employee handbook, which she suspects is outdated, and clear out anyone who’s incompatible or checked out.

- Requiring all office staff to be certified notaries would eliminate a specific operational vulnerability that caused problems with filing paperwork under the current administration.

- The goal is a nonpartisan, impartial, psychologically safe workplace — because politics can be uncomfortable, and staff need to be able to do their jobs without pressure.

0:20:06 - Q: Tell us more about the proposed statewide voter guidebook — what’s in it and how does it reach every Hoosier?

- Beyond candidate listings, the book would include party platforms, how to become a precinct chair or delegate, what a township trustee does, how to file as an independent candidate, and county party contact information for all parties.

- Candidates would have space for a brief (roughly 500-700 character) nonpartisan self-description, a website link, and social media handles — and any candidate who refuses to fill it out gets “candidate chose not to respond,” which Potter says speaks for itself.

- This levels the playing field: Republican candidates in her local races never answered League of Women Voters questionnaires or updated Ballotpedia, but would now have a standardized, publicly visible profile.

- Distribution would combine physical mail, digital access, and ADA-compliant formats, drawing on late-’90s-era websites that desperately need modernization.

0:23:32 - Q: How has your military service in Iraq shaped your leadership style?

- Potter served as a .249 and .50-cal gunner, lead truck driver, and night watch — not just a personal security role — which entailed real accountability for weapons, equipment, and her team.

- She is clear that she does not believe the U.S. should have been in Iraq, is opposed to the ongoing support for military action in Gaza and Palestine, and opposes war broadly.

- Her early leadership style mirrored the authoritarian “do as I say” model she experienced in a Republican household and in the military — she’s candid that it wasn’t kind.

- Over time, she’s moved toward nonviolent communication and consensus-building: she believes a leader is only as strong as the least-informed member of their team, and actively develops cross-functional knowledge in the people she manages.

0:26:23 - Q (viewer): In deep-red counties, people think Democrats are crazy before we open our mouths. What message works best for rebuilding trust?

- Potter’s advice is to lead with curiosity rather than persuasion: ask people what they’re worried about, because the underlying concerns — costs, safety, quality of life — are usually shared across party lines.

- She acknowledges that Democrats have earned some distrust through federal-level failures, and that the party genuinely needs to change how it campaigns and governs.

- When conversations turn hostile, she recommends a polite exit rather than escalation; the goal is consistency and continued presence, not winning every argument.

0:29:46 - Q (viewer): Should we automatically mail ballots to voters?

- Potter supports permanent opt-in absentee enrollment rather than requiring a new request each election cycle — she would not mandate universal mail ballots without putting it to voters first.

- Her preferred mechanism is a citizen-led ballot initiative: let Hoosiers vote on whether to adopt automatic mail ballots, as other states have, so no single party takes the blame or credit.

- She believes broader mail voting would increase turnout — the 2020 numbers support this — though she acknowledges it’s not universally popular.

0:30:59 - Q (viewer): How would you protect Hoosiers from AI-generated disinformation and digital manipulation while protecting free speech and privacy?

- Social media manipulation is largely outside the Secretary of State’s direct authority, but Potter would build fact-checking infrastructure into the office’s websites — linking to resources like Snopes and potentially creating an Indiana-specific portal where residents can flag suspected disinformation.

- She is alarmed by Diego Morales’s decision to hand voter data — including Social Security and driver’s license information — to the Department of Justice, and would work to stop the state’s practice of selling Hoosier data, currently generating $12 million or more annually.

- She would seek a corporate partner to provide data-breach protection to Hoosiers whose information was exposed through DOGE-related data sharing.

- Kory’s broader proposal for a formal Indiana Office of Digital Integrity is intriguing to Potter, but she wants a public comment process before committing to its scope and structure.

0:33:54 - Q (viewer): People supporting your opponent claim you lack bipartisan appeal. What do you say?

- Potter pushes back directly: she grew up in a Republican home in a rural red area, still lives in one, and understands viscerally what it means to distrust Democrats.

- The real trust deficit, she argues, is Democrats taking corporate money and then voting like Republicans once elected — her platform has nothing inherently partisan in it and invites public input.

- She believes her strongest untapped constituency is non-voters — the largest single “voting bloc” — who are more likely to respond to authenticity and accessibility than to a famous last name.

0:35:31 - Q (viewer): What level of customer service do Hoosiers deserve, and how will you deliver it?

- The office should function like any responsive service organization: feedback forms, timely responses, and a chain of accountability when county clerks do something wrong.

- She is frustrated that constituents have spent a year and a half calling and emailing elected officials with no response; her office would not operate that way.

- Better website infrastructure is itself a customer service intervention — most questions should be answerable without ever contacting a human.

0:37:12 - Q: What do you say to people with concerns about your Republican upbringing?

- Potter is open about her past: she grew up without internet or cell phones, and her worldview was shaped entirely by family, friends, and church — all Republican-leaning.

- Her political shift began when she returned from Iraq in 2006 and had 90 days to find her own health insurance — the moment she realized she had been living off the government as a soldier while simultaneously believing people shouldn’t.

- She describes her political evolution as ongoing: the older she gets, the more progressive she gets, and she finds her personal journey of deprogramming useful for understanding where persuadable voters currently are.

0:39:18 - Q (viewer): How would your office improve communication and transparency with everyday residents?

- All contract bids and job openings would be publicly posted; local papers would be proactively notified; and the office would hold public forums during major procurement decisions.

- When the office makes a mistake — which it will — Potter commits to owning it publicly and correcting course rather than covering it up.

- More town halls and public engagement from the Secretary of State’s office itself would be a structural shift from the current culture of silence.

0:40:36 - Q (viewer): Should there be an Indiana Office of Digital Integrity connected to the Secretary of State?

- Potter finds the concept genuinely compelling — a Snopes-style clearinghouse for Indiana political information — but wants public input before committing to its design.

- She’s clear about the limits of her expertise here: implementing something like this is outside her wheelhouse, and she’d need to convene a dedicated conversation with Kory and others who understand the technical and legal dimensions.

- Voting machines in Indiana are not connected to the internet, but the broader question of digital integrity in elections is real and deserves serious institutional attention.

0:41:17 - Q: What does “restoring honor to the office” mean in practical terms?

- It means doing the job: managing the budget responsibly, not billing taxpayers for personal cars or travel, and making ethical decisions consistently.

- Potter directly contrasts this with what she describes as the Republican pattern of using public office for personal enrichment.

- On Kory’s specific question about election machine security: the machines in most Indiana counties are air-gapped from the internet, though they communicate with each other locally; more public education on this process would reduce unfounded fears.

0:43:01 - Q (viewer): What are your views on Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, and the rise of Islamophobia?

- Potter states flatly that she believes what is happening in Gaza is a genocide, and that she is anti-war — a position she holds as an Army veteran.

- She defines human rights as non-negotiable regardless of geography: safe food, water, air, shelter, education, health care, environment, and government.

- The partisan framing of human rights, she says, is ultimately about money and power — and she would love to see a world where these basics are not up for partisan debate.

0:44:04 - Q (viewer follow-up): Would you formally support creating an Indiana Office of Digital Integrity at the state and federal level?

- At the state level, yes in concept — she’d want a public comment process to define scope and function.

- At the federal level, the Secretary of State’s jurisdiction doesn’t reach that far; she encourages a separate dedicated conversation with Kory on the details.

0:46:11 - Q (viewer): If you remove Diego Morales’s overpaid family members, how would you reallocate those funds?

- All staff should earn a living wage — she’s not proposing across-the-board salary cuts.

- But the money currently going to Morales’s brother-in-law at hundreds of thousands of dollars a year should be redirected to website upgrades, ballot book production, and county clerk resources.

- The full picture of where money has been going will only be clear after the independent audit she plans to conduct on entering office.

0:47:23 - Q: What do you say to people who claim you can’t fundraise sufficiently to win in November?

- She says “yes I can” — and argues there is nothing her campaign lacks that her opponent has: better website, better platform, better social media, better responsiveness, better ground game.

- The deeper point is structural: if $3 million is the price of entry for a competitive general election, the Democratic Party will eventually run out of candidates — it needs a model that grassroots-funded campaigns can replicate.

- Potter’s campaign has been using grassroots analytics tools for some time, a fact underscored by her opponent recently adopting the same approach.

- She draws on her involvement with the Indiana Rural Summit and relationships with organizers in Virginia and Philadelphia who have successfully engaged rural communities — an organizing model she is actively replicating across all 92 Indiana counties.

0:50:38 - Q: What do you think about top Republicans calling for Diego Morales to suspend his campaign?

- Too little, too late. Potter is blunt: Republicans nominated and protected Morales despite his illegal voting, his firing from the office, and a sexual assault allegation — they are all complicit.

- She doesn’t care who the Republican nominee ends up being; every candidate in that party is, in her view, part of the same system that produced the current mess.

- She does see political opportunity in Morales’s collapse: Republican voters who are disgusted with politics as usual are potential Potter supporters, because she’s an outsider running explicitly against cronyism in both parties.

0:52:18 - Q: What are your thoughts on party leaders donating to their preferred primary candidates?

- Potter sees the tension: Democrats are voters too and have every right to support their preferred candidates.

- But she describes a pattern in this race that goes beyond legitimate preference — county party chairs who won’t tell her when their meetings are, chairs who told her not to bother visiting because they “only have six delegates,” and media interviews that got killed.

- Her ask is simple: the Democratic Party should follow its own bylaws and treat all candidates fairly, regardless of insider preference.

0:54:00 - Q (viewer): Could Indiana adopt open or jungle primaries at the county level or below, given how many Democrats have to pull Republican ballots just to have a say?

- Potter agrees this is a real problem — she’s seen it firsthand in Johnson County, where entire towns have historically had zero Democrats on the ballot.

- Her answer is citizen-led ballot initiatives: work with the legislature to put the question directly to Hoosier voters rather than imposing it top-down.

- She supports jungle primaries in principle and notes that ballot books in states that use them include detailed, sourced breakdowns of every referendum — pros and cons with citations — so voters can make genuinely informed decisions.

- She is enthusiastic about open primaries but wants to preserve the ability to participate in one’s party of choice without being required to register or pay dues — a tension she acknowledges hasn’t been fully resolved.

0:58:12 - Final question: Is there anything you want voters to know that we haven’t covered?

- Be objective: look at both candidates, and don’t believe the claim that you need a name or money to win — a name can be built, and her campaign is proving it.

- The Secretary of State is a four-year office; voters should be thinking about sustainability, not just the moment.

- Her platform: party-building, restoring integrity to Indiana elections, and making voting easier.

- She is an open book — cell phone, email, and DMs all publicly available at blythepotter.com — and she asks voters to come to her directly before sharing rumors, because misinformation about her campaign is circulating daily.

Thanks to Blythe for taking the time to meet voters where they are. For more information and to get involved, visit her campaign website at https://blythepotter.com.

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https://timpeckforcongress.com/

SUMMARY:

With Indiana’s May 5th primary two days out, the Progressive Indiana Network hosted its final virtual town hall of the primary season, featuring Dr. Tim Peck, emergency physician and Democratic candidate for Indiana’s 9th Congressional District. Peck, who lost the 2024 general election to Republican incumbent Erin Houchin, is making his second run for the seat covering Indiana’s 18 southeastern counties. Over the course of the hour, Peck made the case for a grassroots, no-corporate-PAC campaign rooted in his medical experience, discussing healthcare affordability, the Supreme Court, AI and data centers, the Fifth Circuit’s mifepristone ruling, bipartisan dealmaking, and his evolving view of corporations — closing with a pitch for why this cycle is different from 2024 and how viewers can join his movement before Tuesday.

IN DEPTH:

00:00:21 Opening Remarks

- Scott introduces the show as PIN’s final virtual town hall of the primary season, two days before the May 5th primary

- Peck thanks Scott for the work PIN does to bring educated voters to the polls and introduces himself as an emergency physician living on a farm in Clark County, across the river from Louisville

- Peck frames his campaign around a door-knocking encounter: a constituent who told him “it costs too much to go to work,” citing gas, credit card interest, housing, childcare, student debt, and healthcare premiums

- Peck notes that only six of IN-9’s 18 counties can deliver babies, calling the district a microcosm of rural healthcare collapse

- Peck says he has sworn off all corporate PAC money and has built a movement of 1,000 volunteers who have knocked over 10,000 doors

00:06:02 Viewer Question (Sarah, web form): Will you accept corporate PAC money, and how do you guard against taking it indirectly through leadership PACs?

- Peck says he signed on with roughly 70 candidates nationwide to a pledge covering term limits, no individual stock trading, no corporate PAC money, Supreme Court ethics transparency, and a five-year post-office lobbying moratorium

- Peck defines his pledge broadly: he also refuses dark money PACs and money from Democratic incumbents who themselves take corporate PAC money — including declining a check offer from Rep. Andre Carson

- Peck argues that taking corporate PAC money creates a structural conflict of interest: when Chase Bank calls, you cancel your constituent meeting; without that money, you don’t

- Peck says the national Democratic Party — including the progressive wing — has abandoned Indiana, which actually gives him freedom to run the campaign Hoosiers deserve rather than one dictated by national party strategy

00:12:03 Viewer Question (Christine, YouTube): What type of Democrat do you consider yourself?

- Peck calls himself a left-of-center Democrat with progressive ideals who is willing to work with those who don’t share all of them — distinguishing that from moderation

- Peck says labels obscure more than they reveal; he knocked on a door that same day belonging to a union worker with a Trump yard sign who voted for Trump three times and is now unhappy with him

- Peck argues that working with Republicans isn’t ideological compromise but legislative strategy: there is bipartisan support for things like the PRO Act that simply never gets to the floor because Mike Johnson blocks it

- Scott offers “pragmatic progressive” as a label; Peck says he’ll take it

00:16:13 What do we do about the Supreme Court?

- Peck opposes court expansion, calling it the nuclear option — like eliminating the filibuster, it only empowers whoever holds power at the moment

- Peck’s path forward: pass Amy Klobuchar’s anti-mid-decade gerrymandering bill, enact binding Supreme Court ethics legislation, win the presidency to appoint new justices, and use impeachment only once ethics laws are in place and being violated

- Peck says he does not support using impeachment for messaging purposes, but that Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito, and John Roberts cannot be impeached yet because Congress has not yet passed the ethics laws that would make their conduct clearly illegal

- Peck frames the long game: chip away at the structural damage, neutralize the court over time, and focus on winning elections rather than procedural shortcuts

00:22:04 How do you tackle healthcare affordability and get toward universal coverage?

- Peck believes healthcare is a human right but does not think Medicare for All is achievable now, and argues Medicare itself has serious flaws: no dental, vision, or hearing coverage; 20% of recipients still carry medical debt; no long-term care coverage; and lengthy ICU stays can bankrupt patients

- Peck’s plan centers on weakening insurance monopolies through antitrust enforcement: UnitedHealth owns Optum (a physician network), nursing homes, pharmacy benefit managers, and NP groups — Aetna and CVS have merged similarly

- Peck wants to haul insurance executives before Congress and demand an accounting of how much Medicare payroll tax money went to executive bonuses and shareholder payouts

- Peck calls for banning prior authorization (an insurance company making a medical decision) and eliminating pharmacy benefit managers, which he says extract money from the system with no added value — both have bipartisan support

- Peck argues that Citizens United is the real obstacle to full Medicare for All; until corporate money is out of politics, the insurance industry has too much power to be displaced entirely

00:32:21 Viewer Question (Anonymous, web form): Your career has ties to Sam Altman of OpenAI and Joe Lonsdale of Palantir. Your FEC filings show a $2,000 donation from Brian Bloom, VP of Millennium hedge fund. Will your votes on AI and tech policy protect Hoosier working families or will your industry connections sway you?

- Peck says the Bloom donation came from a childhood friend who is a Democrat, not from Millennium as an institution

- Peck focuses on data centers as the most immediate AI policy question: deals are being struck in backrooms, contracts signed, and only then is the public invited to discuss — he calls this insane and in need of regulation

- Peck draws a parallel to Indiana’s casino licensing process, where communities had robust public input and could negotiate community benefits (schools, libraries, a YMCA) before deals closed — data centers should work the same way

- Peck says he is directly affected: a massive Facebook data center is being built in Clark County, his home county, and he has no meaningful say over its electricity or water consumption

00:38:10 Viewer Question (Anonymous, web form): You suggested people use ChatGPT to vet candidates. Where do you stand on AI use and responsible guardrails?

- Peck says he recommended ChatGPT because voters are uninformed — he knocked on doors during early voting and met people who had already cast a ballot without knowing who they voted for in his race; any research tool is better than none, but he stressed using the cited references

- Peck says the incumbent, Erin Houchin, sits on tech and crypto policy committees while taking heavy money from Silicon Valley VCs and voting for maximum deregulation — he wants the opposite

- Peck argues AI should be treated like nuclear energy: even when driven by private industry, technologies that pose existential risks require public ownership of the decision-making process

- Peck says AI development needs to be slowed down and subjected to the same kind of public discourse and regulatory guardrails applied to other civilization-scale technologies

00:43:06 Viewer Question (Ruth, web form): The Fifth Circuit just ruled mifepristone cannot be sent by mail. Does this improve patient safety?

- Peck flatly says no — the “patient safety” rationale from the court is false; mifepristone is a very safe drug, and the program of telemedicine prescribing followed by mail delivery is one he helped build with Planned Parenthood

- Peck says what is actually unsafe is forcing patients to travel great distances, and describes the practical reality in his ER: when a pregnant patient faces a life-or-death situation, his first call legally has to go to a hospital lawyer before he can make a medical decision — that is the government in his exam room

- Peck notes an unusual political wrinkle: pharma companies want the mail program to continue and will spend money fighting the ruling — watch where that money goes

- Peck strongly supports restoring mifepristone access by mail and opposes government interference in medical decision-making

00:46:29 Can you name an issue where you’d vote with Republicans over most Democrats, or with the party over a majority of your constituents?

- Peck says his commitment on rights issues — abortion, LGBTQ — is grounded in the First Amendment and will not waver regardless of constituent polling; those are not negotiating positions

- Peck says working with Republicans is about the pre-floor process: finding issues with genuine bipartisan alignment, doing the work to get a bill to the floor, and then voting on whatever imperfect bill emerges in the best interest of his constituents

- Peck points to universal pre-K as an example of surprising Republican support, including GOP-authored proposals to extend the CBO scoring window to 30 years so the long-term economic benefits become visible

- Peck reiterates the mifepristone situation as a live example: sometimes pharma and the right align with the right outcome, and you take the win

00:51:13 Is there a position you’ve evolved on over the years?

- Peck says his biggest evolution is his view of corporations: he used to think more highly of them, until he personally experienced and came to fully understand that every corporate board charter legally places the shareholder first — above employees, patients, and customers

- Peck says that when push comes to shove, corporations will always revert to what the charter demands, which will not be in the interest of regular people

- Peck agrees with Scott’s framing that government’s role is to set the conditions so that doing the right thing and doing the profitable thing are the same thing — rather than assuming corporations will self-regulate

- Peck credits thousands of one-on-one voter conversations over three and a half years as the source of this evolution

00:54:41 What’s different this time vs. 2024?

- Peck says Houchin beat him by 20+ points in 2024, but frames it as Donald Trump and straight-ticket voting beating him — Houchin’s own name recognition was still only in the 30s–40% range in internal polling

- Peck points to unprecedented Democratic engagement: Jeffersonville drew 2,000 to its last No Kings rally, Corydon drew 700 in a town of 3,000, and similar energy is showing up in Madison, Seymour, and Bloomington

- Peck says soft Trump voters who stayed with him in 2024 — not the core MAGA 30-35% — have begun turning in the last six weeks, with gas prices serving as the final straw for people already stretched by childcare, housing, and healthcare costs

- Peck says the structural difference is the operation: 3.5 years of relationship-building has produced experienced staff, a large individual donor list, 3,000 postcards sent from the lower district to Bloomington voters, and canvassing in four cities simultaneously on the day of this town hall

01:02:07 How can people get involved?

- Peck directs viewers to www.timpeckforcongress.com and the “Join the Movement” tab, where they can sign up to write postcards, knock doors, or find a fellowship

- Door knocking for the primary has ended, but phone banking continues through Election Day Tuesday; Peck says if someone really wants to knock, the campaign will give them literature for their own neighborhood

- Peck gives his personal cell number on air: 812-287-9079, crediting former Congressman Lee Hamilton for the advice to put your real number on your card

- Peck pledges that win or lose on Tuesday, he will continue fighting — if he loses, he will join whatever Democratic movement is growing, because flipping the House is the goal

01:03:24 Closing Remarks

- Scott thanks Peck, wishes him luck Tuesday, and urges all viewers to vote regardless of candidate preference

Thanks again to Dr. Peck for joining us. For more information and to get involved, visit his campaign website at https://timpeckforcongress.com. You can also find him on Facebook and across most social media sites at timpeckforcongress.

Tune in Tuesday night for PIN’s Primary Election Night Special, beginning at 7pm ET | 6pm CT.

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Progressive Indiana Network: https:/www.progressiveindiana.net

Moderator:

Kacey Blundell: https://hoosierwomenforward.org/kacey-blundell/

Candidates:

Brad Meyer: https://bradmeyer.org/

Tim Peck: https://timpeckforcongress.com/

Keil Roark: https://www.keilroark.com/

Jim Graham was invited but unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict.

SUMMARY:

Progressive Indiana Network hosted the final primary debate of the 2026 cycle for Indiana’s 9th Congressional District, moderated by Kacey Blundell. Three candidates participated: Dr. Tim Peck, an emergency medicine physician from New Washington; Brad Meyer, a former manufacturing leader from Bloomington; and Keil Roark, a licensed electrical engineer, Navy veteran, and former UAW assembly line worker. A fourth candidate, Jim Graham, was invited but declined citing a scheduling conflict. The debate covered 11 questions across a broad range of policy areas -- including the cost of living, healthcare, education, infrastructure, immigration, data centers, and government accountability -- followed by a 15-question lightning round exposing intra-party fault lines, and closing statements from each candidate. Peck ran on a platform of rejecting corporate PAC money, reducing healthcare costs by eliminating middlemen and directing Medicare dollars to patient care, and labor-first infrastructure policy. Meyer advocated for a $20 minimum wage, Medicare for All, and a structural progressive overhaul of the economy. Roark positioned himself as the pragmatic, electable candidate, focused on ACA subsidies, a $15 minimum wage, and appealing to disaffected Republicans.

BREAKDOWN:

00:00:23 Welcome and Introductions

- Blundell introduces the debate and PIN, explains the format, and welcomes the three candidates.

- A fourth candidate, Jim Graham, was invited but could not attend due to a scheduling conflict.

- Opening statement order determined by random draw: Peck first, then Meyer, then Roark.

00:03:21 Opening Statements

- Peck introduces himself as an emergency medicine physician who co-led a bipartisan coalition to expand telemedicine ahead of the pandemic, frames the central problem as “it costs too much to work,” and pledges to accept no corporate PAC money.

- Meyer highlights 25 years in manufacturing leadership, calls for a $20 minimum wage, Medicare for All, and the first $20,000 in earnings tax-free, and argues Democrats lose by softening their message.

- Roark introduces himself as a Purdue-educated electrical engineer, Navy officer, and former UAW assembly line worker, calls for a $15 minimum wage and ACA subsidy restoration as pragmatic near-term priorities, and frames himself as the electable candidate in a conservative district.

00:09:43 Q1: What is your top priority for residents of Indiana’s 9th Congressional District, and how do you plan to achieve that?

Keil Roark

- Prioritizes reinstating ACA subsidies, passing a minimum wage increase, and repealing the “big, beautiful bill” to restore SNAP and Medicaid funding.

- Also called for a No Stock Trade Act to prohibit members of Congress from trading on insider information, and Supreme Court ethics reform.

Brad Meyer

- Top priorities: stabilize the ACA and rural health care system, and enforce the Impoundment Act to compel the executive branch to spend congressionally allocated funds.

- Called for impeachment proceedings against Trump for the Iran war and for gutting federal programs in violation of law.

Tim Peck

- Focused on the “costs too much to work” problem he hears at the doors: gas, housing, childcare, groceries, education debt, and health insurance all consume more than a paycheck provides.

- Proposed restoring war powers, first-time homebuyer assistance to compete with private equity, universal pre-K, grocery price gouging investigations, lower student loan interest rates, and reversing the big, beautiful bill’s ACA cuts.

00:15:56 Q2: How would you address rising costs of living, including housing, groceries, and health care for families in this district?

Brad Meyer

- Proposed $20/hour minimum wage, raising the non-exempt salary threshold to $100,000 for overtime purposes, and making the first $20,000 earned tax-free.

- Advocated for Medicare for All to reduce medical debt bankruptcies, ending corporate speculation in single-family housing, building more housing supply, and helping first-time buyers with down payments.

- Also called for stabilizing Social Security.

Tim Peck

- Identified corporate PAC money as the root cause -- arguing that business interests now control government, citing the current congresswoman’s Duke Energy record as a specific example.

- Proposed leveling the tax code between corporations and individuals: credit card interest rates, PE firm housing tax rates, and ACA premium taxation all favor corporations over working people.

Keil Roark

- Framed housing as primarily a supply problem stemming from the post-2008 construction slowdown, calling for tax incentives for development, low-interest loans for first-time buyers, and anti-monopoly cost controls on predatory developers.

- Tied grocery prices to fertilizer costs elevated by war, and argued ACA subsidy restoration would cut average monthly health care costs by roughly 25%.

00:21:59 Q3: What is your stance on public safety and criminal justice reform, and what specific policies would you support?

Tim Peck

- Supports funding police while also addressing the root causes that produce crime. Described a real incident from the night before -- a middle schooler waving a gun outside a high school dance in Salem -- as emblematic of the problem.

- Called for background checks, safe storage requirements, red flag laws, school-based mental health and conflict resolution, and access restrictions for those who should not have firearms.

Brad Meyer

- Framed the issue as reactive (policing and courts) versus proactive (addressing poverty and lack of hope).

- Criticized the country’s failures on mental health, addiction policy, and recidivism -- noting that roughly half of those released from prison reoffend.

- Called for body cameras and federal oversight to rebuild community trust, and argued the federal government’s retreat from consent decrees has made things worse.

Keil Roark

- Emphasized the direct link between unemployment and crime: good-paying jobs reduce recidivism.

- Called for upgraded police recruiting, training, and federal grants to struggling departments; eliminating cash bond for nonviolent offenders; and better in-prison vocational training to reduce reoffending.

00:28:19 Q4: How do you plan to support small businesses and economic growth in the suburban and rural parts of the district?

Tim Peck

- Argued that rural infrastructure is the prerequisite: broadband, transportation links, local hospitals, and schools must exist before small businesses can survive.

- Described his own community’s situation -- local hospital closed, fiber internet only recently arrived, limited transport to urban centers -- as the lived reality of rural economic hollowing.

Keil Roark

- Drew on his own blue-collar background in construction to argue for protecting small business tax deductions for equipment, materials, and operating costs.

- Called for working with local mayors and county leaders to identify specific infrastructure and economic development needs, then targeting tax incentives accordingly.

Brad Meyer

- Outlined four steps: reduce barriers to starting businesses (limit non-competes, pass Medicare for All to decouple health insurance from employment); strengthen the local economy through minimum wage and overtime policy; expand capital through the Small Business Administration; and invest in broadband, infrastructure, and workforce development.

- Noted that Kentucky receives roughly twice Indiana’s federal funding, and called that a failure of congressional representation.

00:34:39 Q5: What steps would you take to improve access to affordable health care for Hoosiers, given Indiana’s rankings near the bottom nationally for maternal mortality, mental health access, public health funding, and hospital costs?

Brad Meyer

- Short-term: reinstate ACA subsidies, expand telehealth and preventive care, increase rural provider reimbursement rates, and support mobile EMS units.

- Long-term: advocated for Medicare for All, arguing the for-profit system is unsustainable -- Americans die earlier and go bankrupt more than in comparable countries.

- Offered a personal story about using Planned Parenthood when he and his wife were young and low-income, and expressed strong support for restoring it.

Keil Roark

- Called for reinstating ACA subsidies and updating ACA language to include tax incentives for demonstrated preventive care activities -- citing Japan’s system as a model for how preventive care reduces downstream costs.

- Supported repealing the big, beautiful bill, whose Medicaid and SNAP cuts are putting severe pressure on district hospitals.

Tim Peck

- Described the EMS crisis in his own community: no local hospital, local fire department does not run EMS on weekends, and the next closest ambulance may be unavailable or transporting someone to Kentucky.

- Argued that without universal insurance coverage, rural hospitals cannot stay open -- and without hospitals, EMS collapses with them.

- Called for eliminating prior authorization, banning pharmacy benefit managers, and ensuring Medicare tax dollars go directly to patient care rather than executive bonuses and shareholder payouts.

00:41:50 Q6: How should the federal government support education and what changes would you advocate for schools in the district, given Indiana’s rankings of 37th in K-12 funding, 37% grade-level reading rate, and 39th in teacher pay?

Keil Roark

- Called for funding teacher assistants, after-school programs, and dramatically higher teacher pay, arguing that without better compensation, districts cannot attract STEM professionals.

- Drew on his experience as an Ivy Tech instructor and Navy recruiter -- noting he saw many enlistment candidates fail the ASVAB because of weak math skills -- as evidence of the STEM gap.

Tim Peck

- Argued that Mike Braun and the state Republican majority will not raise teacher pay, so the federal government must act through its leverage over funding.

- Proposed tying federal education dollars to living-wage requirements for teachers and prohibiting those funds from flowing into private school voucher programs.

- Supported universal pre-K as a bipartisan investment with a measurable return, noting a Republican-authored bill already exists on the subject.

Brad Meyer

- Called for restoring and protecting the Department of Education, which channels roughly $3 billion in Title I funds to Indiana’s struggling schools.

- Supported universal pre-K and a national child care program, and called for better congressional coordination of over a dozen federal adult education and retraining programs.

- Argued that state leaders bear primary responsibility and are failing, and that federal pressure must be applied.

00:48:17 Follow-Up: Should the federal Department of Education be kept or returned to the states?

Keil Roark

- Supports keeping the Department. Argued that federal funding leverage is real -- Indiana will listen when dollars are at stake -- and that the Department provides essential national oversight of graduation rates, credentialing, and curriculum standards that states cannot self-police.

Tim Peck

- Supports keeping a well-funded, centralized Department. Argued that federal dollars give Congress the power to require states to fund public education rather than divert money into voucher programs, which Indiana has done and plans to expand.

Brad Meyer

- Supports keeping the Department, emphasizing its role as an independent evaluator of school performance -- one the administration wants to eliminate specifically to hide what privatization is doing to student outcomes.

- Called the proposed elimination a “shell game”: Trump will increase military spending and defund education, then send responsibility to states that will let it collapse, causing the $3 billion Indiana has historically received to simply vanish.

00:54:21 Q7: What is your position on infrastructure spending -- roads, broadband, and public transportation -- for the 9th District?

Tim Peck

- Argued that federal infrastructure money should be conditioned on worker protections and fair wages -- the PRO Act does exactly that and has bipartisan support, but Speaker Johnson will not put it on the floor.

- Described the broadband rollout in his rural community as a cautionary tale: subcontractors using questionable labor are breaking things that union workers then have to fix, spending the money twice.

Keil Roark

- Called for local mayors and county councils to serve as the clearinghouse for infrastructure priorities -- they know which roads, bridges, and fiber connections are needed and where.

- Supported federal funding for roads, bridges, broadband, and school improvements as long as it is tied to genuine community needs and balanced between maintenance and new development.

Brad Meyer

- Noted over 1,000 deficient bridges and another 1,000 in disrepair in Indiana; an aging electric grid unable to keep pace with growth; and neglected water treatment infrastructure.

- Argued the federal government’s core role is to fund the big, expensive, long-term things local communities cannot handle alone, and that Congress must work with regional and state officials to target that money effectively.

01:00:26 Q8: How would you approach border security and immigration policy?

Keil Roark

- Opposed defunding ICE but called it broken -- citing the firing of Noem as evidence -- and called for stronger recruiting standards, body cameras, and accountability.

- Supports strict border security and wants to reinstitute a strengthened E-Verify to hold employers accountable for hiring undocumented workers.

Tim Peck

- Argued Congress has shamefully abdicated its power by failing to push back on Trump’s legally invalid “invasion” rationale for blocking asylum cases, which a federal judge has since rejected.

- Supports stronger borders through more judges, more officers, and better drug detection equipment -- along with a faster, fairer asylum adjudication process, rather than releasing claimants into the country for years while their cases wait.

Brad Meyer

- Led an anti-ICE protest at Camp Atterbury in August and supports rolling back current ICE expansion -- but acknowledged that doing so only returns policy to 2024, which was also inadequate.

- Reframed immigration as an economic issue: the U.S. labor participation rate has declined for 40 years and the country needs more workers; immigration policy should be redesigned to bring workers in legally, with dignity, in a controlled and values-consistent way.

01:06:18 Q9: As the district’s congressman, what actions would you take to address environmental concerns raised by data center development while balancing economic growth?

Brad Meyer

- Opposed irresponsible data center implementation; called for establishing clear national standards for responsible siting, requiring transparent permitting (without NDAs or gag orders on communities), engaging the EPA, and ensuring the grid can handle additional load.

- Called community gag orders potentially illegal and argued local residents must have more power in the process.

Tim Peck

- Argued data center companies, unlike casinos, make private deals with governments before communities can weigh in, then consume water and drive up electricity prices with no community benefit.

- Called for transparency and accountability before construction, noting that casinos historically deliver community infrastructure as part of their deals and data centers do not.

Keil Roark

- Called for clear value propositions: communities must know the tax revenue, lease terms, maintenance agreements, and ownership structure before ground is broken.

- Supported using the EPA and Department of Energy to clamp down on reckless development, and praised local moratoriums already in place in some counties as a model.

01:12:34 Q10: How will you ensure transparency and accountability in your role if elected to Congress?

Keil Roark

- Called for aggressive use of committee hearings and subpoena power to force administration officials to testify under oath, arguing that contempt of Congress and pleading the Fifth are themselves accountability tools that create political pressure.

- Said he would seek assignments on the Veterans Committee or STEM Committee.

Brad Meyer

- Described a long list of current administration abuses: replacing inspectors general, using unconfirmed acting agency heads, resisting subpoenas, weakening White House visitor log transparency, relaxing ethics waivers, and undermining the FEC.

- Called for structural reforms including a healthcare amendment, balanced budget amendment, and election finance reform.

- Acknowledged that Congress itself has done “a suck-egg job” of oversight and said he would not take corporate PAC money once campaign finance reform is passed legislatively -- but declined to unilaterally disarm during the current cycle, arguing the campaign will need $3 million or more.

Tim Peck

- Pledged no corporate PAC money and called out his opponents for not making the same pledge.

- Said he has already signed the Take Back Accountability in Congress pledge along with 70 other Democratic challengers -- committing to no corporate PACs, a five-year lobbying moratorium after leaving office, a four-term limit, and no individual stock trading.

- Called for restoring checks and balances on the Supreme Court and reclaiming war powers and the power of the purse from the executive.

01:20:33 Speed Round

- Federal moratorium on new data center construction: Meyer no, Peck no, Roark no

- Expand the Supreme Court beyond nine justices: Roark no, Peck no, Meyer no

- Statehood for DC and Puerto Rico: Peck yes, Meyer yes to Puerto Rico, Roark yes (both)

- Constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College: Meyer yes, Roark no, Peck yes

- Federal legalization of recreational cannabis: Meyer yes, Roark no (too many unknowns), Peck yes

- FISA reauthorization as currently written: Roark no, Meyer no, Peck no

- Withhold military aid to Israel: Peck yes, Roark no in certain circumstances, Meyer partially

- Impeach President Trump: Meyer yes (for the Iran war), Roark yes (for Impoundment Act violations), Peck yes (depending on the article)

- Free public higher education: Roark no (expanded: merit-based in high-demand fields with payback requirement), Peck pathway to get there (expanded: removing barriers is a national security and workforce imperative), Meyer yes for the first year (expanded: real education costs have risen 10x since 1970 -- this was intentional and must be fixed)

- Cancel all outstanding student debt: Peck no (not all of it), Meyer yes, Roark no (merit-based forgiveness for teachers and doctors who serve required years)

- Federally funded child care: Meyer yes (funding mechanism still unresolved), Roark yes with a cost cap, Peck tax incentives for small businesses

- Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker: Peck no, Roark no, Meyer no

- Federal assault weapons ban: Meyer yes, Peck yes, Roark not necessarily (depends on the weapon)

- Abolish the federal death penalty: Meyer no (struggles with it), Roark no (capital punishment necessary in some cases), Peck yes

- Federal minimum wage by 2030: Roark $22-23/hour, Peck low 20s, Meyer $20 now then adjust as needed

01:30:09 Closing Statements

- Roark closes by arguing he is the only candidate who can win over disenfranchised Republicans in a deeply red district, citing Peck’s 55,000-vote loss last cycle as evidence that progressive candidates struggle in the general, and framing his economy-and-jobs message as the path to November.

- Meyer pushes back directly on Roark’s “safe bet” framing, arguing that every major progressive victory in American history -- Social Security, Medicare, civil rights -- came from courage rather than caution, and closes: “the meek may inherit the earth, but they’re never going to take back the House.”

- Peck argues something has changed in the district -- 700-person rallies in towns of 3,000, Republicans at the doors saying it costs too much to work -- and that the moment calls for a candidate who has built the organizing infrastructure to win, not just the right positions.

01:37:01 Moderator’s Closing Remarks

- Blundell thanks the candidates and PIN, notes early voting is underway, and closes by calling the primary winner’s general election race one of the most consequential midterm elections in modern American history.

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Progressive Indiana Network: https:/www.progressiveindiana.net

Moderator:

Scott Aaron Rogers: https://www.hoosleft.us

Candidates:

William Kory Amyx: https://amyxforcongress.com/

Nick Baker: https://electnickbaker.com/

Cinde Wirth: https://wirth4congress.com/

David Boyd was invited and and confirmed but pulled out of this debate citing to a scheduling conflict.

SUMMARY:

Progressive Indiana Network hosted a Democratic primary debate for Indiana’s 6th Congressional District, featuring moderator Scott Aaron Rogers and candidates William Kory Amyx, Nick Baker, and Dr. Cinde Wirth. A fourth candidate, David Boyd, was invited and confirmed but withdrew citing a scheduling conflict. The debate covered ten questions on foreign policy, technology accountability, immigration, affordability, healthcare, education, human rights, taxation, social security, and labor, followed by a fifteen-question speed round and closing statements. The candidates showed clear ideological distinctions throughout, particularly on healthcare — with Amyx and Wirth supporting universal single-payer and Baker advocating a public option — and on immigration, where Amyx and Wirth called for abolishing ICE and Baker opposed that position. The speed round revealed unanimous agreement on several issues including data center moratoriums, DC and Puerto Rico statehood, abolishing the Electoral College, cannabis legalization, FISA reauthorization, impeaching Trump, and opposing Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker, while the candidates split on an assault weapons ban, student debt cancellation, free higher education, and abolishing the federal death penalty.

BREAKDOWN:

00:00:22 Opening and introductions

- Scott Aaron Rogers opens the debate on behalf of Progressive Indiana Network, introducing the 6th Congressional District race.

- Candidates introduced: William Kory Amyx, Nick Baker, and Dr. Cinde Wirth; David Boyd was invited and confirmed but withdrew at the last minute citing a scheduling conflict.

- Format outlined: two-minute opening statements, ten questions with 90-second responses, a fifteen-question speed round, and closing statements.

00:02:49 Opening statements

- Amyx leads, citing 23,000 doors knocked across 11 counties and a focus on affordability, healthcare, education, public safety, and economic dignity.

- Baker follows (order swapped due to technical difficulties with Wirth), highlighting his Camp Lejeune Supreme Court case, a push for a balanced budget through healthcare reform, and an argument that he is the most electable candidate in a conservative district.

- Wirth closes, introducing herself as a seventh-generation 6th District resident, public school teacher, small business owner, and PhD scientist, and citing her 2022 run against Greg Pence as proof of her commitment to the district.

00:08:10 Q1: Separation of powers and the war with Iran

- Rogers frames the question around the Iran war, sweeping tariff authority, and the revival of impoundment powers, asking what each candidate would do to reassert congressional authority and what their position is on the war.

- Baker calls the war illegal and unconstitutional, argues for winning back the House majority to challenge executive overreach through legislation.

- Amyx proposes replacing the War Powers Resolution with a modern version requiring affirmative congressional authorization within 30 days, automatic funding cutoffs for unauthorized hostilities, congressional approval windows for tariffs, and reform of the National Emergencies Act.

- Wirth argues Congress members who took an oath to defend the Constitution have a duty to hold domestic enemies accountable, and calls for restoring the State Department’s professional diplomatic corps to end the Iran conflict.

00:15:12 Q2: Tech accountability and Section 230

- Rogers uses the discovery of a network of online chat groups called “Rape Academy” with an estimated 62 million members as the entry point for a question on platform liability and Section 230 reform.

- Amyx calls for full repeal of Section 230 and introduces two pieces of draft legislation: the Real Identity Integrity Act (tokenized logins to verify identity while preserving anonymity) and the Digital Integrity and Algorithmic Accountability Act (algorithmic transparency requirements).

- Wirth draws on her classroom experience with cyberbullying, calls for guardrails on big tech, and argues the root problem is money blocking legislation that has been proposed repeatedly over 15 years.

- Baker calls Silicon Valley the “Wild West,” applauds a New Mexico verdict against Meta for hosting child predators, references Indiana’s Haley’s Law, and cautions against regulation that tips into censorship.

00:21:32 Q3: Immigration and ICE

- Rogers frames the question around the removal of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE shootings of U.S. citizens, and a Democratic base that increasingly supports abolishing ICE.

- Wirth states she called for abolishing ICE last summer and co-organized an anti-ICE rally at Johnson County Park in Atterbury; she supports retaining professional Customs and Border Protection at ports of entry while eliminating ICE entirely.

- Baker opposes full abolishment, arguing ICE can be returned to how it functioned under Clinton and Obama — deporting people lawfully without the abuses of the current administration; warns that “abolish ICE” messaging will cost votes in a conservative district.

- Amyx introduces his Unity Pathway Act: provisional legal status for undocumented individuals, a pathway to a green card after five years, and replacement of ICE with a new Immigration Enforcement Service refocused on trafficking networks, cartel operations, and violent criminals rather than families and workers.

00:28:20 Q4: Affordability

- Rogers presses all three on the affordability crisis, noting that “we’ll lower costs” is a talking point, not a policy, and asking for root causes and specific solutions.

- Amyx cites real wage data (3.3% price increases vs. 0.3% real hourly earnings growth in March), and outlines a structural approach: raise wages with small business offsets, universal healthcare to cut costs, expand housing supply, and treat child care as an economic investment.

- Baker points to insurance as the largest inflationary metric — with profits up fourfold while premiums rose 10-21% — and argues for reforming healthcare overhead, returning tax revenue to communities, and raising the minimum wage.

- Wirth argues Medicare for All would give every family an effective lift of approximately $24,000 through 2-3% administrative overhead, calls for CEO pay accountability, enforcement of antitrust laws, and investment in 50 million affordable housing units.

00:34:30 Q5: Healthcare

- Rogers uses a direct Baker quote from a Hancock County forum — “I would love the dream of universal healthcare to come true, but I don’t think right now it’s a workable solution” — to open a deeper discussion on how each candidate would get to their preferred healthcare system.

- Baker clarifies he does not support propping up the ACA, which he calls broken, and instead supports a public option he describes as “Medicare for More” — leaving a capitalistic private market open while eliminating administrative waste; he says universal healthcare would require a two-thirds congressional majority.

- Wirth cites polling showing over 70% of Americans support single-payer in some form, advocates a phased-in approach funded through payroll taxes and a wealth tax on investment gains, and proposes job transition programs for insurance industry workers displaced by the change.

- Amyx agrees with Wirth that preventative care is critical, supports universal healthcare but opposes a sudden transition that could “crush” rural hospitals, and calls for phased implementation with Medicare negotiating drug prices, capped out-of-pocket costs, and strengthened rural care.

00:41:19 Q6: Education

- Rogers frames the question around Trump’s dismantling of the Department of Education, Title I cuts, student debt, and the teacher exodus from the profession.

- Amyx, who has worked in higher education for 22 years as a financial aid officer and veterans advisor, calls for increased Title I and IDEA funding, ending the voucher program, paying teachers at the same level as ICE agents (over $100,000), expanding career and technical education, and making all students independent at 18 for FAFSA purposes.

- Baker predicts the Department of Education may need to be “resurrected” by January, supports increased federal funding, and proposes using litigation to challenge religious institutions that accept vouchers while discriminating — arguing that’s a case winnable even in the current Supreme Court.

- Wirth, whose PhD is in cultural and educational policy, calls vouchers a tool for segregation dating to the post-Brown v. Board era, calls for overturning Espinoza v. Montana, restoring teacher loan eligibility, protecting IDEA, and ending the use of public tax dollars in private schools that can expel students at will.

00:47:54 Q7: LGBTQ rights and the Newsom debate

- Rogers frames the question around Gavin Newsom’s call for Democrats to be more “culturally normal,” the backlash from LGBTQ advocates, and where candidates draw the line between political pragmatism and abandoning vulnerable constituents.

- Wirth, an anthropologist, flatly rejects Newsom’s framing — “there is no cultural normalcy” — calls trans rights human rights, and recounts changing attendance rosters by hand to protect trans students before it was widely discussed, as far back as 2010.

- Baker says he supports liberty and government staying out of people’s personal lives, but expresses personal reservations about gender-affirming care for minors and trans athletes in certain sports settings, framing it as a political liability in the district.

- Amyx, who is gay and the only LGBTQ candidate in the race, calls human rights non-negotiable, says he knows firsthand what it means to hide who you are, and states he will never back down on trans rights or compromise on anyone’s humanity.

00:54:06 Q8: Taxation and the wealth tax

- Rogers uses Newsom’s opposition to a wealth tax — framing it as making room for billionaires in the Democratic tent — against the Warren/Sanders barnstorming tour arguing the opposite, and asks where each candidate stands on taxing the wealthy and reorienting the tax code.

- Baker calls for a complete overhaul of the tax code, more progressive brackets at $1M, $10M, $100M, and $1B income thresholds, and closing loopholes — while also proposing cutting corporate taxes to incentivize reinvestment over executive pay extraction.

- Amyx proposes eliminating the federal income tax entirely for individuals earning under $75,000 (and couples under $150,000), offset by a targeted 1% wealth tax on the ultra-wealthy with tens of millions in accumulated assets.

- Wirth supports a 2-3% tax on billionaire investment gains to fund childcare infrastructure and other programs, and calls for corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share rather than spending on tax avoidance.

01:00:23 Q9: Social Security solvency

- Rogers frames the Social Security shortfall — projected insolvency by 2032 with an automatic 28% benefit cut — and contrasts Republican privatization proposals with the progressive solution of lifting the payroll tax cap above $184,500.

- Wirth supports raising the cap to approximately $425,000, opposes privatization entirely, and calls for laws protecting the Social Security fund from being used as a “piggy bank.”

- Amyx acknowledges lifting the cap helps but notes economists say even a full cap elimination only closes 70-80% of the 75-year shortfall; says he favors eliminating the cap entirely but admits the full solution requires additional mechanisms he hasn’t fully resolved.

- Baker supports raising the Social Security tax threshold to $400,000-$500,000, argues the deeper problem is the national debt (grown from $13T to $39T since 2010), and references the Simpson-Bowles framework — two-thirds cuts, one-third revenue — as a model for long-term solvency.

01:06:39 Q10: Labor and the union drift to Republicans

- Rogers asks candidates to diagnose why blue-collar private-sector union members have been drifting Republican for decades, and what they would do in Congress to win back not just union leadership endorsements but rank-and-file votes.

- Baker attributes part of the drift to right-to-work laws and pivots to data centers — arguing no candidate can win this district supporting them, citing Decatur Township specifically, and noting that construction jobs last a year or two while the centers then employ fewer people than a Cracker Barrel.

- Wirth, who identifies as the only active labor union member (AFT/AFL-CIO) running for Congress in Indiana, supports the PRO Act and repeal of right-to-work, argues labor unions are being used as pawns in data center promotion, and attributes the trade union drift to sexism — noting trade unions are male-dominated while the professions drifting Democratic are female-dominated.

- Amyx says the cost of living is overriding party loyalty, Democrats haven’t been listening (citing his 23,000 doors across both parties), and that Republicans have mastered “respect for workers” messaging even when their policies don’t match; identifies cultural disconnect, institutional distrust, immigration anxiety, and “identity-first” Democratic messaging as contributing factors.

01:13:38 Speed round

- Federal moratorium on new data center construction: Amyx yes, Baker yes, Wirth yes

- Expand the Supreme Court beyond nine justices: Wirth yes, Baker no, Amyx yes

- Statehood for DC and Puerto Rico: Baker yes, Amyx yes, Wirth yes

- Constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College: Amyx yes, Wirth yes, Baker yes

- Federal legalization of recreational cannabis: Amyx yes, Baker yes, Wirth yes

- FISA reauthorization: Wirth no, Amyx no, Baker no

- Withhold military aid to Israel: Baker no, Wirth yes, Amyx yes

- Impeach President Trump: Amyx yes, Wirth yes, Baker yes

- Free public higher education: Wirth yes, Baker no, Amyx yes

- Cancel all outstanding student debt: Baker no, Amyx yes, Wirth yes

- Universal federally funded child care: Amyx yes, Wirth yes, Baker yes

- Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker: Baker no, Wirth no, Amyx no

- Federal assault weapons ban: Amyx yes, Baker no, Wirth yes

- Abolish the federal death penalty: Amyx no, Wirth yes, Baker no

- Federal minimum wage by 2030: Wirth declined to give a number (living wage tied to local cost of living), Baker $15, Amyx $23 (toward a $25/hr target by 2031)

01:19:18 Closing statements

- Amyx closes on listening before leading — 24,000 doors, real solutions built with constituents, a contrast with “standard politicians.”

- Baker closes on electability — asking voters whether they want the most progressive candidate or the most electable progressive, and arguing his campaign gives Democrats the best shot at flipping the seat, which last went Democratic in 1939 under Finly Gray.

- Wirth closes by invoking her 2022 run against Greg Pence when no one else would, her work across all 11 counties, and a vision of single-payer healthcare, living wages, affordable childcare, fully funded public schools, and being “the first Democratic woman to represent” the 6th District.

###

Rogers closes the event, thanks the candidates and PIN notes early voting is underway with primary day May 5th, and calls the winner’s general election race one of the most consequential midterm elections in modern American history

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https://www.whetstoneforcongress.com/

SUMMARY

John Whetstone, Democratic candidate for Indiana’s 4th Congressional District, joined HoosLeft host Scott Aaron Rogers for a virtual town hall on April 19, 2026. A small business owner from Crawfordsville, Whetstone grounded his progressive platform — Medicare for All, a $17.25 minimum wage, abolishing ICE, Supreme Court expansion, and federal cannabis legalization — in a personal story of growing up poor in a trailer park and watching his father work himself to death under the weight of medical debt. The conversation ranged across healthcare, education, housing, gun policy, democratic reform, data centers, and the question of how to peel off Trump voters with a working-class populist message that targets billionaires instead of immigrants.

QUESTIONS

00:00:22 Introduction

00:01:08 John Whetstone introduction and opening remarks

00:05:42 Q: Healthcare transition — rural hospitals are closing now. What does the path from our current system to Medicare for All actually look like?

- Government must use direct funding to keep rural hospitals and labor-and-delivery departments open during the transition period.

- The transition requires throwing federal dollars at the gap while the private insurance model is being unwound.

- Whetstone acknowledged he does not yet have a specific timeline for the full transition.

00:07:13 Q (Bonnie, Crawfordsville): What will you do to improve funding for Indiana schools?

- Incentivize systems to stop diverting students to private and charter schools.

- Restore and expand practical vocational programs — fire/EMS, law enforcement training, automotive — that have been defunded.

- Fund education from pre-K through college; student debt should not exist because an educated workforce benefits the whole country.

- AI-driven layoffs have left a generation of coding graduates underwater on loans they were told would pay off quickly.

- Daycare must be treated as part of the education infrastructure — parents leaving the workforce to care for children is a policy failure.

00:11:34 Q: Would you have supported the Build Back Better plan’s investment in childcare as human infrastructure?

- Yes — investing in people is the core message of his campaign.

- Revenue is available through closing tax loopholes, raising the corporate tax rate, and taxing the wealthy.

- The economy can afford to put people back at the center of policy.

00:13:29 Q: In last week’s IN-04 debate, you said you opposed a federal assault weapons ban. Why?

- Gun culture is central to where he grew up; the Second Amendment is a constitutional right and should not be eroded before other options are exhausted.

- Prefers investing in mental health, drug intervention, and community economic improvement — raising the minimum wage should lower crime rates.

- Supports registration, licensing, and mandatory safety training, but insists all of it must be free, like voting — no effective poll tax on a constitutional right.

- The insurance mandate idea is where he draws the line; cost should not be a barrier to exercising a right.

00:17:40 Q: Can ICE be reformed, or does it need to be abolished?

- Abolish ICE — they have proven untrustworthy and operate like a gang at $85 billion and counting.

- Replace with caseworkers who help people navigate the pathway to citizenship or residency.

- The killing of Alex Pretti — a licensed gun owner shot in the back by ICE agents — illustrates exactly why the agency cannot be reformed.

- The agency’s own arrest data shows only a small minority of those detained have any criminal record.

00:19:23 Q: You were the loudest yes on Supreme Court expansion in last week’s debate. To what number, and how do you answer the “race to the bottom” objection?

- Expand to 13 justices (revised upward from his initial answer of 12 after Scott pointed out you need an odd number for majority rulings).

- Structure it as six conservative, six liberal, plus one mutually agreed-upon neutral party.

- Pair expansion with term limits and a rotating schedule so every president gets at least one pick and no justice accumulates unchecked power indefinitely.

- 13 corresponds to the number of federal circuit courts — the same logic that originally produced nine.

00:24:17 Q: Do you support statehood for D.C. and Puerto Rico?

- Yes to both, and Guam as well — all U.S. territories should become full states.

- America should not be an imperial power with permanent territorial subjects who have no voting representation.

- Every territory should have some form of voting representation in Congress.

00:25:19 Q: Do you support abolishing the Electoral College?

- Yes — presidents should not be able to win without winning the popular vote.

- Also supports the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact as an interim workaround; Virginia just joined that week.

00:27:20 Q (Bonnie, Crawfordsville): What are your proposals on housing affordability and homelessness?

- Raise the minimum wage and cap rent increases — out-of-state corporate landlords are buying up Crawfordsville properties and hiking rents without making improvements.

- Medicare for All would free up household income currently drained by health costs.

- We have more vacant homes than unhoused people; retrofit vacant big-box storefronts like old Sears locations into government-funded housing.

- Supportive of public housing in concept but was candid that he needs to research the policy specifics before making firm commitments.

00:31:42 Q (Tabitha, Covington): What will you do for the autism, neurodiverse, and disability community?

- No specific policy plan yet; honest about that gap.

- Broad investment in the social work profession — more social workers, higher wages, more funding for social work schools.

- DCS and case management agencies are dangerously understaffed.

- ABA therapy and similar autism interventions would be covered under his Medicare for All plan because if a doctor says it’s health care, it’s health care.

00:33:41 Q: Would abortion be covered under your universal healthcare plan?

- Yes, unequivocally — abortion is healthcare, it’s between a patient and their doctor, and it’s a human right.

- The Hyde Amendment would have no place in his system.

00:35:13 Q: Social Security is projected to go insolvent around 2032 with automatic benefit cuts of roughly 28%. What’s your plan?

- Remove the payroll tax cap — Elon Musk pays Social Security taxes only on his first $180,000 while working people pay on every dollar they earn.

- Lifting the cap alone would dramatically extend Social Security’s solvency; Whetstone declined to put a specific year on it.

- Cautious about whether surplus revenue could also be used to increase benefits — said he hasn’t fully researched that angle yet.

00:37:46 Q: What do you understand about this political moment that your older colleagues in Congress do not?

- Personal data is being bought, sold, and weaponized — his campaign uses purchased voter data to target ads, and most legislators don’t even know that’s possible.

- He purchased his own data before the campaign began and found the results alarming.

- Regulation of who can buy personal data and for what purposes is urgently needed, and younger members are best positioned to explain why to colleagues who barely know how to use a computer.

00:40:28 Q (Aaron, YouTube): Which political figures, living or dead, inspire you?

- Among current members: Thomas Massie — for his willingness to break with his party on principle (specifically on Epstein file transparency); Whetstone said he’d work with any Republican on minimum wage or universal healthcare.

- On the Democratic side: AOC — “She’s our next president.”

- Historically: his father, a union Democrat who drove a 14-year-old Whetstone to Tea Party meetings to heckle the speakers; and Bernie Sanders.

00:43:10 Q: It’s the eve of 4/20 — is it time to legalize cannabis federally?

- Yes — it’s a revenue source, it’s a public safety improvement over an unregulated market, and it’s comparable in risk to alcohol.

- Legalize, tax, regulate, decriminalize, reduce prison populations, restore lives.

- Acknowledged he usually avoids the topic because people assume it’s the only reason young candidates run.

00:45:16 Q: Indiana agriculture depends on migrant labor, yet your district’s voters largely back Trump’s immigration crackdown. How do you talk to farmers about this?

- Farmers don’t bring up migrant labor — they bring up the cost of fertilizer and lost export markets, particularly the loss of Chinese demand for American crops and the rising cost of sulfuric acid due to trade war disruptions.

- Proposed a government purchasing program to buy surplus agricultural output and direct it to free school meals and unhoused shelters, creating a domestic market floor.

- Farmers know agriculture depends on migrant labor; they avoid the subject because it’s uncomfortable.

00:47:26 Q (Colton, ProgressiveIndiana.net): What are your thoughts on data centers?

- Call for an immediate moratorium — supports Bernie Sanders’s nationwide pause on new data center construction.

- Indiana is ground zero; community opposition near Lebanon and Monrovia has been nearly unanimous, yet politicians keep ramming approvals through.

- We have more vacant homes than homeless people, yet we’re demolishing livable structures behind barbed wire to build data centers.

- Government should have heavy oversight of any future construction — protecting water tables, requiring sustainable energy and closed-loop cooling, and regulating AI companies’ data-scraping practices.

- Skeptical of the China national security argument; believes good-neighbor diplomacy reduces confrontation more reliably than an AI arms race.

00:52:48 Q: If Democrats take the House and Senate but Trump is still there with a veto, what can actually get done?

- Believes Trump would sign minimum wage increases and rural transit and internet investment because those benefit his base and feed his legacy.

- Medicare for All would not pass Trump’s desk.

- Would support impeachment if given the votes — he was clear Trump has committed impeachable offenses — but framed it as a separate track from legislating.

00:54:58 Q: Trump ran as a right-wing populist. You’re running as a progressive populist. Same anger, different targets. How do you convert his voters?

- He grew up next to Trump voters in a trailer park; those conversations are the template for his campaign.

- Canvassing apartment complexes and trailer parks — places where the top-down economic squeeze is viscerally real — has produced broad support across socialist, Democrat, Republican, and Libertarian voters.

- Trump voters know they’re getting screwed; they just got conned into blaming the wrong people. Whetstone’s pitch is that he comes from the same place they do.

00:57:25 Q: What’s the most important thing a congressperson can do that has nothing to do with legislation?

- Be genuinely embedded in their community — not just holding town halls, but keeping their barber, their doctor, and their daily life rooted where their constituents live.

00:58:05 Closing remarks and campaign information

Thanks again to John Whetstone for joining us. For more information, visit his campaign website at https://www.whetstoneforcongress.com/

Progressive Indiana Network :

https:/www.progressiveindiana.net

Moderator:

Rachael Chatham: https://rchathampr.com/

Candidates:

Mary Allen: https://www.maryallenforcongress.com/

Chris Rector: Campaign Facebook Page

Tabitha Zeigler: https://tabithazeiglerforcongress.com/

Mario Foradori was invited and RSVP’d, but has since stopped participating in campaign events; he has made no official withdrawal announcement.

SUMMARY:

Three Democratic candidates for Indiana’s 8th Congressional District debated across ten policy categories — foreign policy, accountability, immigration, affordability, healthcare, education, human rights, taxation, social security, and labor — followed by a rapid-fire speed round and closing statements. All three candidates broadly agreed that the Trump administration has gone beyond the bounds of constitutional governance and that working families have been abandoned by both parties’ leadership. Chris Rector, a 25-year Army veteran and service-connected disabled veteran from Knoxville, Tennessee now living in the 8th District, brought a blunt, movement-politics energy and a focus on the struggles of working and struggling families. Mary Allen, an at-large city councilor in Evansville, healthcare worker, and former small business owner, emphasized her track record of showing up and her experience seeing where policy hits people in the real world. Tabitha Zeigler, a multi-generational Hoosier, 20-year union member, working farmer, and LGBTQ+ community member, left her position at the U.S. Postal Service to run and brought firsthand experience with autism, domestic violence, and the economics of rural life.

BREAKDOWN:

00:00:20 - Introduction

- Rachael Chatham introduces herself as an independent journalist from Southeast Indiana and the debate moderator; credits Scott Rogers of HoosLeft with running production and the Progressive Indiana Network as the presenting organization

- Notes that Mario Foradori originally RSVP’d but has been unresponsive and did not participate, though he remains on the ballot

- Outlines the format: two-minute opening statements, ten policy questions, a speed round, and closing statements

00:02:07 - Opening Statements

- Chris Rector: 25-year Army veteran, service-connected disabled veteran, certified peer support specialist with the VA, and former sheriff’s investigator; frames his candidacy around working and struggling families; vows not to reach across the aisle to “wannabe white Christian nationalists, fascists, racists, and corrupt politicians”; says fighters fight, and this is our home

- Mary Allen: healthcare worker for 15 years, nonprofit organizer, small business owner, and current at-large city councilor in Evansville; union household upbringing — her father was a Teamster truck driver; three adult daughters and two grandchildren; never missed a meeting or vote on city council; recently sold her business to focus full-time on the campaign

- Tabitha Zeigler: multi-generational Hoosier with roots to at least 1822; steelworker and farming family background; still lives on a working farm; 20-year union member with the airlines and U.S. Postal Service; left her USPS position to run; LGBTQ+ community member, domestic violence survivor, autistic, and parent of three autistic children

00:08:19 - Q1: FOREIGN POLICY — The War with Iran, Gaza, and the U.S.-Israel Relationship

The U.S. has been at war with Iran for six weeks, initiated at the urging of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has triggered an international energy crisis. Gaza and the West Bank remain under occupation. Both the war and the U.S. relationship with Israel have divided Democrats. Where do you stand on the war with Iran, and is it time to fundamentally reevaluate the U.S. relationship with Israel?

- Allen: calls it a war of choice; says Congress is abdicating its constitutional responsibility to declare war; calls for repealing outdated war authorizations; speaks as a veteran and member of Veterans for Peace; warns that our enemies are becoming our friends and our friends are becoming our enemies

- Zeigler: says the U.S. is supporting a genocide not just in Palestine but in Lebanon and Syria as well; argues for diplomacy over war; says her millennial generation has effectively been at war since 9/11 and she has watched too many friends come back not okay

- Rector: draws on his own military service; calls the spending of a billion dollars a day on war criminal when that money could fund universal child care and healthcare in the 8th District; criticizes Democratic leadership in D.C. for going along with it

00:14:21 - Q2: ACCOUNTABILITY — Impeachment, Criminal Prosecution, and the Limits of Removal

President Trump has defied court orders, weaponized the DOJ, attempted to strip birthright citizenship by executive order, launched an unconstitutional war without a single vote of Congress, and committed what one resolution calls outright tyranny. House Democrats have introduced multiple impeachment resolutions while party leadership has largely sat on their hands. Is impeachment on the table on day one? Is removal even enough, or are we talking about criminal prosecution?

- Zeigler: says we have not seen a government like this ever; argues impeachment alone is insufficient and criminal prosecution is necessary; invokes the Nuremberg trials as the appropriate framework; says this goes beyond the president to everyone complicit in war crimes

- Rector: commits to filing for impeachment on day one; cites Rep. Al Green as the only House member willing to say it out loud; says we have to impeach, convict, remove, and prosecute anyone proven to have committed war crimes or genocide

- Allen: supports both impeachment and prosecution; warns accountability cannot stop with Trump; points to the Epstein files as one example of broader lawbreaking that must be investigated; argues Congress must reassert itself against executive overreach regardless of which party holds the White House

00:19:36 - Q3: IMMIGRATION — Abolishing ICE and the Future of DHS

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was removed and replaced with another MAGA loyalist. Multiple U.S. citizens have been shot and killed by masked, unidentified agents. ICE’s funding would rank it among the top 15 military budgets on the planet. A majority of Democrats now support abolishing ICE outright, though elected Democrats have been reticent to say so. Can this agency be reformed, or should it be abolished? Has DHS outlived its original purpose?

- Rector: will push to abolish ICE on day one and replace it with a reformed version of the pre-9/11 INS; calls the current agency “an armed regime”; says everyone — documented or not — has a right to due process

- Zeigler: 100% abolish ICE; calls it a rebranding from the slave catcher days; praises community organizing in Minnesota as a model for the interim; argues the money should be redirected to immigration judges, lawyers, and USCIS processing capacity to make the system actually work

- Allen: supports abolition and prosecution of agents who broke the law; argues money spent on detention camps should build courts instead; says we can have both humanity and a secure border — they are not mutually exclusive

00:25:29 - Q4: AFFORDABILITY — The Root Cause of the Cost-of-Living Crisis

Grocery prices, rent, healthcare, and child care keep climbing. Saying “we’ll lower costs” is insufficient. What is the root cause of the affordability crisis and what specific steps would you take in Congress to actually address it?

- Allen: argues poverty is a policy choice; calls out the reconciliation bill as the biggest transfer of wealth from working people to billionaires in recent memory; draws on her own experience as a single mother who worked two jobs to afford child care; supports child care for all

- Zeigler: argues $1–2 billion a day in war spending could fund universal healthcare and child care; calls out tariffs and backroom deals; describes the current moment as obscene — Elon Musk becoming a trillionaire while American children are trafficked and starving

- Rector: asks why universal health care and child care remain out of reach while genocide is being funded; describes his work modeling a universal child care program after New Mexico’s free, taxpayer-neutral system; wants to implement it first in the 8th District

00:30:58 - Q5: HEALTHCARE — Medicare for All, the ACA, and How to Get There

The free market will not deliver the healthcare results we need — the rest of the industrialized world has already figured this out. More market competition? A bolstered ACA? A public option? Medicare for all? A hybrid model? What’s your solution and how do you get there?

- Zeigler: looks to European and Portuguese models; argues taxing the 1% appropriately would fund the system; calls out Walmart’s deliberate wage suppression as a mechanism for offloading worker healthcare costs onto SNAP and Medicaid

- Allen: supports a transitional approach — ACA subsidies as a near-term Band-Aid, moving toward Medicare for all or a single-payer system; shares a door-knocking encounter with a recently widowed woman in her sixties, working at Walmart, navigating her late husband’s hospital bills while too young for Medicare

- Rector: points to the VA model as proof that universal healthcare is achievable at low cost — the VA provides glasses, exams, and lenses for a dollar; argues big pharma and billionaires are the only reason it hasn’t happened for everyone

00:36:51 - Q6: EDUCATION — Vouchers, Title I, and a Sustainable Future for Hoosier Educators

The Trump administration has taken a chainsaw to the Department of Education, slashed Title I funding, and pushed voucher schemes that siphon public dollars into private and religious schools. Cory in Clay City is studying to be a music teacher and wants to know: how will you ensure that Cory and all Hoosier educators will have a sustainable career?

- Rector: calls for fully funding public education before any voucher program exists; wants arts and trades programs restored in high schools; frames school choice as a political tool that benefits neither students nor teachers; says music is life

- Allen: agrees on full public school funding; criticizes the appointment of Linda McMahon as Secretary of Education; calls for affordable higher education and expanded apprenticeship and technical training pathways; notes her daughter is a fourth-grade public school teacher

- Zeigler: holds up Finland as a model — teaching is one of the most highly regarded and competitive professions in the country; calls for universal free pre-K, smaller class sizes, proper teacher training and compensation, and trades programs for students who don’t pursue college

00:42:10 - Q7: HUMAN RIGHTS — LGBTQ+ Rights, “Culturally Normal,” and Where Democrats Draw the Line

Gavin Newsom has argued Democrats need to be more “culturally normal” — language that drew immediate pushback from LGBTQ+ advocates. His own state’s LGBTQ+ caucus has called him out for siding with conservatives on transgender athletes. Is Newsom right? Where do you draw the line between smart politics and abandoning the people who need the party’s protection most?

- Allen: says she doesn’t know what “culturally normal” means; filters all decisions through a commitment to loving people well; frames human rights as civil rights for all regardless of identity; says she is a woman of faith and that faith compels her to love all her neighbors

- Zeigler: states trans rights are human rights; invokes the “first they came” framework — once they come for one, they’re coming for you; speaks from personal experience as a gay woman who has been beaten for her identity; argues gender-affirming care is actually more common in the straight community than people acknowledge

- Rector: calls LGBTQ+ issues a manufactured political distraction used by the government to push something else; shares a story from his Texas state legislative race about the representative who implemented the drag ban, now on Trump’s cabinet; says “a little cross-dressing never hurt anyone”

00:48:04 - Q8: TAXATION — Wealth Tax, Corporate Taxes, and the Billionaire Threat to Leave

Gavin Newsom opposed a wealth tax at the New York Times DealBook summit, implying the Democratic tent needs to include billionaires. Warren and Sanders are barnstorming the country arguing the opposite. Do you support a wealth tax? What about raising the top marginal rate and corporate taxes? And what do you say to the argument that the rich will just leave?

- Zeigler: uses Massachusetts as a case study — the wealthy threatened to leave, didn’t, and Boston remains a hub for billionaires; argues higher taxation funds the public infrastructure billionaires also depend on, from roads to public safety; California has more billionaires than almost any other state despite high taxes

- Rector: agrees without reservation; frames the wealth tax as reclaiming what the top 1% has stolen from working families over 50 years; says they go to bed dreaming about beach condos while working families can’t sleep worrying about the electric bill

- Allen: endorses Warren’s two-cent-on-the-dollar wealth tax framework; supports raising the corporate rate from its 2017 cut; draws on her city council work reviewing tax abatements and says we should only reward businesses that offer living wages

00:53:08 - Q9: SOCIAL SECURITY — Solvency, the Payroll Cap, and the Promise to Working Hoosiers

Without changes, Social Security is headed toward insolvency by 2032 — just six years away — at which point benefits would automatically be cut by nearly 28%. Republicans want to privatize it or raise the retirement age. Progressives say lift the payroll tax cap above $176,100 and make the wealthy pay in on their full income. What is your plan, and what do you say to Hoosiers in their 40s and 50s who have paid in their whole lives?

- Rector: currently on Social Security himself; frames the program as belonging to the workers who fund it, not the government; objects to privatization without reservation; stops short of a specific solvency mechanism but says government needs to get out of the way

- Allen: calls it non-negotiable; rules out raising the retirement age; supports lifting the payroll cap and taxing wealthy investment income more aggressively; shares a story from a community event about a retired couple living on one Social Security check — the husband chops his own firewood for heat and grows a garden to cut the grocery bill, and worries he won’t be able to keep doing it

- Zeigler: calls the current structure highway robbery for the wealthy, who draw from Social Security while already holding multi-generational investment wealth; proposes means-testing so high earners no longer draw from the system; says at 42 she already doubts Social Security will be there for her

00:58:23 - Q10: LABOR — The Rank-and-File Drift and How to Win It Back

Democrats call themselves the party of labor, but private sector trade union members — pipefitters, electricians, ironworkers, Teamsters — have been drifting toward Republicans for decades. In a district like the 8th, that drift is the difference between winning and losing. Diagnose why it’s happening and tell us what you would specifically do in Congress to win those workers back — not just union leadership’s endorsement, but the rank-and-file votes.

- Allen: supports the PRO Act; frames union rights as a North Star; credits unions with the 40-hour week, eight-hour day, and child labor protections; says they’ve had our backs and we need to have theirs

- Zeigler: traces the drift directly to Democratic complicity in deindustrialization — NAFTA happened on Democrats’ watch; argues workers in formerly unionized areas watched their factories close and never saw a clear path back; says Democrats have been abandoning the working class for 40 years and workers know it

- Rector: whose father and brother were Teamsters for over 40 years and who has walked picket lines with them; says union members are right not to buy what the elite of the Democratic Party is selling; argues that in Indiana, union organizing won’t work until the state’s right-to-work law is repealed

01:03:07 - Speed Round

- Federal moratorium on new data center construction: Rector — Yes / Zeigler — Yes / Allen — Yes

- Expand the Supreme Court beyond nine justices: Rector — Yes / Zeigler — Yes / Allen — Yes

- Statehood for D.C. and Puerto Rico: Rector — Yes / Zeigler — Yes / Allen — Yes

- Constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College: Rector — Yes / Zeigler — Yes / Allen — Yes

- Federal legalization of recreational cannabis: Rector — Yes / Zeigler — Yes / Allen — Yes

- Free public higher education: Rector — Yes / Zeigler — Yes / Allen — Yes

- Cancel all outstanding student loan debt: Rector — Yes / Zeigler — Yes / Allen — Yes

- Universal federally funded child care: Rector — Yes, and working on a plan now / Zeigler — Yes / Allen — Yes

- Is Hakeem Jeffries your candidate for Speaker: Rector — No / Zeigler — No / Allen — No

- Federal assault weapons ban: Rector — Yes / Zeigler — Yes / Allen — Yes

- Abolish the federal death penalty: Rector — Yes / Zeigler — Yes / Allen — Yes

- Federal minimum wage (currently $7.25 since 2009) — give a number: Rector — $20 / Zeigler — $35 / Allen — $17 (with the caveat that she was thinking incrementally; notes the living wage in southern Indiana is currently about $20.85)

01:06:36 - Closing Statements

- Zeigler: closes on lived experience — multi-generational Hoosier, union member, domestic violence survivor, parent of autistic kids; argues Congress needs people who can speak to those pain points from the inside; contrasts herself with Republican incumbent Mark Mesmer; asks voters who want someone from the working class who understands the struggles to vote for her

- Rector: argues the Democratic Party has lost its way and become the party of the elite; invokes the party’s legacy of movement politics — civil rights, women’s suffrage, LGBTQ+ rights, disability rights — and says those movements were won in the streets, the hills, and the halls of power, not with polite letters; says it’s time to not be nice; thanks the Progressive Indiana Network and his fellow candidates

- Allen: opens by clarifying her minimum wage answer — she supports a living wage indexed to cost of living, currently about $20.85 in southern Indiana; closes on her ground game, her kitchen-table background, and her commitment to being the 8th District’s voice on healthcare, pocketbook issues, dignity, and democracy; asks for the vote on May 5th

###

Rachael closes the event, thanks the candidates and PIN, notes early voting is underway with primary day May 5th, and calls the winner’s general election race one of the most consequential midterm elections in modern American history

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https://clifmars.com/

SUMMARY

Scott Aaron Rogers hosts Clif Marsiglio, candidate for Indiana State Senate District 46 — the only state Senate district contained entirely within Indianapolis — for a one-hour virtual town hall drawing questions from YouTube, Facebook Live, and ProgressiveIndiana.net. Marsiglio, a 35-year Indianapolis resident who works in accreditation at Indiana University, makes the case that his background in higher education and K-12 accreditation, his community organizing work on overdose prevention and public safety, and his reputation as a fighter distinguish him in a Democratic primary to succeed outgoing Sen. Andrea Hunley. Over the course of the hour, he takes positions on charter school accountability, corporate ownership of single-family homes and public utilities, data center regulation, organized labor, small business support, local control vs. state preemption, tenant rights, homelessness, LGBTQ safety, Medicaid and SNAP access, and Medicare for All.

QUESTIONS

00:00:21 Introduction

- Scott Aaron Rogers opens the broadcast, introduces the Progressive Indiana Network Virtual Town Hall format, and explains the multi-platform question submission process (YouTube, Facebook Live, Substack Live at ProgressiveIndiana.net, Google Form).

- Clif Marsiglio is introduced as the candidate for Indiana State Senate District 46.

- Marsiglio apologizes for sounding under the weather due to spring allergies and gives a brief personal introduction: 35-year Indianapolis resident, avid cyclist, IU employee working in accreditation and program review, and SD-46 candidate.

00:03:47 Succeeding Andrea Hunley — Why Marsiglio?

- Rogers notes that current Sen. Andrea Hunley, a former IPS principal and highly regarded Black woman, is vacating the seat to run for Indianapolis mayor in 2027, and asks Marsiglio to make the case for why a 54-year-old white guy should replace her in a diverse district.

- Marsiglio says no one can replace Hunley, but argues his accreditation background — remediating failures and replicating successes across educational institutions — gives him a specific expertise in higher education and K-12 bridge programs that complements her legacy.

- He highlights that roughly half of Indiana’s income tax revenue goes to public education and that his professional background positions him to defend fully funded public schools.

00:06:51 Education Credentials and the IPS Board Opponent

- Rogers notes that one of Marsiglio’s primary opponents is an IPS board member and asks why Marsiglio — not she — is the education candidate in this race.

- Marsiglio argues that the IPS board has presided over a legislative gutting of Indianapolis Public Schools and that he sees lackluster support for public education from that corner; he draws a contrast by stating he will never do anything other than fully back public schools.

- He adds that he has two children currently in IPS schools.

00:08:41 Clarification: Is Marsiglio Actually an Educator?

- A viewer named Daniel, identified as an IU staffer, challenges Marsiglio’s claim to the title of “educator,” saying a fellow IU staff member would not describe himself that way.

- Marsiglio responds that he has taught courses in group dynamics, statistics, and humanistic psychology at IU and at Martin University (which recently closed due to funding issues), and that his accreditation role is analogous to a school principal — an administrative education role, not a classroom one.

00:10:10 Charter School Accountability

- Rogers asks what accountability framework Marsiglio would push for given that charter schools are embedded in the budget and buildings, and given a likely continued Republican majority.

- Marsiglio focuses on data transparency: public schools must report dozens of metrics that charter schools are free to conceal, including “counsel-out” rates — the practice of pushing out students with disciplinary issues after collecting their per-pupil funding, then returning them to the public school system with no money following them.

- He says he would pursue mandatory reporting requirements for charter schools matching those of public schools.

00:12:35 Higher Education Independence and the Braun Takeover of IU

- Rogers raises Gov. Mike Braun’s takeover of the IU board of trustees, the elimination of alumni and faculty input, and the cutting of degree programs — and asks how Marsiglio would work to restore independence to the state’s higher education institutions.

- Marsiglio, speaking carefully given his IU employment, argues the program cuts are being driven by a single metric — whether graduates earn above the median wage — which ignores programs that serve as gateways to law school, medical school, or other advanced degrees.

- He says the governor does not have, or did not care to look at, the full picture, and that bringing his accreditation expertise to the Senate is precisely the point.

00:14:52 Housing Affordability and Corporate Landlords (Jackson in Irvington)

- Jackson in Irvington submitted a question noting that Marion County housing costs have risen over 90% [Fact check: about 60%] in the past decade and asking what Marsiglio would do about private equity firms buying up single-family homes.

- Marsiglio says Indiana has more out-of-state corporate ownership of single-family housing than any other state in the nation [Fact-check: the city of Indianapolis is #1, state in the top 10], with BlackRock as the dominant player.

- He calls for taxing out-of-state corporate home purchases punitively — high enough to make the practice unprofitable — and frames it as a straightforward anti-profiteering measure.

00:17:26 BlackRock, AES, and Utility Privatization

- Rogers extends the BlackRock discussion to utilities, noting the company’s announced intent to acquire AES — the parent of Indianapolis Power & Light — with a deal expected to close late 2026 or early 2027.

- Rogers points out that Democrats offered an amendment to House Bill 1002 this session that would have banned private equity from buying public utilities, and Republicans killed it; he asks what makes Marsiglio think he could move Republicans now.

- Marsiglio says he would filibuster the deal if it came before the Senate during his tenure, notes that Indiana Democrats have only 10 members in the chamber (meaning he would need 16 Republicans), and argues that most Republican constituents are also harmed by utility privatization and that he intends to make that case directly.

00:20:13 Data Centers, Utility Costs, and the Maine Moratorium

- Rogers notes that Marsiglio has been organizing against a proposed data center in the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood and raises an anonymous web form question: Maine just passed the first state moratorium on data centers in the nation — will Marsiglio introduce similar legislation?

- Marsiglio says yes, arguing data centers are only cost-effective in Indiana because of sweetheart deals — subsidized electricity rates and utility upgrade costs shifted to ratepayers — and that if those true costs were accounted for, the companies would not come.

- He draws a contrast between the 30-year tax moratoriums given to trillion-dollar companies and the absence of equivalent relief for everyday Hoosiers, and references the recent gas tax cut as an example of corporate profiteering absorbing public relief immediately.

00:23:47 Organized Labor and the Union/Data Center Tension

- Rogers raises the friction point: building trades unions love data center projects for the construction jobs; how does Marsiglio square his opposition to data centers with his support for organized labor?

- Marsiglio says the jobs numbers are misleading — of 450 jobs cited for one data center, the Carpenters Union told him they would realistically get about 40, with most positions going to migratory workers from out west.

- He argues Indiana should instead mandate organized labor for any state-subsidized construction project — including low-cost housing — and calls for repeal of right-to-work statutes.

00:26:18 Iron Nation Indiana — Braun’s Israeli Security Partnership (Hans in Indy)

- Rogers raises Gov. Braun’s announcement of a public-private partnership with Israeli security firms called “Iron Nation Indiana,” and a question from Hans in Indy asking how Marsiglio feels about sending Indiana taxpayer dollars to Israel.

- Marsiglio says Indiana should not be entering public-private partnerships with any foreign nation — he frames it as a pragmatic position, not specifically anti-Israel — and argues Indiana should keep its economic partnerships domestic.

00:28:07 Small Business Support and Barriers to Entry (Jackson in Irvington)

- Jackson in Irvington asked a follow-up question about how Marsiglio would help small and mom-and-pop businesses in underserved communities survive an impending economic downturn and reduce unnecessary red tape without stripping worker and consumer protections.

- Marsiglio says the state is over-taxing and under-investing in small businesses while handing tax moratoriums to trillion-dollar corporations, and calls for directing business support below a certain revenue threshold.

- He connects small business viability to walkable and bikeable urban infrastructure, citing a south-side deli owner whose customers can only reach him by car.

00:31:46 Marsiglio’s Temperament — Reddit Legend, Brick Incident (Daniel on Substack Live)

- A viewer named Daniel on Substack Live notes Marsiglio is a local legend on the Indianapolis subreddit, has been banned multiple times, has a comment history of calling users “fucking idiots,” and has previously admitted to throwing a brick through a glass door because someone stole his trash can; a separate web form question asks whether he has the disposition to serve as a state senator.

- Marsiglio says he cannot confirm or deny the specifics but says he is a fighter who will get loud and confrontational with people who dehumanize others.

- He points to his track record going directly to Republican legislators at the Statehouse to kill harmful bills, while Democrats were compromising before the fight even started.

00:34:12 Rabble-Rouser to Legislator — Leadership Credentials (Sierra on web form)

- Rogers presses further: protesting and legislating are different skills. Sierra asked on the web form how Marsiglio responds to critics who say he lacks experience and leadership qualities.

- Marsiglio describes his board leadership with NESCO (Near East Side Community Organization), his Narcan and overdose training work in zip codes where overdose deaths have dropped 20% year-over-year even as statewide numbers rise, and his work with Citizens Alliance for Public Safety — including helping develop curriculum for police-community 911 center tours.

- He argues leadership is not about titles but about amplifying unheard voices and producing results.

00:37:11 Indiana’s Quality of Life and the Multiple Job Problem (Daxx on Facebook Live)

- Daxx on Facebook Live asks two related questions: Indiana was just ranked the second-worst state to live in behind only Texas — how does Marsiglio fix that? And how do we address the reality of Hoosiers working two or three jobs just to survive?

- Marsiglio ties both to the collapse of third spaces and community infrastructure, citing the loss of gathering places like the Abbey Coffee Shop downtown and the migration of community life to social media.

- On multiple jobs: he says he used to Uber at night after his day job and understands firsthand what working multiple jobs to survive looks like; he calls for unionization and actual job protections.

00:39:51 Collective Bargaining Rights for Public Employees (Michael in Brookside)

- Michael in Brookside asks via the web form whether Marsiglio would work to restore the collective bargaining rights for state public employees that Gov. Mitch Daniels eliminated by executive order on his first day in office.

- Marsiglio says he wants not just to restore those rights but to enshrine them in the state constitution so they cannot be stripped by executive action again.

- He notes that as an IU employee he is himself an at-will public employee with no union protection, and flags Todd Rokita’s efforts to purge educators who disagree with him as a concrete example of why those protections matter.

00:42:07 House Enrolled Act 1001 — Housing Stock vs. Local Control

- Rogers raises HEA 1001, the bipartisan housing supply bill passed this session, which increases housing stock but overrides local zoning and building ordinances to do so — a tension with Marsiglio’s stated commitment to local control.

- Marsiglio says he does not believe state preemption of local building ordinances is the right tool, pointing to the Statehouse’s pattern of overriding cities on public transit (SB 52), pet-breeder regulations, and wetland protections.

- He argues regulations exist because they save lives — “built in blood,” as engineers have told him — and that local communities know best what they need.

00:46:01 Tenant Rights and Bad Landlords (Alicia on Facebook Live)

- Alicia on Facebook Live asks what Marsiglio would do to hold bad landlords accountable.

- Marsiglio notes that roughly 56% of SD-46 residents are renters and says Indiana has among the worst tenant protections in the country — including no remedy when a landlord leaves a renter without heat in winter.

- He calls for rent escrow mechanisms (allowing tenants to deposit rent into escrow when a unit is uninhabitable), a housing authority that actually advocates for renters, and judicial accountability — and says he would ideally like to see criminal penalties for landlords who endanger tenants, acknowledging that is a long shot in Indiana.

00:49:05 Homelessness and Senate Bill 285

- Rogers notes that the Indiana Senate passed SB 285, which criminalized sleeping outside and stripped localities of the ability to respond differently, and asks what Marsiglio would do legislatively to address homelessness.

- Marsiglio describes delivering food to people living under bridges and visiting encampments and frames most homeless individuals as people caught in circumstances — including a man he knew personally who worked a white-collar job by day and lived in a tent at night.

- He describes the destruction of the encampment under the I-65/I-70 split by state police and explains how losing tents means losing the physical paperwork people need to navigate the housing assistance system — resetting a six-month process from zero.

- He calls for low-barrier-to-entry housing statewide, criticizes a situation in his own neighborhood where a planned low-barrier shelter site was converted to a boutique hotel following a $50,000 campaign donation to the mayor, and notes that half of Indianapolis’s unhoused population comes from surrounding communities that failed them first.

00:53:36 LGBTQ Safety and Rights (Sierra on web form)

- Sierra on the web form, identifying as from Twin Aire, asks what Marsiglio would say to queer and trans Hoosiers who are uncertain about their safety and what he would do to ensure Indianapolis remains safe for them.

- Marsiglio says Indianapolis and Bloomington are among the few places in Indiana where he feels his queer friends are actually safe, and notes that 70% of his own campaign staff are somewhere on the queer spectrum.

- He acknowledges the historical weight the word “queer” carries for his generation before using it, describes trans friends who are scared even in ostensibly progressive cities like Portland, and calls on Republicans who claim libertarian values to stay out of people’s private lives and identities.

00:56:12 Medicaid, SNAP, and Healthcare Access

- Rogers notes that the Republican-controlled Indiana Senate’s top priority this session was making it harder to access Medicaid and SNAP — and that Indiana went further than even the federal requirements under Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — with an estimated 100,000+ Hoosiers potentially losing coverage.

- Marsiglio calls for restoring rural ambulance service and refunding rural hospitals, which are closing across the state and leaving people hours from care.

- He argues the state’s approach is falsely framed as fiscal responsibility when it actually shifts costs onto those who can least afford them, and calls for moving toward Medicaid and Medicare for All at the state level, pointing to Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts healthcare model as proof it can be done.

00:58:54 Closing / How to Find the Campaign

- Rogers wraps the hour, noting no further questions in the queue.

- Marsiglio delivers closing remarks, apologizing for his allergy fog and reiterating his commitment to fighting for all Hoosiers — including those outside Indianapolis — and his frustration with Democrats too afraid to name the suffering.

- Campaign information: clifmars.com (Clif with one F, Mars as in the planet) — Facebook, Instagram, and Substack all linked from the site.

- Rogers closes by promoting the next PIN Virtual Town Hall the following Sunday at 7 p.m. with IN-04 congressional candidate John Whetstone, and signs off: “Love each other, Indiana.”

https://jacksonfranklinforcongress.com/

SUMMARY

Progressive Indiana Network editor-in-chief Scott Aaron Rogers hosts Democratic congressional candidate Jackson Franklin for a virtual town hall focused on Indiana’s 5th Congressional District. Franklin, an Army combat medic and paramedic running a grassroots campaign, covers the full range of his platform — from the U.S. war with Iran and the blockade of Cuba to housing costs, NASA funding, and the future of the Democratic Party. He positions himself as a Bernie Sanders-style populist fighting corporate capture of both parties, pledges to take no corporate PAC money, and draws a sharp contrast with the establishment wing of the Democratic Party, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. The town hall features a live chat Q&A with questions from viewers on Facebook, YouTube, and ProgressiveIndiana.net.

QUESTIONS

00:00:22 Introduction & Welcome

- Scott Rogers opens the broadcast, introduces Jackson Franklin as Democratic candidate for Indiana’s 5th Congressional District

- Franklin introduces himself: Army combat medic, paramedic, grassroots candidate inspired by Bernie Sanders

- Platform preview: Medicare for All, ending “illegal wars,” union rights, getting money out of politics, no corporate PAC money

00:03:06 The U.S. War with Iran

- Rogers asks Franklin for his take on the ongoing conflict with Iran, noting the multi-front complexity involving Israel, Gulf states, and the Russia-Ukraine alignment

- Franklin argues the war is driven by U.S. deference to Israel rather than any genuine national security threat, comparing the justification to the false WMD claims used to enter Iraq

- Calls for cutting all military aid to Israel, impeachment of Trump, and referral of Netanyahu and Trump administration officials to the International Criminal Court

00:06:05 Viewer Q&A: How Does Franklin Win the Primary? (bi11jon, YouTube)

- Viewer frames the question around the need for a Democrat who can outcompete Rep. Victoria Sparks with multiple candidates in the field

- Franklin argues Indiana is not a “red state” but a “gray state” — non-voters would win every race if they were a candidate — and that the Democratic Party’s corporate alignment is the root of low turnout

- Pitches his campaign as “home for the political homeless,” running on popular issues rather than donor-class interests

00:09:08 Anti-Semitism vs. Criticism of Israel

- Rogers presses Franklin on how he responds to charges of anti-Semitism given his fierce criticism of the Israeli government

- Franklin draws a distinction between critiquing the Jewish identity (anti-Semitism) and critiquing a government’s policies (politics)

- Argues Netanyahu has deliberately conflated the two terms, diluting the word’s meaning and inadvertently enabling actual anti-Semitism; notes that Palestinians are also a Semitic people

00:13:09 NASA & the Artemis II Mission

- Rogers pivots to the Artemis II mission, asking whether space exploration is a good use of limited resources

- Franklin calls for doubling NASA’s budget while cutting military spending, arguing NASA produces tangible technological benefits (GPS, etc.) on a fraction of the Pentagon’s budget

- Frames space investment as consistent with taxing the rich to fund public goods

00:15:26 The U.S. Postal Service (Austin Ray, Knox County Young Democrats)

- Viewer question submitted via web form asks whether Franklin will protect the USPS and support reforms to address burdens created by the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act

- Franklin answers yes on all counts, stressing USPS as a backbone of society that requires living wages, workers’ comp, and paid sick time for its employees

- Rogers adds that unlike FedEx or UPS, USPS serves remote communities that the private market won’t touch — and that postal service is constitutionally mandated

00:18:25 Housing & Private Equity (Hoosier Lemon, Substack Live)

- Viewer asks about legislation to lower housing costs and whether Franklin would support banning wealthy out-of-state investors and private equity from buying residential homes

- Franklin supports strong tenant unions, rent regulation modeled on Zohran Mamdani’s New York City freeze proposal, and a major congressional investment in affordable housing construction

- Calls for the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes to fund housing and other public goods

00:20:12 Tax Policy: What Is the Rich’s “Fair Share”?

- Rogers asks Franklin to put a number on it: what is the appropriate tax rate on income, wealth, and corporations?

- Franklin cites Bernie Sanders’ Wall Street transaction tax proposal (0.1% bond trade tax, 0.05% stock trade tax) as sufficient to wipe out all student loan debt within one year and fund public colleges and trade schools thereafter

- Proposes a 100% marginal tax rate on individual income above $999,999 — “you won capitalism, now fund the kids”

- Argues billionaire wealth is structurally extracted from workers rather than earned, citing Elon Musk’s net worth relative to the bottom 53% of income earners

00:25:28 Devil’s Advocate: What About People Who Worked Hard?

- Rogers poses as a Carmel-area voter who asks why their savings and estate planning should be penalized

- Franklin distinguishes between “moral millionaires” and billionaires, arguing no one can spend a billion dollars in a lifetime — wealth at that scale is inherently exploitative, not earned

- Notes that in sectors like manufacturing and retail, harder work does not translate to more reward; excess labor value is captured by ownership class

00:28:47 The District’s Economic Divide: Carmel vs. Muncie

- Rogers notes that IN-05 includes both affluent Hamilton County suburbs (Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville) and post-industrial communities (Anderson, Kokomo, Muncie, Marion)

- Franklin describes how Muncie was once “Middletown America” — a national demographic bellwether — until NAFTA gutted its factory base

- Argues the working-class majority of Hamilton County has more in common with Muncie than with the district’s two billionaires; populist economic issues cut across the geographic divide

00:35:59 Data Centers vs. Green Jobs

- Rogers raises the state-level push to attract data centers as an economic development tool for struggling Rust Belt communities, noting Mike Braun’s 2025 property tax bill defunded localities and pushed them to seek alternative revenue

- Also notes the tension: Sanders supports a data center moratorium, but construction unions want the jobs

- Franklin agrees with Sanders on a moratorium pending environmental and data privacy regulations, but argues the Green New Deal — high-speed rail, renewable energy infrastructure, school and hospital construction — provides a far better source of union jobs

00:41:11 Hakeem Jeffries & Progressive Leadership in the House

- Rogers asks: if Democrats take the House in November and Franklin wins his race, is Jeffries the right Speaker?

- Franklin says Jeffries will never have his vote, citing Jeffries and Schumer’s move to bury the Khanna-Massie War Powers resolution before the Iran strike

- Names Ro Khanna and AOC as his preferred Speaker candidates; also mentions Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Maxwell Frost as members doing good work

- Argues the Progressive Caucus must align against the establishment “New Democrat” wing

00:46:43 Cuba & the Blockade (Mel, Substack Live)

- Viewer asks whether Franklin would end the U.S. blockade of Cuba

- Franklin calls the blockade a war crime — using starvation and electricity as weapons against civilians meets the textbook definition of terrorism — and says the U.S. should end the embargo and pay reparations, as Germany did after World War II

- References a report by on Cuban hospital conditions, including nurses hand-pumping infant ventilators during power outages

00:49:39 Electability & the “Too Radical” Objection

- Rogers asks what Franklin says to voters who agree with most of his platform but worry he’s unelectable

- Franklin points to polling: 70% of Americans support Medicare for All, 87% of Hoosiers support cannabis legalization — his positions are the mainstream, not the fringe

- Argues the corporate Democratic strategy of sanitizing the message for donors has produced 20 years of failure and abysmal Indiana voter turnout; grassroots populism is how you win

00:53:46 Viewer Troll & the Third-Party Question (buttonsbloomers, Twitch)

- A viewer calls Franklin a “Democrat shill propping up a system that denies humanity” and calls to break up the “Uniparty”

- Franklin responds that he wants ranked-choice voting and multi-party democracy, but running outside the two-party system right now means not winning; his goal is to drag the Democratic Party back toward working-class interests

- Frames his strategy as “hijacking” one party to kick out corporate influence rather than building a third party that can’t yet win

00:55:47 Closing: What Does IN-05 Need to Hear That No One Else Is Saying?

- Rogers asks Franklin for his signature bold truth

- Franklin highlights his consistent record on calling out genocide, abolishing ICE (not “abolish and replace” with a renamed agency), and refusing corporate PAC money

- Closes with a call to action: early voting is underway, May 5th is primary day, jacksonfranklinforcongress.com for donations and volunteering

- Notes the primary will test whether a grassroots working-class campaign can defeat establishment-backed opponents in a district he calls the one true swing seat in Indiana

Thanks again to for joining us. For more information visit his campaign website at https://jacksonfranklinforcongress.com

Progressive Indiana Network :

https:/www.progressiveindiana.net

Moderator:

Derrick Holder: https://www.progressiveindiana.net/s/hold-em-accountable

Candidates:

Drew cox: https://www.drewcox.org/

Darin Patrick Griesey: https://darinpatrick.com/

Joe Mackey: https://joe4hoosiers.org/

Jayden McCash: https://www.facebook.com/MCCASH4CONGRESS/

Paul McPherson: https://votemcpherson.com/

John Whetstone: https://www.whetstoneforcongress.com/

SUMMARY:

Progressive Indiana Network presents the Democratic Primary Debate for Indiana’s 4th Congressional District, moderated by Derrick Holder of Hold’em Accountable. Six candidates joined the virtual forum: Drew Cox, Darin Patrick Griesey, Joe Mackey, Jayden McCash, Paul McPherson, and John Whetstone. Across eight substantive questions, the field staked out broadly progressive common ground on economic security, health care access, agricultural policy, infrastructure investment, public safety reform, democratic accountability, public education, and general election viability — with genuine points of divergence on Medicare for All implementation, the role of charter schools, an assault weapons ban, and congressional war powers authority. The debate concluded with the Hold’em or Fold’em speed round, in which all six candidates answered yes or no on twelve foundational policy questions, revealing near-unanimous agreement on most items and notable splits on the assault weapons ban, Supreme Court expansion, and congressional war powers.

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BREAKDOWN:

00:00:22 Welcome and Introductions

- Moderator Derrick Holder, host of Hold’em Accountable, opens the debate on behalf of Progressive Indiana Network

- Six candidates introduced: Drew Cox, Darin Patrick Griesey, Joe Mackey, Jayden McCash, Paul McPherson, and John Whetstone

- Roger Day was not reachable for the debate; Thomas Hall Jr. announced withdrawal from the race

- Debate rules outlined: 90-second opening and closing statements, 60-second responses per question, 30-second rebuttals at moderator’s discretion

00:03:00 Opening Statements

- John Whetstone (Crawfordsville): small business owner who grew up in poverty shaped by his father’s medical debt; calls for $17.25/hour minimum wage tied to inflation, Medicare for All, and getting big money out of politics

- Drew Cox (Lafayette): Marine Corps veteran and Purdue professor; cites ICE enforcement, housing, and health care as motivating issues; emphasizes getting big money out of politics

- Darin Patrick Griesey (Monticello): fourth-generation farm owner with 30 years in community development; highlights legislative experience with the Department of Justice, HUD, and rural sewer infrastructure

- Joe Mackey: born and raised in the fourth district, former fourth district party chair; calls out the incumbent as complacent and therefore complicit on health care, housing, and education

- Paul McPherson (Warren County): faculty and administrator at Purdue, farmer, engineer; cites misuse of taxpayer dollars and the need for a longer farm bill

- Jayden McCash (Brownsburg): father of three running a Hoosier-first, anti-war, single-payer, pro-union campaign; prioritizes Medicare for All and ending overseas spending

00:12:40 Question 1: Economic Security for Working Families

- Drew Cox: supports Sanders’ Raise the Wage Act ($17/hour by 2030); calls on Congress to assert authority over tariffs being passed as costs onto working families

- Darin Patrick Griesey: pitches his “day one pledge” — a Medicare for All system managed by states, a Network Transfer Fee Act to reduce federal income taxes, and an American Energy Freedom Act to lower electricity costs

- Jayden McCash: supports raising the federal minimum wage; emphasizes unions as the backbone of wage growth and the need to raise all wages, not just the floor

- Joe Mackey: calls data center development misguided; advocates reviving biofuel and biodiesel subsidies to stabilize Indiana’s $35 billion agricultural industry

- Paul McPherson: supports living wages; calls for legislation holding corporations accountable for infrastructure costs when building data centers in under-resourced areas

- John Whetstone: advocates for $17.25/hour minimum wage tied to inflation starting immediately, not phased in; shares firsthand accounts from customers at his store selling belongings to make rent

00:20:13 Question 2: Healthcare Access and Costs (from Carol Dunfee, Martinsville)

- Darin Patrick Griesey: supports a Medicare for All system federally funded but state-managed; criticizes people who complain about health care costs without utilizing ACA exchange options

- Jayden McCash: calls Medicare for All a birthright; argues health care tied to employment is fundamentally unjust

- Joe Mackey: supports Medicare for All in principle but argues Sanders’ plan leaves 20% of the country — mostly rural — uncovered; advocates rural mobile health programs modeled on Nevada’s

- Paul McPherson: notes the federal government already spends $2.5 trillion on Medicaid, Medicare, and ACA subsidies; proposes redirecting that into new facilities at roughly $40 billion per state

- John Whetstone: supports Medicare for All and highlights rural transit — like Montgomery County’s Sunshine Van — as a necessary complement to any universal coverage plan

- Drew Cox: supports single-payer; argues Medicaid cuts disproportionately harm rural hospitals; endorses mobile integrated health units and raises Indiana’s maternal mortality crisis

00:27:05 Question 3: Protecting Family Farms from Corporate Agribusiness

- Jayden McCash: opposes Trump tariffs that have left farmers sitting on unsellable product; calls for rebuilding trade relationships and investing federal funds in family farm distribution

- Joe Mackey: preparing to tour a White County ethanol plant; argues biodiesel and ethanol create local markets for corn and soy lost to foreign tariff retaliation

- Paul McPherson: calls for “grow local, buy local” incentives; supports federal and local regulations capping how much farmland large corporations can acquire

- John Whetstone: focuses on antitrust enforcement — fertilizer, seed, and output markets are already too consolidated; calls for breaking up agribusiness monopolies under existing law

- Drew Cox: agrees on antitrust; also advocates cannabis and hemp legalization as replacement crops for market share lost in corn and soybeans

- Darin Patrick Griesey: focuses on reducing input costs and expanding vertical market opportunities through USDA; acknowledges the generational succession problem — next-generation farmers often don’t want to farm

00:33:24 Question 4: Infrastructure Investment

- Jayden McCash: supports lighting state and federal roads as a safety investment; focuses on reducing rural traffic fatalities

- Joe Mackey: flags that U.S. water policy hasn’t been updated in 40 years; calls for a modern water consumption and reuse policy to protect rural communities from data centers and large corporate energy operations

- Paul McPherson: ties rural decline to farm consolidation; supports block grants for infrastructure and holds broadband companies accountable for failing to execute on federally funded last-mile internet plans

- John Whetstone: argues rural transit investment keeps young families in small towns rather than forcing them to relocate for work; links rural population loss to suppressed wages

- Drew Cox: points to the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act ($1.2 trillion over five years) as a model; contrasts it with proposed $1.5 trillion defense spending and argues the money exists to do more

- Darin Patrick Griesey: prioritizes education funding targeted to state and local needs rather than test scores; highlights experience using USDA grants, low-income housing block grants, and infrastructure block grants in Monticello and Monon

00:43:43 Question 5: Public Safety and Root Causes of Crime

- Joe Mackey: calls out ICE’s lack of de-escalation training and constitutional literacy; condemns federal agents shooting American citizens; argues telephones and whistles are not weapons

- Paul McPherson: rejects GOP framing of immigrants as criminals; supports reining in ICE to focus on genuinely dangerous individuals in coordination with local law enforcement; backs expansion of DARE programs to reduce drug demand

- John Whetstone: calls for abolishing ICE; argues wage increases address the root cause of most crime; calls for investment in mental health facilities to reduce drive times to psychiatric care

- Drew Cox: calls ICE a rogue entity; invokes the 1980 Mental Health Systems Act signed by Carter and defunded by Reagan as a model to restore; calls for cannabis legalization and rethinking the war on drugs

- Darin Patrick Griesey: proposes a national firearm testing program before purchase or possession; draws on his DOJ experience with Project Safe Neighborhoods and community policing in Indianapolis

- Jayden McCash: calls for severely defunding ICE; shares that his father died of a heroin overdose in 2014; calls for investment in rehab centers and reducing the stigma of addiction

00:50:21 Question 6: Restoring Democratic Accountability and Public Trust

- Paul McPherson: calls for ending censorship of scientific and professional networks; advocates making federal data and research publicly accessible

- John Whetstone: argues Trump’s rise reflects a justified distrust of a system that serves corporations; frames his democratic socialist candidacy as the answer

- Drew Cox: supports repealing Citizens United through a constitutional amendment; pledges full campaign finance transparency

- Darin Patrick Griesey: has a Transparency Act proposal covering Congressional and Supreme Court term limits, Supreme Court transparency, and eliminating Congressional stock trading; developing a civics book for young voters

- Jayden McCash: agrees on repealing Citizens United and capping campaign spending; calls for elected officials to host free, open town halls and stay connected to constituents

- Joe Mackey: notes that Citizens United repeal legislation already exists but can’t get a hearing under a Republican Congress; calls for passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act; argues PAC donor disclosure is the central transparency reform needed

00:56:10 Question 7: Public Education Funding (from Kate Faust, Wheatfield)

- Drew Cox: opposes taxpayer funding for charter schools; supports cannabis legalization to generate education revenue; cites his mother’s 36-year teaching career and $60,000 salary as evidence of systemic underpayment

- Darin Patrick Griesey: proposes the Fair Education Funding Act — consolidating 15 federal funding formulas into one, mandating $15,000 per student minimum, and shifting from test-score to needs-based allocation

- Jayden McCash: agrees no tax dollars to charter schools; calls for raising teacher pay, strengthening teacher unions, and funding classroom supplies

- Joe Mackey: supports Title I revival for competitive teacher salaries; prefers federal earmarks over block grants; wants education decisions returned to local school boards and educators

- Paul McPherson: disagrees partially on charter schools, noting his wife taught at a public charter school that served students who learn differently; supports makerspace investment and hands-on skills training

- John Whetstone: argues war spending ($50 billion in recent military actions) should be redirected to schools; calls for funding vocational programs; highlights the need to publicly fund daycares as early education infrastructure

01:02:31 Question 8: Electability — Who Can Flip the 4th District?

- John Whetstone: grew up in a conservative trailer park; argues cross-aisle credibility comes from shared economic concerns; notes no one in Greencastle seems to know who Jim Baird is

- Darin Patrick Griesey: points to his broad policy platform, two-term pledge, 10% salary scholarship tithe, and cross-demographic appeal as a farmer and entertainer; believes the race is winnable

- Joe Mackey: cites a decade of district-level organizing; argues blue collar Democrats are winning red districts on dinner table issues; believes the gap against Jim Baird may be as small as seven points

- Jayden McCash: argues his Hoosier-first message can peel away 17-20% of Republican voters who were sold an “America first” promise that became “Israel first”

- Paul McPherson: has knocked on over 3,000 doors; emphasizes his background across manufacturing, farming, and education as unique preparation; commits to constituent-facing town halls if elected

- Drew Cox: argues his military background as a Marine and Afghanistan veteran sets him apart in a general election against two Republican veterans; highlights the veteran suicide and homelessness crisis as a defining issue

01:09:40 Hold’em or Fold’em Speed Round

All six candidates answered yes or no on twelve policy questions. Results:

- Automatic voter registration at 18: All six — yes

- Ban congressional stock trading: All six — yes

- Pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants: All six — yes

- Nationwide rent increase limits: Cox yes, Griesey yes, McCash (inaudible, but yes), Mackey no, McPherson yes, Whetstone yes

- Tuition-free community college: Griesey yes, Mackey yes, McPherson yes, Whetstone yes, Cox yes (McCash got skipped - sorry)

- Federal wealth tax on ultra-high net worth individuals: All six — yes

- Break up large tech companies under antitrust law: All six — yes

- End fossil fuel tax breaks and subsidies: All six — yes

- Federal law restoring abortion access protections: All six — yes

- Federal assault weapons ban: McCash yes, Mackey yes, McPherson yes, Whetstone no, Cox no, Griesey no

- Congressional approval required for military engagement: McCash yes, Mackey no, McPherson no, Whetstone yes, Cox no, Griesey yes

- Expand the Supreme Court beyond nine justices: McCash no, Mackey no, McPherson no, Whetstone yes, Cox yes, Griesey yes

01:15:46 Closing Statements

- Paul McPherson: directs viewers to votemcpherson.com; pitches his cross-aisle problem-solving approach and willingness to meet people in the middle

- Joe Mackey: argues blue collar Democrats are winning red districts on affordability; commits to keeping the focus on district needs over party priorities

- Jayden McCash: reiterates Hoosier-first platform; pledges to block $1.5 trillion military spending without Medicare for All first; advocates uncapping the House from its 435-member limit; website mccashforcongress.com

- Darin Patrick Griesey: frames the race as right versus wrong; pledges a series of day-one bills on term limits, Social Security, universal care, education, energy, gun violence, and tax reform; website darinpatrick.com

- Drew Cox: thanks candidates and moderator; argues military background as a Marine and Afghanistan veteran is essential for a general election against two Republican veterans; website drewcox.org

- John Whetstone: argues the government has served career politicians, the ultra-rich, and the military-industrial complex long enough; calls for refocusing on families, workers, and Hoosiers; website whetstoneforcongress.com

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https://tabithazeiglerforcongress.com/

SUMMARY:

In this Progressive Indiana Network virtual town hall, HoosLeft host Scott Aaron Rogers speaks with Tabitha Zeigler, a Democratic primary candidate in Indiana’s 8th Congressional District running against incumbent Republican Mark Messmer. Zeigler -- an autism mom, late-diagnosed autistic adult, community organizer, and former postal worker -- covers an expansive range of issues over more than an hour, including the Trump administration’s escalating military conflict with Iran, the Democratic Party’s disconnect from working-class and younger Hoosiers, the RFK Jr.-led assault on autism services and disability rights, the fight for trans rights in a rural district, the corrupting influence of big money and AIPAC in Congress, the need to abolish ICE and reform immigration, her opposition to data centers on Indiana farmland, the housing crisis driven by private equity, and what it would take for an outsider progressive to win in a district rated R+18.

QUESTIONS:

00:00:23 INTRODUCTION

- Scott introduces the town hall format: viewer questions relayed from YouTube, Facebook Live, and ProgressiveIndiana.net.

- Tabitha Zeigler introduces herself: autism mom of three, late-diagnosed autistic adult, community organizer, and self-described rabble-rouser.

- She explains her path to running: frustration with the federal government’s treatment of the autism community drove her to launch a podcast and eventually seek office.

- She argues that if medical professionals won’t be trusted, the next best thing is sending actual autistic people to Congress.

00:03:00 THE IRAN WAR AND DEMOCRATIC COMPLICITY

- Scott asks Zeigler to respond to Trump’s threats of bombing civilian infrastructure in Iran and his inflammatory social media posts targeting Muslims.

- Zeigler draws on her millennial generation’s lived experience watching the post-9/11 wars unfold -- she was a college freshman when the Twin Towers fell -- and warns this conflict will be long, costly, and bloody.

- She criticizes the administration’s gutted military leadership under Pete Hegseth and argues that a well-prepared military exists to avoid combat, not rush into it.

- Scott follows up on Congress’s abdication of its war powers -- the last formal declaration of war was World War II -- and asks what Democrats should be doing.

- Zeigler frames military service as a working-class issue, noting it’s blue-collar Hoosiers -- plumbers, contractors, tradespeople -- who bear the cost of war while the wealthy profit.

00:10:37 THE INDIANA DEMOCRATIC PARTY PLATFORM

- Viewer Papa Rottzi asks via the web form whether the Indiana Democratic Party’s draft platform reflects what Hoosiers actually want.

- Zeigler says flatly that the party hasn’t listened to Hoosiers in a long time -- particularly younger and working-age voters -- and is led primarily by people who are already retired and financially comfortable.

- Scott presses: if the party is that out of touch, why stay a Democrat?

- Zeigler says she remains in the tent because she’s a progressive and believes in moving left, not toward the center, but warns that if the party keeps drifting toward “Republican lite,” that could change.

00:13:17 RFK JR., MAHA, AND THE ATTACK ON AUTISM SERVICES

- Scott asks Zeigler to explain what the Trump administration and RFK Jr.’s MAHA agenda are actually doing to the autism community.

- Zeigler walks through Indiana’s First Steps program (which ends at age three), the difficulty of getting diagnoses and ABA therapy in rural areas, and the cascading effects of losing providers.

- She calls RFK’s approach -- blaming mothers for their children’s autism through vaccine fearmongering -- criminal, adding that mothers of autistic children are already under enormous stress and guilt without being told they caused it.

- She raises Indiana’s history of institutionalization, noting the state ended the practice in 1997 after widespread abuse, and warns that current legislative language around “institutionalization” is a step back toward eugenics.

- She frames the broader attack on disability services as classic fascist scapegoating: autistic families, immigrants, trans people -- always an “other” to blame.

00:20:47 TRANS RIGHTS, GAVIN NEWSOM, AND HOLDING THE LINE

- Scott asks Zeigler to respond to Gavin Newsom’s call for Democrats to be more “culturally normal” -- widely seen as throwing trans people under the bus.

- Zeigler dismisses Newsom’s position as easy political cowardice: it’s simple for a straight white man with no skin in the game to sacrifice a minority community.

- She invokes the Niemoller poem (”First they came...”) and argues Democrats who abandon trans people are setting themselves up to be next.

- She discloses personally: one of her children, age six, has been expressing a female identity for several years, and she is preparing herself for that possibility with full support.

- She calls people who won’t stand up for the trans community right now “cowards” and says it violates the core tenets of most faiths.

00:25:22 TRANS GIRLS IN SPORTS (FROM CHRIS RECTOR)

- Scott notes that the question comes from Chris Rector, identified as one of Zeigler’s opponents in the primary -- another progressive outsider and friend.

- Rector asks about Zeigler’s stance on transgender girls participating in female high school sports.

- Zeigler says she’s not a trans woman and would like to hear more directly from those who are, but her position is clear: if someone tells you they’re female, let them compete with other females.

- She uses an example of a trans man in her social circle who served in the military and met the full physical demands of his position as a man.

00:27:49 ACCOUNTABILITY IN OFFICE (FROM JOEY IN TERRE HAUTE)

- Viewer Joey asks how Zeigler plans to remain accountable to constituents and what that accountability looks like in practice.

- Zeigler says she wants people to be able to call her -- contrasting that with the experience of disabled constituents who had to physically travel to Washington in wheelchairs just to get a politician’s attention.

- She describes attending a town hall hosted by incumbent Mark Messmer and submitting multiple autism-related questions -- none of which were asked.

- She invites constituents to hold her feet to the fire if she gets it wrong, saying she’s going as their voice, not her own agenda.

00:31:33 WHAT DEMOCRATS NEED TO DO FOR YOUNG VOTERS (FROM )

- Cameron Grubbs, running for Delaware County Clerk in Muncie, asks what Democrats should be doing to better engage younger voters.

- Zeigler says young people today don’t have a shot -- private equity is buying up their homes, their college degrees aren’t leading to careers, they can’t afford families, and Social Security may not exist for them.

- She argues it’s hypocritical to ask young people to vote blue when the party isn’t offering solutions to the material conditions destroying their futures.

00:34:55 PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES (FROM )

- Viewer Hoosier Lemon asks whether Zeigler would support legislation allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices.

- Zeigler gives an unambiguous yes and shares a personal story: her son with autism and ADHD was forced through four generic substitutions before his insurer would approve the doctor’s original prescription, ultimately going without medication for two months.

- She says pharmaceutical companies have more influence on politicians than constituents do, and calls the system obscene.

00:38:13 MEDICARE FOR ALL, FREE COLLEGE, PUBLIC HOUSING

- Scott follows up: Zeigler is on record supporting Medicare for All -- what’s her vision for what government should actually provide?

- Zeigler ties it back to war spending, arguing that a country spending a billion dollars a day on bombing campaigns has no credibility telling people free healthcare or college is unaffordable.

- She notes Americans are increasingly fleeing the country for cheaper healthcare abroad -- dental tourism to Turkiye, retirement to lower-cost countries -- as evidence the current system has failed.

- Scott asks the follow-up: how do you pay for it? Zeigler says start by taxing the one percent, and calls out the irony of politicians who benefit from a form of socialism for themselves telling working people they can’t have the same.

00:42:36 THE SUPREME COURT AND ANTI-DEMOCRATIC STRUCTURES

- Scott asks how progressives get around a Supreme Court that has been stacked against them.

- Zeigler supports expanding the court and endorses term limits for justices, arguing lifetime appointments for ideologically captured justices serve no legitimate democratic purpose.

- Scott broadens the question to the Senate and Electoral College -- both anti-democratic structures baked into the Constitution.

- On admitting new states, Zeigler is supportive, calling out the ongoing colonialism of Puerto Rico and American Samoa in particular, and arguing representation must reflect population demographics.

00:49:51 DATA CENTERS, NUCLEAR ENERGY, AND INDIANA FARMLAND (FROM PAPA ROTTZI)

- Papa Rottzi asks whether hydroelectric power from the Ohio River should be considered to offset data center energy demands, and whether Zeigler is open to nuclear power.

- Zeigler says she is a hard no on data centers as currently implemented -- they’re being sited in rural and low-income communities, bringing diesel turbines that produce noise pollution comparable to half a jet engine, respiratory health risks, and electrical costs passed directly to residents.

- She warns that Indiana’s 63% tillable farmland -- once paved over -- takes a century to recover, and that building data centers on it is a food security issue, not just an environmental one.

- She calls for a full moratorium on new data centers pending more research, and says she’s open to nuclear but would want to hear from people currently working in those facilities before taking a firm position.

00:56:31 PRIVATE EQUITY AND THE HOUSING CRISIS (FROM HOOSIER LEMON)

- Hoosier Lemon asks whether Zeigler would support legislation banning private equity and out-of-state investors from buying up Indiana homes.

- Zeigler responds with an immediate hell yes and describes her own small town of Covington -- population 2,500 -- where an outside firm bought up homes previously selling for $50,000 and is now renting them for $1,000 a month, pricing out locals.

- She links the problem to Airbnb as well, noting entire neighborhoods have been converted into short-term rentals, squeezing out permanent residents.

- Scott editorializes that private equity firms are ghouls, notes the national figure is around 3% of homes owned by institutional investors, and argues any number above zero is too many.

01:01:41 WOULD YOU VOTE FOR HAKEEM JEFFRIES AS SPEAKER?

- Scott asks whether Jeffries -- the current House Minority Leader and presumptive Speaker-in-waiting -- is the right person to lead if Democrats retake the House.

- Zeigler is skeptical, lumping Jeffries in with Chuck Schumer as examples of leadership that has bent too far to donor interests, including AIPAC.

- She says she’d want to see a woman -- specifically one who doesn’t take AIPAC or corporate money and will fight -- and would vote accordingly if she gets to Congress.

01:03:48 GETTING BIG MONEY OUT OF POLITICS

- Scott presses on how you fight corporate power from inside a Congress where most of your colleagues are dependent on it.

- Zeigler says the only real answer is overturning Citizens United and getting all corporate money out of politics -- on both sides.

- She calls it a uniparty problem: Republicans and Democrats alike are beholden to the same donor class, and until that changes, personnel shuffles don’t fix the underlying corruption.

01:06:04 AIPAC, FOREIGN INFLUENCE, AND THE ANTI-SEMITISM CHARGE

- Scott asks how Zeigler responds when criticism of AIPAC gets labeled as antisemitism.

- Zeigler says the first question she’d ask any congressmember is where their allegiance lies -- to the American people or to the state of Israel -- and says that question should be answerable without controversy.

- She raises the issue of American legislators who have served with the IDF as a conflict of interest and says no other foreign government has the kind of influence over Congress that Israel does.

- She is careful to distinguish between criticism of Israeli government policy and hatred of Jewish people -- noting her children’s sperm donor is Jewish -- and argues accountability must apply equally to all governments.

01:09:04 ICE, DHS, AND IMMIGRATION POLICY

- Scott frames the question around ICE’s escalating violence, including shootings of American citizens, and the split within Democrats between reform and abolition.

- Zeigler says she supports abolishing ICE outright, citing the connection between IDF training of domestic law enforcement and the tactics now being used on American civilians.

- On what replaces it, she advocates for diplomatic investment in Latin America to address root causes of migration, a streamlined and humane legal immigration process, and cracking down on the corporate farming interests that depend on and exploit undocumented labor.

- She connects the Dilley detention facility and reports of abuse -- including pregnant minors -- to the broader failure of an unaccountable enforcement apparatus.

01:14:52 THE PRIMARY DYNAMICS: OUTSIDERS VS. THE ESTABLISHMENT

- Scott notes the four-candidate Democratic primary field: one establishment-endorsed candidate and three outsiders, including Zeigler.

- He asks how the progressive vote gets consolidated to prevent the establishment favorite from running away with the nomination.

- Zeigler encourages voters to research candidates’ social media histories -- particularly what they were doing in January 2025 -- and look at who they’ve consistently been, not just what they’re saying now.

- She flags her own litmus test: can a candidate say the word genocide? If not, that tells her something about how they’ll hold up under pressure.

- She also pushes back on candidates who bend to party pressure on even small things -- like being told to remove facial jewelry -- as a signal of how they’ll behave in office.

01:18:29 PATH TO VICTORY IN NOVEMBER

- Scott asks: if Zeigler wins the primary, how does she beat incumbent Mark Messmer in an R+18 district in November?

- Zeigler says truth and authenticity -- people want someone who will give it to Messmer ten toes down, every single time.

- She says Hoosiers are gritty people who don’t want a representative who just rolls over, and that Messmer has never stood up to Trump on anything, including the Epstein revelations.

- She closes by encouraging voters across all races to pick the candidate their gut says has the fight in them, not the one the party is telling them to vote for.

01:20:55 FINAL WORDS AND HOW TO FIND TABITHA

Thanks again to Tabitha Zeigler for joining us. For more information and to get involved, visit her campaign website at TabithaZeiglerForCongress.com. You can also find her on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Our next virtual town hall is with 5th District congressional candidatate Jackson Franklin on April 12 — mark your calendars. Early voting for the primary begins Tuesday, April 7 and Election Day is May 5.

Progressive Indiana Network : https:/www.progressiveindiana.net

Moderator:

Scott Aaron Rogers: https://hoosleft.us/

Candidates:

Carl Stutsman: https://carlstutsman4in.org/

Emily Yaw: Campaign Facebook

SUMMARY:

Scott Aaron Rogers moderates the Progressive Indiana Network’s Democratic primary debate for Indiana House District 48, covering Cleveland, Osolo, and Washington townships and portions of Baugo and Concord Township in northern Elkhart County. The two candidates — Carl Stutsman, a former community journalist and lifelong Elkhart County resident, and Emily Yaw, an accountant and foster parent turned first-time candidate — cover ten questions across four topic areas: economy and affordability, healthcare, education and childcare, and public safety and immigration. Both candidates express skepticism of Republican supermajority priorities including SEA 1 (property tax relief), the 2026 SEA 1 (Medicaid and SNAP restrictions), and the universal school voucher expansion, while finding common ground on utility reform, publicly funded childcare, and immigrant community protection. The debate closes with a “HoosLeft Asks HoosRight?” speed round in which both candidates align on rejecting public stadium subsidies, affirm trans rights as human rights, side with critics of hyperscale data center subsidies, support Blythe Potter over Beau Bayh on donor integrity, and oppose Flock Safety license plate cameras.

BREAKDOWN:

00:00:22 — Opening / Welcome

- Rogers outlines the format: opening statements, four topic areas with 90-second responses, the “HoosLeft Asks HoosRight?” speed round, and closing statements.

00:03:01 — Opening Statements

- Emily Yaw opens by describing herself as a regular person — an accountant active in her church — who entered politics through foster care advocacy after witnessing how broken the system is for vulnerable children.

- Carl Stutsman’s opening is briefly delayed by a technical audio dropout; once reconnected, he introduces himself as a blue-collar, former community journalist whose family has deep Elkhart County roots going back to the mid-1800s, and frames his candidacy around listening, effective change, and long-term community investment.

00:06:26 — Question 1: Priorities in a Supermajority Environment

- Rogers frames the question: Republicans control both chambers and the governorship — what is one thing each candidate could realistically accomplish from the minority, and how?

- Yaw says her priority is DCS oversight and accountability for the 50-60 children who die annually from abuse and neglect in Indiana, and says she’s willing to work across the aisle and publicly shame Republicans who block progress.

- Stutsman identifies utility rates as a viable bipartisan entry point, arguing that reining in what NIPSCO and Indiana-Michigan Power charge ratepayers is an issue Republicans and Democrats share, and that it opens the door to broader energy conversations.

00:09:13 — Question 2: Tax Fairness and SEA 1 (2025)

- Rogers breaks down Senate Enrolled Act 1 of 2025: homeowners got up to $300; large property holders and businesses got growing exemptions; cities, counties, and school districts are projected to absorb hundreds of millions in losses. Braun’s response to local officials: “prove it” and “do more with less.”

- Stutsman calls SEA 1 bad news for local governments and says the state needs alternative revenue sources, naming marijuana legalization as one example; he argues the tax burden must shift toward businesses and high earners and away from middle- and lower-income Hoosiers.

- Yaw agrees the bill helped companies at the expense of regular Hoosiers, argues fairness requires shared burden, and says she would push to reinstate corporate taxes — not to drive businesses out, but because they benefit from Indiana’s labor and infrastructure and should contribute accordingly.

00:12:41 — Question 3: Utility Monopolies and HEA 1002

- Rogers describes HEA 1002 as a modest step toward performance-based rate making, noting Democrats’ amendments — rate caps, eliminating sales tax on residential bills, blocking private equity from acquiring utilities — were all voted down. He asks whether the bill was sufficient and whether Indiana should debate public ownership of utilities.

- Yaw says it was nowhere near enough and links the status quo to Trump’s hostility toward alternative energy; she supports community solar with school career centers involved in installation as a practical alternative to continued reliance on coal and monopoly pricing.

- Stutsman cites NIPSCO’s ongoing labor strikes in Northwest Indiana as evidence of the dysfunction, says the IURC has become a politically motivated rubber stamp for the governor, and while acknowledging public ownership would be a massive conversation, says the principle — that infrastructure built for the public shouldn’t be priced by private shareholders — is the right direction.

00:16:45 — Question 4: Elkhart County’s Single-Industry Economy

- Rogers notes Elkhart County produces 80–85% of the world’s RVs — a legacy and a vulnerability. Unemployment hit nearly 20% in the Great Recession and the county set a record for single-week unemployment claims (nearly 10,000) when COVID shutdowns hit in spring 2020.

- Stutsman, who covered Elkhart as a journalist and saw 24% unemployment in 2012, confirms the county is too dependent on one industry; he notes diversification exists (citing Elkhart Brass, which supplies most U.S. fire department nozzles) and calls on the state to actively recruit new industry to leverage the region’s labor force.

- Yaw, who works at ATC Trailers, says tariffs are currently making things worse and points to businesses already internally diversifying across product lines as the right model; she favors keeping economic decisions local rather than state-directed.

00:21:07 — Question 5: Medicaid, SNAP, and SEA 1 (2026)

- Rogers distinguishes the 2026 SEA 1 from the 2025 property tax bill of the same number: this session’s top Senate Republican priority tightened Medicaid and SNAP eligibility, added immigration status verification for entire households, and cut the Healthy Indiana Plan renewal period from 12 to 6 months. Per Hoosier Action, more than 100,000 Hoosiers could lose Medicaid coverage. Indiana’s rules are now more restrictive than what the Trump administration has imposed federally.

- Yaw calls for state-level universal health coverage, rejects the “waste, fraud, and abuse” justification as unsupported by actual fraud data, and argues that spending more money on means-testing while kids go hungry and families lose homes to medical costs is an indefensible trade-off.

- Stutsman says HIP must be expanded and could serve as the foundation for a statewide health insurance plan; he makes the small-business case for socialized health care, arguing that eliminating employer-subsidized premium contributions frees up capital while pooling resources more effectively.

00:25:54 — Question 6: Indiana’s Abortion Ban and Maternal Healthcare Infrastructure

- Rogers frames this not as a values question but a logistics one: Indiana has the third-highest maternal mortality rate in the country (2022), maternity wards are closing, OBGYNs are leaving to avoid prosecution, residency applications dropped more than 9% post-ban, IU School of Medicine is sending OB residents to Illinois for training, and one in four Indiana counties is already a maternity care desert. What can a minority caucus member actually do?

- Stutsman says the abortion ban casts a shadow over every practical intervention; he calls for investing in community health organizations that are filling gaps, acknowledges those organizations are struggling, and says restoring women’s bodily autonomy is a conversation that should have been settled long ago.

- Yaw says her perspective as a Christian gives her visibility into both sides of the debate; she would push for increased adoption and support services funding if the ban persists, but says her preferred path is investing in emerging artificial womb technology that could offer a third option — safely transferring a fetus rather than forcing a binary choice between abortion and birth.

00:30:04 — Question 7: Public Education and Universal Vouchers

- Rogers notes Indiana’s constitution requires a free, uniform public education system; Republicans have spent a decade defunding it in favor of privatization. The voucher program now costs nearly half a billion dollars a year, and this upcoming school year Indiana becomes a universal voucher state with no income cap.

- Yaw opposes vouchers, using the analogy of a boat with leaks — pulling people off into better boats doesn’t fix the boat for those left behind. She especially flags foster kids and children in poverty as vulnerable populations harmed by voucher flight and calls for reinvesting in public schools with more local curriculum flexibility.

- Stutsman is unequivocal: every dollar that can go to public education should go to public education, and private schools should not receive another cent of public money. He notes school districts are now holding referendums just to fund busing and that Indiana still does not provide universal free school lunches despite once having that program.

00:34:59 — Question 8: Childcare as a Right

- Rogers details the childcare crisis: the state voucher program is closed to new enrollees, the waitlist has topped 30,000 children, no new vouchers until at least 2027, and reimbursement rates were slashed — 10% for infant care, 15% for preschoolers, 35% for school-aged children. HEA 1177 passed this session but is a drop in the bucket.

- Stutsman calls childcare an absolute right, noting the contradiction in demanding workforce participation while providing no childcare infrastructure; he shares a personal story about his niece with developmental disabilities thriving in a pre-K program as evidence of what investment can do.

- Yaw agrees it’s a right and calls out the hypocrisy of imposing SNAP work requirements while refusing to fund the childcare that would make work possible; she cites Germany’s universal childcare program as a model that produced a 25% reduction in abuse and neglect cases.

00:39:12 — Question 9: Public Safety, Mental Health, and Economic Resilience

- Rogers broadens the public safety frame: in a boom-bust economy, safety threats include layoffs, housing instability, addiction, and mental health crises — not just crime.

- Yaw says safety starts with childcare and early childhood intervention, which address the root causes of mental health issues and chronic physical problems; she calls for state grants to community centers that can serve as hubs for kids, parents, and anyone needing a safe space.

- Stutsman draws on his experience with the Elkhart Citizens Police Academy to note that officers are already being asked to serve as mental health workers and mediators; he echoes Yaw’s call for community center investment and cites the Southern Indiana needle-sharing program as a model of state getting out of the way and letting communities solve their own problems.

00:43:08 — Question 10: Immigration and Immigrant Communities in District 48

- Rogers notes that about one in 10 Elkhart County residents was born outside the U.S., thousands of Indiana residents have been subject to ICE arrests since January of last year, the state has mandated cooperation from local governments, schools, and universities, and Indiana is now profiting from holding detainees at Miami Correctional Facility.

- Stutsman acknowledges the structural difficulty — state-level action requires majority votes the minority can’t deliver — but commits to amplifying the work of community organizations already protecting Goshen and Elkhart’s large Hispanic population, and calls out the reality of American citizens carrying passports to prove their identity out of fear of racial profiling.

- Yaw condemns the reopening of Miami Correctional Facility for immigration detention given its history of understaffing and above-average deaths; she calls for state-defined protected zones (schools, churches, parks) where ICE should not operate, a state-level audit unit to verify ICE is detaining people legally, and sustained legal challenges.

00:48:18 — HoosLeft Asks HoosRight? (Speed Round)

- Stadium subsidies: State Rep. Earl Harris Jr. (D-East Chicago) calls the potential Chicago Bears stadium in Hammond a once-in-a-generation opportunity; Congressman Don Beyer has co-authored legislation to end public stadium subsidies entirely. Both Yaw and Stutsman side with Beyer — no public subsidies, though Stutsman notes he is a Bears fan.

- Trans rights: Newsom and Buttigieg have both moved toward accommodating Republican framing on trans issues; Jayapal and Markey reintroduced the Transgender Bill of Rights arguing Democrats should get louder, not quieter. Both candidates side with Jayapal and Markey — trans rights are human rights.

- Data centers: Mayor Angie Nelson Deutsch and building trades unions argue data centers bring good-paying construction jobs; Citizens Action Coalition’s Ben Inskeep calls hyperscale data centers the single biggest threat to utility affordability and sustainability in Indiana this decade. Both candidates side with Inskeep.

- Money in Politics: Beau Bayh has accepted high-dollar contributions from Trump-aligned billionaires and school privatization champions; his opponent Blythe Potter argues the source of money matters. Both candidates side with Potter.

- Flock Safety cameras: South Bend Mayor James Mueller champions the license plate readers; Congressmen Raj Krishnamoorthi and Robert Garcia have launched a formal congressional investigation into Flock over ICE’s unauthorized access to the data. Both candidates side with Krishnamoorthi and Garcia.

00:54:47 — Closing Statements

- Yaw keeps it brief: she urges voters to look both candidates up, research where they stand, and vote for whoever they believe will make Indiana better — and notes that both she and Stutsman genuinely want the best candidate to win.

- Stutsman reflects on a lifetime of quiet community service — speech and debate, bunk bed drives, a decade of local journalism, a community radio show — and frames his candidacy as a continuation of that work; he closes with a call to bring Indiana back toward a government that reflects its people.

Progressive Indiana Network : https://www.progressiveindiana.net

Moderator:

Rachael Chatham: https://rchathampr.com/

Candidates:

Tiffanie Arthur: https://www.tiffaniearthur.com/

Anthony Bolen: https://www.anthonybolen4in63.com/

Adam Mann: Campaign Facebook

SUMMARY:

Three Democratic candidates for Indiana House District 63 debated across five policy categories — healthcare, infrastructure, affordability, education, and housing — covering eleven substantive questions. All three candidates broadly agreed on core progressive critiques: Indiana’s Republican supermajority has consistently prioritized corporate profits over working families, a budget surplus has been accumulated at the expense of services, and the state’s rural communities bear a disproportionate share of the resulting hardships. Tony Bolen, a manufacturing contractor from Dubois County, emphasized workers’ rights and corporate accountability. Adam Mann, born and raised in Dubois County and based in Jasper, focused on troubleshooting bad policy and applying critical thinking to regulatory reform. Tiffanie Arthur, chair of the Daviess County Democratic Party, small business owner, and former preschool teacher, brought community organizing experience and firsthand knowledge of rural healthcare, housing, and childcare gaps. The debate concluded with a rapid-fire speed round covering thirteen issues, followed by closing statements.

BREAKDOWN:

00:01:36 - Opening Statements

• Tony: Blue-collar background, 15 years in service industry, 14 years in automotive remanufacturing; wants to restore connection between government and citizens and return power to the people

• Adam: Born and raised in northwest Dubois County, calls Jasper home; wants to apply critical thinking and problem-solving to reckless lawmaking; sees abortion as a symptom of deeper economic problems; focused on aligning wages to actual cost of living

• Tiffanie: Lifelong community member, small business owner, mom, farm community member, former preschool teacher, and current Daviess County Democratic Party chair; running because working families are doing everything right and still falling behind on energy costs, healthcare, and farmland protection

00:08:14 - Q1: HEALTHCARE — Rural Hospital Access and Medical Workforce

Southern Indiana hospitals are closing or months-booked, injury deaths are 40% higher in rural communities than urban, and medical talent is hard to attract. What will you do to bring healthcare to southwest Indiana?

• Tony: Indiana has 400,000 to 500,000 uninsured residents; after cutting Medicaid rolls, the state built a $670M surplus; hospitals survive through use and funding, not emergency rooms as last resort; get people insured and into the system

• Adam: Assess supply and demand; subsidize hospitals that serve low-density regions even when patient volume can’t sustain them; audit which regulations are driving medical personnel out of Indiana and cut those

• Tiffanie: Ensure rural hospitals receive fair Medicaid reimbursement rates; protect and expand critical access hospital funding and stabilization grants; incentivize providers to work in rural areas; strengthen workforce pipelines through school and training partnerships

00:13:25 - Q2: HEALTHCARE — Medicaid Cuts and the Healthy Indiana Plan

Two in seven Indiana residents are on Medicaid. A projected $985M–$2.4B shortfall is driving significant cuts; over 100,000 could lose coverage. What is Indiana’s obligation to its most vulnerable residents, and do you support expanding the Healthy Indiana Plan?

• Tiffanie: HIP fills the gap for self-employed and lower-income residents, including her own family; while budgets matter, a healthy state requires people be able to access care without falling into medical debt; would look hard at expanding HIP within budgetary constraints

• Adam: Health is degrading in ways that have been normalized; Medicaid and Medicare are necessary for a productive workforce; would work within the budget shortfall to prioritize healthy Hoosiers, though acknowledges limits if federal funding falls short

• Tony: Wants every Hoosier to have health insurance; supports a tiered system for HIP or Medicaid where income levels determine buy-in amounts rather than hard cutoffs, giving the state leverage to negotiate with providers and pharmaceutical companies

00:18:14 - Q3: INFRASTRUCTURE — Rural Road Funding

37% of Indiana roads are in poor or fair condition; INDOT recently delayed 300 projects due to inflation and declining revenue. How will you secure funding for road repairs?

• Adam: Start by reviewing tax revenue and identifying cuts that can be redirected; strongly opposed to toll roads as cost-inefficient and resident-funded; wants existing roads fixed before new ones planned; calls out the MidStates Corridor as wasteful

• Tiffanie: The state ended the last fiscal year with a significant surplus — question is why that money isn’t going to road improvements; US-231 through Martin and Dubois counties was scheduled for upgrades but money was folded into the MidStates Corridor tier-one study; toll roads are just another tax on rural Hoosiers who already travel farther; calls out governor’s helipad and cabinet luxury vehicles as misuse of taxpayer funds

• Tony: Agrees toll roads are just another tax; Indiana has other ways to raise revenue, including rolling back corporate tax cuts and data center tax breaks; the $660–$670M budget surplus means the problem is not collection, it’s delivery of services

00:23:13 - Q4: INFRASTRUCTURE — Rural Road Safety

Indiana ranks fourth nationally for deadly crashes on local rural-type streets; local non-highway roads account for 28% of the state’s fatal crashes. What will you do to improve road safety?

• Tiffanie: Personal and lived issue as a Daviess County resident; narrow roads with no shoulders, slow farm vehicles, and semis create high fatality risk; intersection improvements like a left-turn lane on SR-257 in Washington could make a big difference cheaply; buggy lanes in Daviess and Martin County Amish communities have already helped; widening and intersection evaluation are the tools

• Adam: Most crashes are driver-related — recklessness, speed, poor judgment; improving the economy reduces desperation-driven risk-taking; also supports better police funding to enforce road laws; infrastructure improvements where structurally needed

• Tony: Community feedback is essential — people who drive these roads daily know the danger spots; cites widened US-231 in Spencer County and J-turns as effective low-cost solutions; state should investigate every fatal crash cluster and act quickly when a dangerous intersection is identified

00:28:22 - Q5: INFRASTRUCTURE — Public Safety: Mental Health, Addiction, and Community Trust

Public safety includes mental health services, addiction treatment, stable housing, and trust between residents and institutions. What comprehensive approach would you take, and how would you balance law enforcement against prevention and community-based services?

• Tony: Mental health and drug treatment programs need more funding and better visibility; normalize getting help before incarceration; adequate policing where needed, but focus on community trust and involvement

• Adam: Wants to move away from treating police as jacks-of-all-trades; different situations need different specializations; advocates for shared resources between communities with different police specializations; acknowledges funding limits

• Tiffanie: Safety requires addressing root causes, not just outcomes; opioid crisis has touched nearly every community in the district; unreliable broadband hampers telehealth; school funding cuts reduce school-based mental health access; law enforcement cannot be mental health providers; cites the RISE peer recovery services program in Daviess County as a model worth replicating; stop crises before they start

00:33:08 - Q6: AFFORDABILITY — Rising Costs for Working Families

Gas prices are surpassing $4 a gallon in many areas, grocery prices are up 2.8%, egg prices have spiked from bird flu, and working families are squeezed. What will you implement to reduce costs and ensure measurable impact?

• Tiffanie: Economic policy should be concrete, not abstract; corporations posting record profits while families struggle suggests a tax fairness problem; utility regulation is a state-level lever worth using; cannot let corporations extract from Hoosier families without accountability

• Adam: Much of the cost problem originates at the federal level; at the state level, would require data centers that drive up electricity prices to compensate communities directly; would use surplus funds as grants for utility infrastructure so rate increases aren’t passed to residents

• Tony: Limited state-level control over gas prices, but Indiana has one of the highest gas taxes in the country and that could be examined; trickle-down economics has failed after 40 years and it’s time to tax corporations and high-income individuals fairly, including wealth not derived from traditional salaries

00:38:25 - Q7: AFFORDABILITY — Utility Rates, HEA 1002, and Data Center Accountability

Indiana passed HEA 1002 in 2026 to address rising utility costs and regulate how large energy users connect to the grid. The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission is governor-appointed and utilities are major political donors. Data centers will significantly increase electricity demand. What steps would you support to keep rates fair while allowing economic growth?

• Tony: Stop letting utility companies hide rate increases in surcharges and fuel delivery fees while claiming their rates haven’t gone up; utility companies in Indiana profit 10–20% on every dollar collected; would consider legislation requiring utilities to offer large consumers like data centers the same rates they offer residential customers

• Tiffanie: HEA 1002 takes some steps in the right direction — protections during extreme weather, more predictable billing — but predictability isn’t the problem, the bill amount is; most Indiana utilities operate as regulated monopolies and need more oversight and transparency; data centers that drive up costs for local Hoosiers should not be welcomed, full stop

• Adam: [Note: Rachael inadvertently skipped Adam on this question and looped back mid-debate; Adam supplemented his earlier affordability answer] Data centers getting utility tax breaks is backwards — if they’re taking from the community, they need to put something back; would investigate utility companies’ actual production costs to distinguish reasonable profit from reckless profit

00:42:25 - Q8: HOUSING — SB 285, Homelessness Criminalization, and the Housing Crisis

Indiana’s average rent is $1,399/month and the state has the highest foreclosure rate in the nation. SB 285, effective July 1, 2026, makes camping or residing on public property illegal, with a 48-hour move-or-face-misdemeanor provision. Do you support this law? What will you do about the housing crisis?

• Tiffanie: [Answered first in this section] Punishing people who are already struggling with fines, court costs, or jail time only perpetuates the cycle of poverty and homelessness; the state should lift people up and connect them to services; supports incentivizing renovation of aging homes through grants to put available, affordable housing back on the market

• Tony: Can’t remember being more against a law; where exactly are homeless residents supposed to go — five feet, out of state? The state lacks the infrastructure to support the unhoused; Republican legislature wants to cut township services that help people near foreclosure; supports financing incentives for older homes that get passed over for new construction; criticizes SB 285 without hesitation

• Adam: That bill needs to go; we need to stop criminalizing living; housing cost is a complex problem — building regulations that make homes safer also make them more expensive, and there’s no clean way around that; the answer is higher wages, better access to funding, and businesses investing in workers

00:50:01 - Q9: HOUSING — SEA 1, Property Tax Fairness, and Downstream Damage

In 2025, the Republican supermajority passed Senate Enrolled Act 1, which Gov. Braun called historic tax relief. Homeowners got up to $300 in credits; large property holders and businesses got growing exemptions; cities, counties, and school districts face projected hundreds of millions in revenue losses. What does real tax fairness look like, and what would you do about the damage SEA 1 is causing in District 63?

• Tony: Doesn’t oppose eliminating property taxes in principle, but any cut requires finding that revenue elsewhere or cutting services; SEA 1 got it backwards — big breaks for corporations and multi-property owners rather than single-residence homeowners; wants to restore homestead credits, lower primary residence rates, and fix the illogical disparity that taxes farmer-owned farmland at 2% while their home is taxed at 1%

• Adam: Would want to repeal SEA 1; supports a progressive property tax system that minimizes the burden on single-home owners while requiring multi-property owners to contribute more to community coffers; local governments depend on property tax revenue and that has to be balanced

• Tiffanie: People deserve real relief, but not like this; property taxes fund schools, emergency services, roads, and daily operations — cuts have real consequences; SEA 1 didn’t give Hoosiers meaningful relief ($300 doesn’t move the needle) while quietly gutting local revenue; targeted relief for seniors on fixed incomes and working families, not corporations or large property owners

00:55:09 - Q10: EDUCATION — ABA Therapy Caps and Literacy

Indiana recently capped ABA therapy at 30 hours a week with a three-year lifetime limit. One in five third graders struggle to read. What is your plan to address literacy?

• Adam: Would remove the ABA caps; wants more funding for education overall; acknowledges he’d defer to experts on specific literacy strategies but wants resources restored that have been cut

• Tiffanie: Taking funding from public schools through SB 1 and the voucher program is not how you improve literacy scores; giving the governor more control over education goals doesn’t help either; smaller class sizes, better school funding, livable teacher wages, and retaining good teachers are the levers; public schools teach 90% of Hoosier children and are being systematically defunded

• Tony: Education problems come down to funding; the new charter school property tax sharing provision will deepen public school budget cuts — the state saves $1,400 per student while charter schools still see that money; supports smaller classrooms especially at the elementary level; strongly supports expanding pre-K and Head Start to get kids into learning environments before age four or five

00:59:38 - Q11: EDUCATION — Child Care Voucher Crisis

Indiana’s child care voucher waitlist has topped 30,000 children, closed to new enrollees for over a year, with no new vouchers until 2027. The state simultaneously cut reimbursement rates — infant care down 10%, preschoolers down 15%, school-age children down 35% — closing providers and forcing impossible choices. Republicans passed HEA 1177 expanding employer tax credits and allowing TIF districts to fund child care. Should child care be treated as a constitutional right like K–12 education? What would that look like in practice?

• Tiffanie: Personal experience — applied for the daycare voucher as a single working mother in the early 2000s and was told the wait was years long; dual-income households are nearly an economic necessity today, so cutting child care options while expecting a strong workforce is contradictory; doesn’t see it as a constitutional right per se, but we shouldn’t be punishing young families or single mothers; reimbursement rates must be adequate to keep providers open, particularly the primarily female workforce in that field

• Tony: Doesn’t frame it as a right exactly, but notes K–12 is only a constitutional right because we collectively decided it was for the common good; expanding pre-K and Head Start benefits any child in the public system; baffled by budget cut rhetoric from Indianapolis while the state simultaneously touts a large surplus; the people making those cuts in Indianapolis aren’t using those services — the families losing them are

• Adam: Child care should be treated as a right; you cannot expect families to exist and procreate if you make family life economically impossible; references a Jasper Chamber of Commerce town hall where local legislators admitted they don’t know how to get families to have children — the answer is you have to provide conditions that make family life viable

01:05:34 - Speed Round (Yes / No — Order: Adam, Tiffanie, Tony)

• Conversion therapy ban lift: Adam — pass (unfamiliar with topic) / Tiffanie — No / Tony — No

• Indiana joining National Popular Vote Interstate Compact: Adam — No / Tiffanie — needs more research / Tony — Yes

• AI restrictions: All three — Yes

• Data centers in your county: All three — No

• Mandatory swift path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants: Adam — Maybe / Tiffanie — Yes / Tony — Yes

• Minimum wage increased to a living wage: All three — Yes

• For-profit prisons: All three — No

• School privatization: All three — No

• Healthcare for all: Adam — Yes / Tiffanie — Yes, in an ideal world / Tony — Yes

• Self-driving cars on public roads: All three — No

• Is the American dream realistic for average Americans today: All three — No

• Drones in warfare: Adam — Yes / Tiffanie — Possibly / Tony — Yes

• Cannabis legalization: All three — Yes (Tiffanie added “with guardrails”)

01:09:18 - Closing Statements

• Tony: All three candidates agree on most issues — voters are choosing the person as much as the platform; wants to bring common sense back to Indianapolis and end the system of profits before people; calls for restoring civil, community-focused politics and refocusing on the 99% of issues where working people actually agree

• Adam: Acknowledged “maybe” and “need more research” answers during the speed round as intentional — he won’t use political buzzwords that have lost their meaning; wants to restore accountability and sensibility to government; government should be of, by, and for the people, not captured by business interests

• Tiffanie: This race is about the families of District 63 who are doing everything right and still falling behind; has been all in from the start — out in the community, listening and learning; this is a commitment, not a stepping stone; will show up and fight for working families and make sure that when no one else is listening, she will be

bradmeyer.org

Brad Meyer joined Progressive Indiana Network for the third in a series of four virtual town halls ahead of the May Democratic primary in Indiana's 9th Congressional District. The conversation opened with an extended discussion of Trump's war in Iran — its constitutional legitimacy, the War Powers Act's abuse, the damage done to diplomatic options by Trump's withdrawal from the Obama-era nuclear framework, and Meyer's call for impeachment as the proper remedy. From there the discussion ranged across economic themes including the Indiana gas tax increase, a $20 federal minimum wage, the PRO Act and organized labor, and the transition to a universal single-payer health system. Meyer also discussed his approach to advisory input and constituent engagement, his management background and leadership philosophy, care for veterans and the VA, Trump's tariff regime, media consolidation and antitrust enforcement, and how he plans to stay accountable to all 18 counties of the district if elected. Questions came from viewers via the Progressive Indiana Network website, Facebook Live, and YouTube.

QUESTIONS:

**00:01:42 - Introduction and Campaign Background**

• Monroe County resident running in a district that spans roughly two hours wide and two hours deep, covering approximately 18 counties from Monroe County east to the Ohio line and south to the Kentucky border

• Third virtual town hall in a series of four; a fourth is scheduled for April 26

• Has conducted approximately 15-16 in-person town halls across the district in addition to the virtual series, making a point of reaching every county he can

**00:03:14 - Q: Opening — Where does the war with Iran stand a month in?**

• The first question any action of this kind demands is whether it was done constitutionally — and it was not; Trump abused the War Powers Act for what he himself describes as a war, not a response to an imminent threat

• Congress has two constitutionally mandated options: declare war or cut off funding; instead they are weaseling — neither authorizing nor defunding, while signaling they will fund it anyway

• Trump pulled out of the Obama-era nuclear framework during his first term, burning the political capital our allies had invested to make that deal work and convincing Iran there was no point negotiating in good faith — effectively removing diplomacy from the table for both his first and Biden’s terms

• Meyer’s greatest fear is that Trump inflicts serious damage, loses interest, declares victory, and walks away — leaving Iran wounded but not defeated and the U.S. holding the consequences

• Called the constitutional precedent being set dangerous in both the short and long run, with no reason to believe Trump won’t do it a third time

**00:06:45 - Follow-up: Slotkin’s “we’re in it” argument — fund it or use the power of the purse?**

• Pushed back on the “we’re in it so we have to fund it” logic as an end run around congressional authorization; Congress’s failure to act doesn’t retroactively legitimize the action

• Invoked the axiom “never wound something you can’t kill” — the U.S. has attacked and wounded Iran, and extracting from that position is extremely difficult

• His preferred remedy: impeach Trump for declaring war outside his constitutional authority, remove him from office, and end the war

**00:11:31 - Q: What is your media strategy? (Tom, New Albany — web form)**

• Social media is now far more important than traditional broadcast media and will continue to grow; campaign is now active on approximately eight platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, X, YouTube, and Reddit

• Younger voters have been given insufficient reason to get off the couch and vote; campaign is bringing younger team members on to help understand what messages and concerns need to be addressed for that demographic

• Surviving local newspapers remain part of the strategy; a full-court press across both digital and local print will be necessary through the general

**00:19:09 - Follow-up: The PRO Act and organized labor**

• Supports the PRO Act; Indiana’s so-called right-to-work law is in reality the right to work for less — it undermines unions and the balance of power between workers and employers

• Unions built the middle class; as union representation has been pulled back, the middle class has been slipping — the correlation is not subtle

• His 25 years in manufacturing leadership, including time at companies that squeezed workers at every turn, gave him a direct appreciation for why that counterbalancing power is necessary

**00:20:52 - Q: Indiana gas tax increase and the federal angle (Chris Brandon Embry, Facebook)**

• Indiana’s gas tax increase is a microcosm of what’s happening at the federal level: the state cut property taxes (politically popular) and replaced that revenue with a series of regressive fees and taxes — wheel taxes, gas taxes — that disproportionately hurt working people and renters while benefiting property owners

• Gas taxes are structurally regressive: lower-income households tend to drive older, less fuel-efficient vehicles and pay more per mile, while higher-income drivers in hybrids like his own pay comparatively less toward the roads they also use

• The broader pattern is a deliberate transfer of tax burden from property owners to working-class people under the cover of “tax cuts”

**00:24:32 - Q: Who will be your advisors and staffers? (Anna, New Albany — web form)**

• Within the first two months of the campaign, convened a series of private, unphotographed roundtables with community leaders on immigration, people with disabilities (covering education, economics, healthcare, and mental health separately), and environmental advocates — listening sessions with no cameras and no press

• Joined Physicians for a National Health Program and is working closely with Dr. Thomas Ferry on a detailed transition document for single-payer healthcare

• Has conducted 15-16 town halls where constituent feedback has actively shifted his thinking on issues; frames the entire campaign as a continuous listening process, not a platform rollout

**00:28:49 - Follow-up: Transitioning to single-payer — what happens to employer-sponsored insurance?**

• England transitioned to its national health system in roughly six years — Meyer said three of those years they were still fighting the Germans [Ed. note: historically inaccurate; the NHS was established in 1948, three years after WWII ended. The groundwork was laid by the 1942 Beveridge Report during the war, but the actual transition occurred entirely post-war. — Sources: Nuffield Trust, UK National Archives]

• The U.S. implemented Medicare in a single year in the 1960s using three-by-five index cards; if that was achievable then, a modern transition in three years is not an unreasonable benchmark

• Roughly half the country is already on some form of single-payer — Medicare, Medicaid, and other government-run programs — so the infrastructure exists; this is not starting from a blank page

• 38 comparable countries have already done it; Physicians for a National Health Program has worked through the legislative details across multiple congressional sessions; Meyer and Dr. Ferry are working to condense a 25-page transition document into something publicly accessible on the campaign website

• Noted the upcoming PNHP healthcare forum in Bloomington on April 7, 7:00 p.m. at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, Garton Hall, 100 N. State Road 46 — https://wfhb.org/event/community-healthcare-conversation-with-candidates-for-us-house-of-representatives-district-9/

**00:33:02 - Follow-up: $20 minimum wage and small business concerns**

• Removing healthcare costs from small business owners’ plates through single-payer directly reduces the financial burden that makes a higher minimum wage feel threatening — the two policies work together

• Supports a thoughtful transition structure, not a five-year phase-in; the bill needs to be written so the implementation makes sense without being used as an excuse to delay indefinitely

• Every major labor protection in American history faced the same “it’ll destroy business” argument — the ADA being one example — and business survived and often thrived afterward

• The minimum wage has been politically managed downward so that raising it to a level still below what most employers already pay earns politicians credit for doing essentially nothing; a $20 floor is about what people actually need to eat, get launched, and start their lives

• Higher wages at the bottom of the income scale get spent immediately back into the local economy, which benefits the same small businesses expressing concern

**00:38:16 - Q: Leadership style — how does it translate to Congress?**

• Described his early management style as “brutally honest,” something he came to recognize was unnecessary — you don’t have to be brutal to be honest

• Made a point of identifying people who had ability but had never been given opportunity: promoted two women into leadership roles who had been overlooked, hired the first Hispanic employees at one company over illegal objections from HR, and worked to address weight-based bias against talented employees

• By the end of his career, had shifted from needing to be the center of attention to preferring to lead the leaders — told his boss directly that he took the job to develop other leaders, not to be the focal point

• Running for office has required reverting to a more visible posture, but frames it as temporary and situational; describes his current self as carrying significantly less ego and considerably more empathy than his younger management self

**00:42:35 - Q: Veterans, the VA, and veteran homelessness**

• The VA’s chronic dysfunction follows a predictable congressional cycle: underfund and squeeze, quality drops, people suffer, hearings are held, leadership is fired, funding is restored, repeat — this is not incompetence but intentional mismanagement

• His answer to VA reform connects to his broader healthcare position: universal single-payer coverage where no one — veteran or civilian — is left outside the system is the only structural fix to the cycle

• Before folding veterans entirely into a universal system, wants to consult veterans groups directly on whether the VA should be retained in some form within that framework, given the specific and special obligations owed to those who served

• [Note: Brad’s audio dropped briefly during this answer; some content may be missing from the transcript]

• The veteran suicide rate is unacceptably high; mental health support for veterans is woefully underfunded and requires more than thoughts and prayers — it requires actual resources

**00:47:31 - Q: Tariffs — does Trump have a point, and what’s your position on trade policy?**

• Setting tariff policy is a congressional responsibility; Trump violated that, and Meyer considers it an impeachable offense the current Congress is refusing to address

• Tariffs are a form of tax and tend to be regressive — they hit working-class and working-poor households harder than wealthy ones — and he is not in favor of regressive taxes as a structural matter

• The framing of “we’re being ripped off by our trading partners” is the wrong diagnosis: the U.S. is 4% of the world’s population and controls approximately 33% of the world’s wealth, yet 18 million households face food insecurity and roughly 12% of Americans live at or near the poverty line — the problem is domestic economic policy, not foreign trade, and the wealth already here is not reaching the people who need it

• Even if trading partners handed the U.S. everything Trump is demanding, no one listening to the town hall would see a dollar more — because the extraction is happening domestically, through Congress and the economic policies it has allowed

**00:51:21 - Q: Media consolidation — what should Congress do?**

• Antitrust law exists; the FCC exists; the tools to address media consolidation are already on the books and simply are not being used

• Congress is not merely passive on this — it is actively complicit, and possibly explicitly encouraging consolidation

• Media consolidation is a direct and serious threat to the long-term stability of constitutional democracy

**00:52:50 - Q: How will you stay in tune with constituents once in office? (Anna, Facebook)**

• Has done 15-16 town halls in the last six weeks alone, including in Franklin, Jackson County, Jefferson County, Washington County, Scott County, and elsewhere — deliberately rejecting the advice to focus only on the three major Democratic strongholds in the district

• When elected, his constituents are every resident of the 9th — not just Bloomington, not just Democrats; Republicans in the district are also owed ethical representation even if they won’t be happy with him

• Commits to coming home on a regular basis, continuing town halls, and maintaining the same model of reaching out to people with subject-matter expertise in affected communities that has defined the campaign

**00:55:39 - Q: When’s Brad running for president? (PolarNights on Twitch from Norway)**

• Not thinking about running for president; focused on representing the people of southern Indiana as a seventh-generation Hoosier

• Invoked Cincinnatus — the Roman figure given extraordinary power, who used it, and then returned to his farm because the job was done — as his model, clarifying he is not aspiring to the next rung; he was on a path to retirement with his wife when Trump’s return compelled him to run

• Not a career politician by ambition; views this as a calling born of circumstance, not personal aspiration

Thanks again to Brad Meyer for joining us. For more information and to get involved, visit his campaign website at https://www.bradmeyer.org. You can also find him on Facebook and across approximately eight social media platforms linked from the campaign site.

The next virtual town hall with Brad Meyer is scheduled for April 26 — mark your calendars. Indiana’s voter registration deadline for the May primary is April 6.

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https://www.wellsforindiana.com/

Destiny Wells held a virtual town hall for her 7th Congressional District campaign against incumbent Andre Carson. The conversation focused heavily on foreign policy including Middle East stability, Iran strikes, congressional authority via War Powers Resolution, Israel-Gaza conflict and unconditional support, campaign finance reform including Citizens United and private equity regulation, term limits, money in politics, congressional stock trading, minimum wage, immigration enforcement and ICE abolition, wealth taxation, and student loan debt. Wells emphasized her intelligence community background, criticized Democratic congressional leadership for weak response to Iran strikes, and discussed holding multiple difficult truths simultaneously on foreign policy. Questions came from viewers via Progressive Indiana Network website and Facebook Live.

QUESTIONS:

00:01:42 - Introduction and Campaign Background

• Attorney and Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel, deployed to Afghanistan, originally from Martinsville

• Deputy chair on state party, ran for Secretary of State 2022 and Attorney General 2024

• Realized Indiana Democrats have huge systems issues, diagnosis not well received

• Ran for party chair and lost by matter of votes, decided to run for Congress 12 hours before filing deadline

• Challenging 18-year incumbent Andre Carson who is highest ranking Democrat in state

00:08:50 - Q: How do we solve peace in the Middle East? (Larry, Crooked Creek)

• Reframed question to “how do we have regional stability in the Middle East”

• Congress cannot abdicate responsibilities, watched Iran strikes at 1am, waited nine hours for Hakeem Jeffries to issue statement

• War Powers Resolution was being slow walked while everyone knew conflict was percolating

• Gang of Eight and Speaker got briefed about Iran conflict day of State of the Union, Democrats who boycotted missed critical moment

• Can’t wait nine hours after bombs drop to issue statement, need to show up and do jobs and question what’s going on

00:15:46 - Follow-up: Israel-Gaza and holding multiple truths

• Got pushback from voters for questioning what she believes are human rights violations in Gaza

• Holding multiple truths at once - October 7th was awful terrorist attack, Hamas is awful actor that puts civilians at risk

• Afghanistan experience - husband did analyst work on terrorist networks where Iranian-backed munitions killed American soldiers

• Problems with corporate PAC money from defense contractors and munitions sales to foreign entities

• Criticizing both foreign entity committing human rights violations AND United States for confluence of bad decisions

00:16:13 - Q: Is Israel’s war on Gaza genocide and should US reevaluate unconditional support?

• Should reevaluate unconditional support of state led by Netanyahu

• Germany questioning unconditional support of United States led by Trump, watching NATO partners

• Should never offer unconditional support of any single entity, must hold everybody accountable

• Any type of support without conditions seems antithetical to functioning democracy

00:19:46 - Q: Do you support war in Iran or just upset Congress was absent? (Lemon, ProgressiveIndiana.net)

• Does not support war in Iran under this strategic plan - there is no strategy

• Does not support war in Iran under Trump administration and Secretary Hegseth

• First Trump term had guardrails of General Mattis and Kelly holding back bad calls, Trump 2.0 has sycophants

• Sad to say as member of military but doesn’t have confidence in warfighter right now to take on these efforts

00:23:05 - Q: Under what circumstances would you have supported military action on Iran under Kamala Harris administration?

• Would have much higher level of confidence because wouldn’t have cleaning house of Department of Defense

• Under Kamala would still have people in place at DOD (vs Trump renaming it Department of War)

• Questions current and foreseeable foreign policy until we can get corporate money out of campaign coffers

00:28:17 - Q: Long-term political goals and how long will you serve? (Stephen, Facebook Live)

• Top issues: remove corporate influence, address affordability, improve community project funding transparency

• Community project funding (formerly earmarks) allows congressperson to secure 15 projects up to couple million each

• Wants more public input on how federal dollars allocated to district rather than current process

• Focus on marginalized communities getting resources

00:34:12 - Q: Term limits and money in politics

• Supports term limits across all congressional offices, but six years (three House terms) less than two mayoral terms

• Longer you stay, more beholden to money you become

• Conflict with labor unions on data centers - labor wants jobs but community doesn’t want them

• Carson took BlackRock money September 30th day before AES acquisition announced, took AES money in December

• Carson has platform and loudest voice but doesn’t use it

00:42:03 - Q: Would you fight to overturn Citizens United? (Nora, ProgressiveIndiana.net)

• Absolutely supports overturning Citizens United

• Citizens United was brainchild of Indiana attorney Jim Bopp from Terre Haute

• Multiple pathways including possible constitutional amendment

• Part of wave of 30 candidates challenging incumbents on getting rid of Citizens United

00:44:31 - Q: Would you support banning private equity from buying residential homes? (Lemon, ProgressiveIndiana.net)

• Supports banning private equity from residential home purchases

• On Bernie train with private equity issues - just rich people getting richer

• Referenced Apollo Global Management as problematic asset manager

00:58:19 - Q: What should federal minimum wage be?

• Fight for $15 is outdated, chasing inflation

• Illinois debate was better - at least $17/hour on low end, $24 on high end

• Referenced economist Michael J. Hicks who used to advise Eric Holcomb

01:01:01 - Q: Should impeaching Trump be day one priority if Democrats retake House?

• Referenced Robert Mueller’s death and Trump’s disgraceful response

• Need to hold Trump accountable but must build strongest case

• Should pursue accountability at every opportunity

01:05:55 - Q: Would you support banning members of Congress from purchasing individual stocks? (Lemon, ProgressiveIndiana.net)

• On board with AOC on this, already divested own stocks while campaigning

• Members have insider information from committees

• Recommended Quiver Quantitative website (quiverquant.com) to track congressional trading

• Referenced Jefferson Shreve as second richest member allegedly engaging in insider trading

01:08:32 - Q: Can ICE be reformed or should it be abolished?

• DHS can be reformed, ICE needs abolished

• ICE is stain on our history that we’ll never be able to wash away

• Sooner we abolish ICE, sooner we start to rectify wrongs committed as country

• DHS necessary for national security but ICE fundamentally broken

01:10:02 - Q: Wealth Tax - Warren vs Newsom positions

• Stands with Senator Elizabeth Warren on wealth tax

• Problem is we’re focused on wrong 1% of society

01:11:33 - Q: Student Debt - Forgiveness and Systemic Reform

• Entire education system needs overhaul starting with 0% interest on student loans

• Paid off own law school loans only last year using deployment savings and Shopify stock investment

• Was in law school 2008-2011 when interest rates reached 9.5%, friends still carrying that debt

• People shouldn’t be penalized for trying to contribute skills back to society

01:14:48 - Closing Remarks

• Can’t always promise 10-point plan but will always be empathetic and listen

• Diagnosed problems within party, need different culture

• Runs information forward, data forward

• wellsforindiana.com to volunteer, averaging $35 donations with 95% small dollar

Thanks again to for joining us. For more information visit her campaign website at https://www.wellsforindiana.com.

Moderator - Derrick Holder: https://www.progressiveindiana.net/s/hoosleft

Candidates:

Michelle Hennessee Sears: Campaign Facebook

Eric Reingardt: Campaign Facebook

Two Democratic candidates for Indiana House District 58 debated governing priorities, tax fairness, housing policy, homelessness, utilities, healthcare, maternity care, childcare, school vouchers, and universities. Both criticized Republican policies as harming working families while benefiting corporations. Eric emphasized housing crisis as foundational issue requiring land value taxation and building coalitions across political spectrum. Michelle focused on healthcare system broken by for-profit insurance, holding corporations accountable, and increasing taxes on wealthy. Debate included “HoosLeft asks... HoosRight?” segment highlighting six areas of intra-party disagreement, with both candidates emphasizing need to work together regardless of primary outcome.

BREAKDOWN:

00:02:23 - Opening Statements

• Eric: Ran because housing crisis personally affected him and everyone his age, economy works for very small amount of people, learned about land value tax and upzoning from Public Revenue Education Council and Aspire Johnson County

• Michelle: Board certified behavior analyst with master’s degree, owned autism center 10 years, former caseworker for Department of Child Services and Department of Correction, in 10 years working in healthcare never seen anything as egregious as current legislation

00:06:15 - Q1: Governing Priorities in Republican Supermajority

• Michelle: Healthcare top priority, submit legislation requiring commercial insurance providers pay providers within 10 business days instead of current 30-60 days (or 60-120 days if claim denied and appealed)

• Eric: Housing crisis top priority, not partisan issue since conservatives need affordable housing too, wants to build “house party” coalition across political spectrum, housing is foundation for healthcare and employment

00:11:21 - Q2: Tax Fairness and SEA 1

• Eric: SEA 1 motivated him to run, mimics California Prop 13 which created housing crisis, supports land value taxation (keep tax on land value to discourage investors but eliminate tax on buildings/improvements)

• Michelle: SEA 1 harming families and middle class and needs repeal, increase taxes on individuals and businesses grossing over $5 million/year, legalize marijuana for approximately $180 million in additional tax revenue

00:16:04 - Q3: Housing Policy and HEA 1001

• Michelle: Bill made life easier for developers, need to hold developers and corporations accountable for quality they’re putting out and what they’re charging, give control back to local places

• Eric: Bill was step in right direction but doesn’t get to heart of issue which is land crisis, land value tax causes infill development in cities instead of sprawling outwards

00:21:12 - Q4: Homelessness and SEA 285 Criminalization

• Eric: SEA 285 is punishment bill that does nothing to solve housing crisis and makes it worse, solution is build more housing and drive prices down, don’t punish people at their most economically desperate

• Michelle: Need to pour money into mental health and housing/support systems for displaced people, 67% of homeless have mental health disorder, need social services and supports

00:25:02 - Q5: Utility Regulation, Private Equity, and Data Centers

• Michelle: Utilities not a private commodity that can be sold to private equity consortium, will raise prices and people will have utilities shut off, need to keep public utilities public

• Eric: Public sector only thing able to run natural monopoly, completely agrees with Michelle to keep utilities public, privatizing monopolies creates higher prices, monopolies belong to public sector

00:29:46 - Q6: Healthcare Access, Medicaid, and Healthy Indiana Plan

• Eric: True welfare queens are monopoly corporations not individuals/families, austerity economics motivated SEA 1 welfare reform legislation, can keep balanced budget and spend more on welfare by fixing broken tax code

• Michelle: SEA 1 already kicked people with disabilities/elderly/disabled off Medicaid, need to fund welfare and SNAP programs, marijuana legalization could bring hundreds of millions for welfare programs

00:34:06 - Q7: Maternity Ward Closures and Abortion Ban

• Michelle: Hold commercial insurers accountable for paying timely, raise Medicaid rates based on data/research/cost surveys, abortion is healthcare, Indiana hates women

• Eric: Won’t get between doctor and patient and government shouldn’t either, abortion is healthcare, wants state where it’s affordable to raise children so abortion isn’t financially safe option

00:38:40 - Q8: Childcare as Constitutional Right

• Eric: Education is right and childcare should be included as part of education, learned about affordability issue at Aspire where childcare kept coming up, need more childcare options to drive prices down

• Michelle: Daycare incredibly expensive, infant care $300-350/week, need subsidies and tax breaks for childcare facilities to increase access

00:43:33 - Q9: School Vouchers vs Public Education

• Michelle: Public schools should be fully funded, tax dollars shouldn’t go to vouchers, open voucher benefits wealthy who already afford private school

• Eric: Defunding public education is anti-school choice, public schooling needs to be fully well-funded, can’t take money out of public system and absorb it into private sector

00:46:58 - Q10: Universities and Political Interference

• Eric: University schooling should be tuition-free public option (affordable if fix tax issue), doesn’t like political meddling in college hierarchy, keep trustees and academics independent

• Michelle: Need to fund public universities, GOP intentionally keeping people uneducated/uninformed because higher education correlates with liberal voting, need to fix tax code to keep corporations in check

00:50:47 - “HoosLeft asks... HoosRight?” Segment (6 Intra-Party Disagreements)

1. Stadium Subsidies: Hammond Mayor McDermott (supports Bears stadium) vs VA Rep. Beyer (end public subsidies)

2. Data Centers: Mayor Nelson-Deuitch (construction jobs/investment) vs Ben Inskeep (threat to affordability/environment)

3. Trans Rights: CA Gov. Newsom (more “culturally normal,” sports unfair) vs Jayapal/Markey (trans rights are human rights, get louder)

4. Party Credentials: Marion Co. Dems Chair Eldridge (challenged strategic Republican voters) vs Destiny Wells (defended tactical voters)

5. Surveillance: Mayors Thomson/Tucker (Flock cameras for public safety) vs Congressmen Krishnamoorthi/Garcia (privacy/civil liberties threat)

6. Campaign Finance: Beau Bayh (take money where you can get it) vs Blythe Potter (source of funding matters)

00:58:44 - Closing Statements

• Eric: Not in favor of price controls, wants to focus on tax code and monetary policy as root issues, wants housing affordability front and center, build coalition across political spectrum including Republicans

• Michelle: Must work together regardless of who wins primary, been voice for voiceless for 20 years, need to hold large corporations accountable and tax people making exorbitant amounts, support women through childcare subsidies, legalize marijuana to support Medicare/Medicaid

Moderator - Derrick Holder: https://www.progressiveindiana.net/s/hold-em-accountable

Candidates:

Sarah Blessing: Campaign Facebook

Jerry Finn: Campaign Facebook

Tamyra Persinger-Andres: Campaign Facebook

Three Democratic candidates for Indiana House District 70 debated economic security, agriculture, healthcare, education, and infrastructure in this primary debate. The discussion covered nine major policy areas: cost of living pressures on working families, preserving family farms against corporate agriculture, expanding healthcare access and protecting reproductive rights, strengthening public education funding, workforce development for emerging industries, public safety with mental health and addiction treatment, rural broadband expansion, Ohio River environmental protection, and data center development impacts. All three candidates opposed current Republican supermajority policies they say hurt working Hoosiers through tax breaks for corporations, inadequate school funding, lack of environmental protections, and deregulation of utilities that allowed data centers to shift infrastructure costs onto residents. The debate concluded with a “Hold ‘em or Fold ‘em” rapid-fire round where all three candidates unanimously supported seven progressive policies (rural broadband, addiction treatment funding, workforce training, family farm protection, local zoning control, and riverfront infrastructure investment), followed by closing statements.

BREAKDOWN:

00:02:16 - Opening Statements

• Tamyra: Retired teacher (31 years), realtor, small farm owner, community volunteer

• Sarah: Former 5th grade teacher, motivated by democracy concerns, co-founded Project Next Media

• Jerry: 7th generation on 1839 family farm, nonprofit executive, military veteran, focus on service

00:08:18 - Q1: Economic Security and Cost of Living

• Tamyra: Healthcare costs too high, tariffs hurting families, need transparency and tax relief

• Sarah: Giant bills with loopholes profit the powerful, need single-issue bills to stop damage

• Jerry: Childcare costs crushing families, small business loans critical for entrepreneurs

00:14:59 - Q2: Agriculture and Family Farms

• Sarah: Family farms closing, need to help small farmers not corporate agriculture

• Jerry: Family farms should be generational legacy, fuel/equipment costs crushing farmers

• Tamyra: Family farms contribute $35 billion, data centers draining infrastructure

00:21:22 - Q3: Healthcare Access and Healthy Indiana Plan

• Jerry: Adequate healthcare saves money, women’s health not given priority it deserves

• Tamyra: Expanding Hoosier HealthWise worth exploring, need to promote healthy lifestyles in schools

• Sarah: Harrison County lost OBGYN services, will work to expand coverage and restore rural OBGYN care

00:27:46 - Q4: Reproductive Rights and Government Role in Medical Decisions

• Tamyra: Government shouldn’t dictate healthcare or gender identity teaching, media promoting unfounded fears

• Sarah: Women control own bodies not government, trans community (1% of population) facing harmful lies

• Jerry: Government shouldn’t interfere with reproductive decisions, leaders given us license to hate

00:33:03 - Q5: Public Education Funding vs Vouchers and School Choice

• Sarah: Public tax dollars belong in public schools not vouchers, stop dictating and let professionals work

• Jerry: Education defines community, gave scholarships and classroom grants, great schools doing outstanding work

• Tamyra: Teachers spend $400-500 out of pocket annually, business world values employees more than education does

00:40:01 - Q6: Workforce Development and Emerging Technologies

• Jerry: Teachers preparing kids for careers that don’t exist yet, need to value and compensate educators

• Tamyra: Need stronger partnership between schools and business, fortunate to have Prosser for non-college track

• Sarah: Had best standards in 2003 but funding cut every year, teachers know how to prepare kids if funded

00:46:03 - Q7: Public Safety - Mental Health, Addiction, and Law Enforcement Balance

• Tamyra: First responders deserve support, police need mental health training, drug overdose epidemic needs resources

• Sarah: Help struggling people not arrest them, addiction treatment not incarceration, homelessness shouldn’t be crime

• Jerry: Can’t arrest way out of poverty/addiction/mental health, US jails more per capita than anywhere in world

00:51:54 - Q8: Rural Broadband Access

• Sarah: Internet is need not want, need competition for fair pricing, support libraries providing free internet

• Jerry: Fiber made all the difference, state has money and should invest, will attract remote workers

• Tamyra: State has $50 billion surplus, ridiculous that District 70 areas still lack internet in 2026

00:56:56 - Q9: Ohio River Environmental Protection vs Economic Development

• Jerry: Take care of earth first or nothing else matters, Republican supermajority ignoring pollution

• Tamyra: EPA regulations exist for reason, local communities need state support and grants

• Sarah: Republicans gutted regulations allowing toxic sludge dumping, need accountability and enforcement

01:02:26 - Q10: Data Center Development

• Tamyra: 90 data centers statewide, physical location of “the cloud,” draining water and energy from communities

• Sarah: Elected officials deregulated utilities so residents pay for data center infrastructure while getting few jobs

• Jerry: Can support technology if done smartly with proper regulations protecting citizens

01:08:25 - Hold ‘em or Fold ‘em Speed Round

All three supported: rural broadband expansion, addiction treatment funding, workforce training partnerships, family farm incentives, local zoning control, Ohio River infrastructure/protections, utility rate protections from data centers, refusing corporate donations, ballot referendums, and term limits (Sarah mixed on limits, Jerry mixed on pausing data center approvals)

01:12:42 - Closing Statements

• Jerry: Years of bipartisan collaboration, knows how to get things done, considers service sacred trust

• Sarah: Won’t give up fighting for Indiana, will work to convince Republicans, humans can be persuaded

• Tamyra: Faith guides decisions, legislators forgotten they represent people, need to listen and work together as team

PIN: https://progressiveindiana.net

Andis Campaign Site: https://www.chloeforhoosiers.com/

McGill Campaign Site: https://www.mcgillforindiana.com/

WHAT’S INSIDE:

00:00:23 - Debate Opening and Format

• Derrick Holder welcomes viewers to SD15 Democratic primary debate

• Presented by Progressive Indiana Network (progressiveindiana.net)

• Format: opening statements, policy questions (90 seconds each), Hold’em or Fold’em rapid fire, closing statements

00:02:45 - Opening Statements

• Julie McGill goes first (by coin flip): mom of three, business owner, Fort Wayne resident, child born with profound disabilities led her to navigate Medicaid/disability systems, sees how state decisions affect real people, wants common sense solutions and practical results over political ideology

• Chloe Andis: Air Force veteran (Chinese translator, mission manager), national security professional, MBA from NYU, union worker, saw institutional failures through COVID-19/BLM/January 6th, came home to Indiana because Hoosier freedoms shouldn’t be political bargaining chips

00:07:01 - Question 1: Tax Fairness and Property Tax Reform (2025 SEA 1)

• Derrick: SEA 1 passed in 2025 for property tax relief - what does tax fairness mean, where should tax burden lie?

• Chloe goes first: Billionaires and mega corporations should pay fair share, stop tax abatements to attract corporations, make Indiana worthwhile for people to stay, explore legalizing marijuana for revenue, work with local governments on actual costs

• Julie: Tax burden on people who can afford it, working families struggling while rich write off business losses, need to close loopholes

00:12:12 - Question 2: Housing Affordability (HEA 1)

• Derrick: HEA 1 passed in 2026 to increase housing supply - did it go far enough, how to address affordability?

• Julie goes first: Missed the mark, focus on large landlords and out-of-state investors maintaining properties, regulate landlords buying up single family homes, developing more houses won’t solve problem

• Chloe: Average Indiana house cost $250K, minimum wage unchanged since 2009, need to improve supply AND address investment properties limiting supply for younger generations

00:15:46 - Question 3: Utility Costs and Data Centers (HEA 2)

• Derrick: HEA 2 passed in 2026 for rising utility costs/data centers - how to keep rates fair and affordable while growing economy?

• Chloe goes first: Data centers are a blight, electric bill up 50% in six months, 80% of new generation costs uploaded onto residents, IURC lackluster and favors large corporations

• Julie: Data centers shouldn’t be on prime farmland, should pay fair share not subsidized by our bills, need utility caps for seniors, more oversight and competition, laws should favor people who live and work here

00:19:59 - Question 4: Healthcare Costs and Healthy Indiana Plan

• Derrick: Healthcare costs major affordability driver - should Healthy Indiana Plan be expanded to cover more/all Hoosiers?

• Julie goes first: Main reason she’s running, son has disabilities, sees Medicaid cuts devastating families, rural communities losing providers/hospitals, expanding Healthy Indiana Plan should be explored, Indiana ranks near bottom for health outcomes

• Chloe: Working families skip care for groceries/rent, jobs don’t guarantee access, want expanded Medicaid eligibility, improved waiver process, revoke tax advantages from nonprofit hospitals not functioning as nonprofits

00:24:19 - Question 5: Bodily Autonomy (Abortion and Gender-Affirming Care)

• Derrick: SEA 1 near-total abortion ban, bills affecting trans youth - what role should government play in bodily autonomy decisions?

• Chloe goes first: As trans woman, saw Liz Brown’s SB 182 (though it failed, she’ll push again), Republican leadership functions on restriction not freedom, SB 245 [note: it was actually SB 236] criminalizes abortion medications, tired of cutting off nose to spite face for pro-birth agenda

• Julie: Government should not be involved in healthcare decisions between patients and doctors, Hoosiers suffering because of abortion ban (maternal death rate up), attacking reproductive rights and trans rights shows disconnect, need to restore freedoms

00:29:21 - Question 6: Brain Drain and Retaining Healthcare Workers/Teachers

• Derrick: Hospitals, clinics, schools report difficulty recruiting/retaining professionals, some Hoosiers leaving state - what steps to prevent brain drain and make Indiana attractive for educators and healthcare workers?

• Julie goes first: Vouchers stretched education funds, should have place for those where public school not working but shouldn’t subsidize rich (Elon Musk’s 20 kids would all qualify), need income caps and prerequisites, state short-sighted on wages, need stronger wages to attract people

• Chloe: Private school vouchers shouldn’t be state-funded full stop, stealing from public schools, run education like business at expense of children, hurting retention of talent, legislation doesn’t empower working families but gives tax abatements to corporations, lopsided infrastructure hurts teacher/healthcare retention

00:32:35 - Question 7: Turning Point USA in Public Schools

• Derrick: Governor/Sec of State announced partnership with Turning Point USA in public schools - appropriate for state to endorse political organizations in schools?

• Chloe goes first: Also a religious organization, tossing away separation of church and state, partisan decision for Christian nationalist ideology, un-American, should not force religion on students, keep Turning Point out of public schools

• Julie: Coming from perspective of “good person” regardless of religion, should be band on clubs/affiliations tied to religion or ideology entering public schools

00:36:32 - Question 8: Childcare Infrastructure (HEA 1177)

• Derrick: HEA 1177 expands tax credits for childcare but cut Child Care Development Fund - is Indiana doing enough?

• Julie goes first: Doing opposite of enough by cutting voucher programs, don’t take federal match money, short-sighted not looking long-term, childcare costs a mortgage payment, put dollars in hands of people using services not businesses

• Chloe: Good people built from funded public schools and childcare systems, shouldn’t save money by not investing in children, connected to retention and Hoosier growth, childcare workers need livable wages to stay

00:40:51 - Question 9: Flock Safety Cameras and Surveillance

• Derrick: Communities adopting Flock Safety cameras, license plate readers - balance between public safety and privacy?

• Chloe goes first: AI companies surveilling American citizens, served at NSA Hawaii after Snowden, saw policies against surveillance being violated now with Flock cameras through police, need to repeal this

• Julie: Don’t want police state but want to be safe, get rid of cameras and have stronger police presence, cameras are cop-out for hiring people, need more officers on streets

00:44:12 - Question 10: Immigration Enforcement (SB 76)

• Derrick: Indiana mandated local institutions cooperate with ICE - how to protect immigrant families and maintain trust in Fort Wayne with large Burmese and Hispanic populations?

• Julie goes first: Immigration system broken, need humane path to citizenship, schools/churches/police should be sanctuaries off-limits, affects legally present people through racial profiling

• Chloe: SB 76 problematic, public safety means empowering organizations outside police, Latino woman’s son can’t work fearing ICE black-bagging, community organizations like Fuerza Unida building infrastructure because state legislature failing them, Burmese community also at risk

00:49:13 - Hold’em or Fold’em Rapid Fire Round

• Quick yes/no positions on bills and policies

• Both candidates respond “Hold’em” or “Fold’em” to series of legislative proposals

• Gives voters snapshot of where candidates stand on range of issues

00:53:41 - Closing Statements

• Julie goes first: People living with policy consequences rarely in room when decisions made, son’s disabilities taught her systems from inside, Indiana makes decisions cheaper on paper but cost more long-term (bad math not fiscal conservatism), permanent stake in District 15, fighting for home

• Chloe: Primary about voters feeling empowered, covered immigrants/teachers/healthcare providers/working families/trans community, all deserve representative who listens and advocates, came home to serve community, District 15 worth fighting for

Progressive Indiana Network (PIN) is proud to announce it will carry a series of Democratic Primary Virtual Debates ahead of the 2026 Indiana primary election. The debates will give voters across the state a direct opportunity to hear from candidates competing in key state legislative and congressional races. Additional debates may be announced as the primary season progresses. Visit progressiveindiana.net for the most up-to-date schedule.

Scheduled Debates

Senate District 15 | Saturday, March 14, 2026 | 2:00 PM ET

Covering Portions of Allen County

Participating candidates: Chloe Andis, Julie McGill

House District 70 | Thursday, March 19, 2026 | 7:00 PM ET

Covering Harrison County, and portions of Clark, Floyd and Washington counties

Participating candidates: Sarah Blessing, Jerry Finn, Tamyra Persinger-Andres

House District 58 | Saturday, March 21, 2026 | 2:00 PM ET

Covering a portion of northeast Johnson County

Participating candidates: Michelle Hennessee Sears, Eric Reingardt

House District 63 | Thursday, April 2, 2026 7:00 PM ET

Covering all of Martin County, and portions of Daviess, Dubois and Pike Counties

Participating candidates: Tiffanie Arthur, Anthony Bolen, Adam Mann

House District 48 | Saturday, April 4, 2026 | 2:00 PM ET

Covering a portion of northern Elkhart County

Participating candidates: Carl Stutsman, Emily Yaw

Congressional District 4 | Saturday, April 11, 2026 | 2:00 PM ET

Covering Benton, Boone, Carroll, Clinton, Hendricks, Jasper, Montgomery, Morgan, Newton, Putnam, Tippecanoe, Warren, and White counties in full, as well as parts of Cass and Fountain counties, and one township from Howard County.

Participating candidates: Drew Cox, Darin Griesey, Thomas Hall Jr, Joe Mackey, Jayden McCash, Paul McPherson, John Whetstone

Congressional District 8 | Saturday, April 18, 2026 | 2:00 PM ET

Covering Clay, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Greene, Knox, Martin, Orange, Owen, Parke, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Sullivan, Vanderburgh, Vermillion, Vigo, and Warrick Counties, and half of Fountain County.

Participating candidates: Mary Allen, Chris Rector, Tabitha Zeigler

Congressional District 6 | Thursday, April 23, 2026 | 8:00 PM ET

Covering Fayette, Hancock, Henry, Johnson, Rush, Shelby, Union, and Wayne counties, and parts of Bartholomew, Marion, and Randolph counties.

Participating candidates: William Kory Amyx, Nick Baker, Cinde Wirth

Congressional District 9 | Saturday, April 25, 2026 | 2:00 PM ET

Covering Brown, Clark, Dearborn, Decatur, Floyd, Franklin, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Jennings, Lawrence, Monroe, Ohio, Ripley, Scott, Switzerland, and Washington counties, and most of Bartholomew County.

Participating candidates: Brad Meyer, Tim Peck, Keil Roark

How to Watch

All debates will be broadcast live at progressiveindiana.net and simulcast on Progressive Indiana Network’s Facebook and YouTube channels. Hoosiers are encouraged to submit questions they’d like our moderators to ask using this form.

About Progressive Indiana Network

Progressive Indiana Network is an independent media collaborative supporting Indiana-focused progressive journalism, analysis, and commentary. PIN provides a shared platform for writers, podcasters, and creators committed to covering state and local politics with independence, solidarity, and accountability. The network exists to build durable progressive media rooted in local communities and attentive to the decisions that shape daily life across Indiana.

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bradmeyer.org

Brad Meyer, progressive candidate for Indiana's 9th Congressional District, holds his second virtual town hall answering questions from viewers on YouTube, Facebook Live, and ProgressiveIndiana.net. Meyer, who spent 25 years in manufacturing leadership and 9 years as a Navy civilian subject matter expert before quitting to run for office, argues Democrats need to stop playing it safe and being cautious—instead fighting boldly for progressive policies. The Democratic primary is on May 5th. Topics covered include opposition to the U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran, strong support for universal single-payer healthcare, addressing the affordability crisis through progressive taxation and worker power, publicly funding elections, paid family leave, affordable housing, congressional stock trading, making college affordable, and the situation in Gaza.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

3:24 - U.S.-ISRAEL ATTACKS ON IRAN
- Wildly inappropriate and undemocratic—president didn't go to Congress because he doesn't want to know what Americans think
- Trump sabotaged Obama's Iran nuclear deal 7 years ago, destroying diplomatic pathway and making force the only option
- Partners in West can't trust America to negotiate after experiencing political cost with no benefit

6:50 - HEALTHCARE (CHRISTINE ON YOUTUBE)
- Strong advocate for universal nonprofit single-payer healthcare
- Member of Physicians for National Health Program
- Americans die 4 years earlier, pay twice as much, double infant/maternal mortality, 80% with medical debt have insurance

9:00 - AFFORDABILITY CRISIS
- Root problem is inequality—wealth concentration at top while working people fall behind
- Need progressive taxation (wealth tax, higher income taxes on rich, close loopholes, corporate tax reform)
- Labor organizing key to giving workers bargaining power for fair wages

13:38 - WHAT DISTINGUISHES A PROGRESSIVE (KEVIN ON FACEBOOK)
- Progressive starts with "what does a just society look like?" and works from there to solutions
- Populist starts with "blame those people"—even if solutions end up same, process matters
- Example: 14 million families with food insecurity—progressive asks how to fix problem, solution happens to be taxing billionaires

16:02 - NEGOTIATING PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES (HOOSIERLEMON ON SUBSTACK)
- Strongly supports negotiating drug prices
- Current Medicare has gaps—doesn't address prescription prices, addiction, mental health, disabilities as well as needed
- March is Disabilities Awareness Month

18:00 - PUBLICLY FUNDING ELECTIONS (@FANTUSGREY ON YOUTUBE)
- Publicly funding elections is great idea in theory
- Concern: Current administration would undermine it—if federally controlled, Trump would find way to keep opponents from getting money
- Already attacking ActBlue to keep money out of pockets of people who oppose him

21:01 - PAID FAMILY LEAVE (HOOSIERLEMON ON SUBSTACK)
- Yes, supports paid family leave
- Every time government puts policy in place (like Americans with Disabilities Act), industry says it'll wreck economy, then it doesn't
- Open to good ideas and solutions on implementation—could be through insurance or government systems

23:01 - GAVIN NEWSOM AND "CULTURALLY NORMAL" COMMENT
- Newsom said Democrats need to be "culturally normal"—abandon identity politics, focus on kitchen table issues
- Brad: Challenge in Southern Indiana is explaining things to people with different priorities
- Need to do better job communicating why issues like LGBTQ rights, environment matter to everyone—not stop caring, but reach out and communicate in way that resonates

27:01 - TRANSGENDER IDS
- Yes, transgender individuals should be able to update government-issued IDs to match gender expression
- Purpose of ID is to identify who you are—picture/info needs to match what they see, not "what's covered by swimsuit"
- Kansas revoking transgender IDs is intentional attempt to control expression and stir up hate

29:11 - AFFORDABLE HOUSING CRISIS (HOOSIERLEMON ON SUBSTACK)
- Would support banning sale of residential properties to private equity, but federal limits on intrastate commerce
- Biggest thing federal government can do: tax policy making it less attractive for private equity to buy residential properties
- Public housing has role—government did it well after WWII, need creative solutions for today, also need immigrants to build housing

34:04 - FIGHTING BACK AGAINST REPUBLICAN TACTICS (@FANTUSGREY ON YOUTUBE)
- Republicans used brute strength to stop Obama's Supreme Court appointment—are you willing to fight back or engage in such behavior if necessary?
- Brad: Wishes it weren't necessary, but it is—Reagan/Tip O'Neill era and Lee Hamilton age are gone
- No reliable partners on other side for reasoned debate—they're trying to steal land under our feet, must stand up and stop it

35:50 - PATH TO WINNING THIS DISTRICT (KEVIN ON FACEBOOK)
- District went 64-32 Republican last time—is path through moderate swing voters or motivating non-voters?
- Brad: Central issue of primary—need to give voters choice, not audition to be like Republicans
- Democrats have better answers—reach across aisle to take them by hand and explain why our solutions better, not snuggle up to them
- When Democrats play mild/soften, best they can offer is "next year will probably only suck about as much"—need to persuade with alternative vision

41:12 - DESCRIBE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN ONE OR TWO WORDS
- New York Times focus group: every Democrat preferred progressive to moderate, but described party unkindly
- Brad: "Rebuilding"—seeing it in Harrison County (200 Democrats at dinner party), Brown County, Jackson County, Ripley County, Jefferson County

42:27 - ELECTION SECURITY AND POLLING STATION INTERFERENCE (@FANTUSGREY ON YOUTUBE)
- What steps being taken against possible interference shenanigans? What can candidate/campaign do to secure vote?
- As candidate: help get out vote, help people understand limitations/risks, encourage voting
- Need message that inspires people to vote—Republicans counting on apathy, need to give something worth getting off couch for

44:25 - HAKEEM JEFFRIES FOR SPEAKER
- When Democrats retake House, would you vote for Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker?
- Jeffries has done good work with very difficult hand under current administration
- Hasn't thought much about who should be in leadership—not going to be him as freshman, will think seriously about it in December

46:42 - D.C. AND PUERTO RICO STATEHOOD
- Would you support making D.C. and/or Puerto Rico states to balance anti-democratic lean in Senate?
- Open to Puerto Rico statehood, but not from perspective of balancing Republican vs. Democrat
- Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, current Commonwealth status doesn't serve them well—if they want statehood, should be seriously considered
- On gerrymandering: could support federal law making it illegal as undemocratic principle

48:55 - CONGRESSIONAL STOCK TRADING BAN (HOOSIERLEMON ON SUBSTACK)
- Supports banning congressional stock trading (Trump brought up at State of the Union, Elizabeth Warren gave standing ovation)
- Mutual funds reasonable, but shouldn't be able to invest in individual stocks or even particular sectors
- Sectors could be manipulated through Congress—congressional members perform better than S&P, appears shady

50:15 - MAKING COLLEGE AFFORDABLE (KATY SHEFFLER ON FACEBOOK)
- Cost of college up 10x since 1970 (adjusted for inflation), debt load up 50% in last 20-30 years, starting salaries lower
- People hurt most: those who get year or two in, find it's not for them—all debt, none of benefit
- Make first year free for qualified students so they're not burdened if they decide college isn't for them
- Government used to invest in college like roads/bridges/water treatment—now treat as private good, hugely unfair burden previous generations didn't have

53:15 - PAC AND SUPER PAC DONATIONS (@FANTUSGREY ON YOUTUBE)
- Not taking donations from PACs/super PACs at this time
- Not against aligned organizations (like universal healthcare PAC) donating—won't take AIPAC money
- Would prefer small donations only, but Republicans have enormous war chest (50%+ of Houchens money from out of state)
- Can't afford to walk away from building war chest to make difference—if elected, would support laws limiting PAC donations

55:40 - IRAN AND GAZA (HOLLY ON FACEBOOK)
- Iran: Process issues with how attacks were done—illegal, doesn't bring American people in for buy-in
- Iranian government has been saying "death to America" for 45 years, supported Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis
- Gaza: Gut wrenching to see what's happening—only way past cycle of violence is two-state solution
- U.S. should advocate with ally Israel for two-state solution, but Netanyahu has no interest—his approach leads to cycles of violence and repression, not sustainable peace

CLOSING:
- Eight town halls completed, six more confirmed
- Website: bradmeyer.org
- Primary election: May 5th

https://www.keilroark.com/

SUMMARY:

Keil Roark, Democratic candidate for Indiana’s 9th Congressional District, presents himself as a moderate centrist who can win crossover votes from independents and disenfranchised Republicans in this conservative district. A former UAW assembly-line worker, Navy Reserve officer, and Purdue engineering graduate now at Rolls-Royce, Roark campaigns on affordability and raising wages to match inflation. He supports increasing the federal minimum wage to $12-15 and pegging it to inflation, takes a cautious “need to research it” stance on Medicare for All, opposes expanding the Supreme Court (fears endless tit-for-tat additions), and advocates reforming but not abolishing ICE. Roark takes traditional conservative positions on transgender rights, opposing updated IDs or bathroom access matching gender expression. He models himself after Joe Manchin and John Fetterman, explicitly positioning himself as the centrist candidate best positioned to win the general election against more progressive primary opponents who he believes won’t appeal to the 20-30% of Republican voters Democrats need to flip this seat.

QUESTIONS:

4:51 - AFFORDABILITY: HOW DO WE RAISE WAGES AND LOWER COSTS?

- Raise federal minimum wage from $7.25 (unchanged since 2009) to $12-13 range, Virginia just moved to $15

- Advocate for folks to go into skilled trades (pipe fitters, plumbers, electricians) facing worker shortage as boomers retire

- These trades pay well traditionally and are in dire need

8:56 - WHAT SHOULD THE MINIMUM WAGE BE?

- Would start negotiations at $18/hour to land at $14-15 range accounting for political reality

- Economists say it should be $25-30, but bipartisan legislation is difficult to pass

- Adjusted for 1-2% inflation year-over-year calculation yields $12-13

12:01 - SHOULD MINIMUM WAGE BE PEGGED TO INFLATION?

- Yes, treat it like Social Security with automatic cost of living adjustments

- Problem is numbers aren’t changing over time while dollar value changes 2-3% annually

- Would advocate for automatic adjustments so we don’t go another 15+ years without raises

13:05 - CHRISTINE ASKS: HOW ABOUT HEALTHCARE FOR PEOPLE?

- Need to address drug pricing caps, look at what Biden did capping insulin at $35

- Pursue legislation forcing pharmaceutical companies to lower prices on certain drugs

- Would go after drug companies and health insurance companies driving up costs

16:26 - MEDICARE FOR ALL / SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE?

- Would need to research it carefully, doesn’t have best answer

- Acknowledges studies show more people with healthcare means premiums come down

- Concerned about cost and coverage quality—if too costly people will drop it or coverage won’t be good

18:35 - SHOULD DEMOCRATS PURSUE IMPEACHMENT OF TRUMP?

- Would need to pick offense most likely to get 67 Senate votes, otherwise exercise in futility

- Would consider going after Pam Bondi more than Trump—she’s “easier prey”

- Bondi giving orders to pardon folks, violating rule of law as Attorney General

23:58 - WOULD YOU SUPPORT EXPANDING THE SUPREME COURT?

- No—opposes court packing, worried about “snowball effect” where each administration adds justices

- Takes “long view”—Democrat 2028-2036, then Republican adds two, Democrat adds two, etc.

- Instead supports impeaching corrupt justices (happened in 1920s, threatened in late 60s/early 70s)

27:39 - WHO WAS BEST U.S. PRESIDENT OF 20TH CENTURY?

- John F. Kennedy—”truly inspirational president”

- Tenure cut short by assassination

- (Note: Asked to limit to 20th century to avoid easy Lincoln/Washington answers)

31:41 - DATA CENTERS: SHOULD WE SLOW DOWN, PAUSE CONSTRUCTION?

- Counties like Dearborn working on moratoriums, Franklin County might already have one

- Two problems: (1) Requiring NDAs—not disclosing funding sources or construction workers; (2) No value proposition for communities

- Data centers should pay communities percentage of revenues annually like Alaska oil royalties

35:17 - WOULD YOU SUPPORT A WEALTH TAX ON BILLIONAIRES?

- “Absolutely. All day long. Absolutely.”

- Pick the number—$1 billion, $2.6 billion, $7.4 billion threshold

- Calls current wealth concentration “most absurd thing I’ve ever heard in my life”

38:27 - SHOULD U.S. CONTINUE SUPPLYING ISRAEL WITH OFFENSIVE WEAPONS?
- Doesn't claim to be expert on Middle East peace—conflict cycles every few years going back to his childhood

- Gives Trump credit for current ceasefire and path toward peace agreement (though hard to give him credit)

- Supplying offensive weapons to Israel undermines peace negotiations—providing aid to one party offends the other

41:14 - RAE ASKS: WOULD YOU ACCEPT MONEY FROM AIPAC?
- Would reject AIPAC money—doesn't know where it's coming from, not familiar with his union/campaign goals

- Uses shell organizations to obscure funding sources

- Would consider PAC support only if based on his policy positions (affordability, tech training, banning congressional stock trading)

42:35 - WOULD YOU ACCEPT CORPORATE PAC MONEY?
- Can't answer definitively—"it depends"

- Some nonprofit corporations support unions, would need to evaluate case-by-case

- Not a blanket yes or no on corporate PACs

43:53 - YOUR POSITION ON ICE?
- ICE acting unprofessionally, Secretary should be fired and agency reorganized

- However, opposes abolishing ICE—federal/local law enforcement collaboration necessary for public safety

- Cities should cooperate with ICE to arrest illegal immigrants with warrants, give them due process

49:39 - TRANSGENDER RIGHTS: UPDATING GOVERNMENT IDS?

- Opposes allowing trans people to update IDs (driver’s license, birth certificate) to match gender expression

- “If you were born a male, you need to be identified as a male...need a reference point”

- Supports LGBTQ+ people’s right to be happy but wants birth sex on government documents

50:03 - WHICH RESTROOMS SHOULD TRANSGENDER PEOPLE USE?

- “Traditional view”—people should use restrooms matching birth sex regardless of presentation

- Says born male dressed as woman should use male stall; born female dressed as male should use female stall

- As father of three daughters, uncomfortable with “male in same room” even if presenting as woman

54:05 - WHICH CURRENT MEMBER OF CONGRESS DO YOU MOST ALIGN WITH?

- Used to be Joe Manchin (now independent), currently John Fetterman

- Also admires Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (though not congressman)

- “Pretty moderate...in the middle, have some centrist traditional views”

55:13 - CLOSING PITCH

- “Definitely the best candidate” to win primary and general

- Can get crossover appeal from independents and disenfranchised Republicans (need 20-30% in 9th District)

- More progressive candidates won’t fare well in general; his centrist policies are best chance to beat Erin Houchin

More information about that candidate at https://www.keilroark.com/

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