Host Scott Aaron Rogers welcomes Chloe Andis, Democratic candidate for Indiana State Senate District 15 in Fort Wayne/Allen County, for a St. Patrick’s Day conversation about her journey from Northwest Allen County to Air Force service and back home. Born on Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana, Chloe grew up in Huntertown, played football and wrestled at Carroll High School, and enlisted as a Chinese linguist after a semester at Ivy Tech. She spent nearly four years at NSA Hawaii tracking naval intelligence in the Pacific before getting out in 2018, earning her undergrad at University of Maryland, and working Army counterintelligence at Fort Meade. After experiences with COVID analysis, the Black Lives Matter movement, and January 6th showed her how politics was failing people, she came home to run for office. The conversation covers District 15’s compact geography, why she chose electoral politics despite Indiana’s stacked deck, the three priorities she’d pursue in the state house (economy, investing in kids, protecting rights), her personal experience with the affordability crisis, and running as a trans woman against an incumbent openly hostile to her existence.
WHAT’S INSIDE:
00:05:20 - Growing Up in Allen County and Military Service
• Born Barksdale AFB Louisiana 1993, dad Air Force, moved to Allen County as toddler
• Grew up Huntertown, Carroll High School, played football and wrestled, got EMT certification at Anthes Career Center
• Enlisted Air Force as Chinese linguist after semester at Ivy Tech, Defense Language Institute 18 months
• 2014-2018 NSA Hawaii naval intelligence tracking Pacific signals, got out 2018, worked Army counterintelligence Fort Meade
00:14:17 - COVID, BLM, January 6th - Why She Left and Came Home
• Took over COVID threat analysis for NSA/SecDef/President - what was reported publicly didn’t reflect reality
• BLM: livestreamed DC protests - different than Fox News narrative and internal intelligence
• January 6th insurrection - couldn’t be part of system misrepresenting factual events for political purposes
• Went through apathy but realized: if we do nothing, they win - came home to reconnect with people she loves
00:19:50 - State Senate District 15 and Working Class Struggles
• Entirely within Allen County, possibly most compact state senate district, gerrymandered to be relatively homogenous
• Works at BAE Systems building engine controls - union worker like people in District 15
• Rising costs (Google data center driving up utility bills), low wages (minimum wage unchanged since 2009)
• Everyone from lifelong Republicans to progressive PFW students realize incumbency not working for people
00:25:09 - Why Electoral Politics Despite Stacked Deck
• Love an underdog - Fort Wayne big defense industry town, union workers have protections but right-to-work makes unionizing hard
• At NSA Hawaii asked supervisor: will people look back and decide what we did was wrong? Crack in thinking about military industrial complex
• Adversaries are just people - we’re all just people
• It takes power to make changes - elected office made most sense given how she sees the world
00:33:42 - Three Priorities for State House
• First: economy - attack from two angles, lower costs AND raise wages to meet in middle
• Second: investing in kids, childcare, schools - make Indiana attractive via quality of life not tax subsidies
• Third: protected rights and freedoms - freedom FROM restriction not freedom TO restrict
00:37:16 - Housing Crisis and Data Centers
• Came back year ago, roomed with friend and daughter in one bedroom Blackhawk apartments, $1000+/month split three ways
• Lived on blow-up mattress, on unemployment from DC - personal experience with affordability crisis
• Data centers straining electrical grid - residents front 80% of infrastructure costs while money goes to shareholders
• Paying to render yourself unemployed and put yourself under surveillance (Palantir, Flock cameras)
00:42:15 - Making Indiana Attractive by Investing in People
• Tax subsidies to attract businesses - what if invested in state instead?
• Funded childcare ROI $7-$12 per dollar (New Mexico doing this) - wouldn’t have to compete for nurses and teachers
• Republican branding as smart business people but short-sighted, only looking at quarterly report not long-term
• Minimum wage $7.25 unchanged since she was sophomore in high school - costs increasing whether you make more or not
00:46:09 - Power of Visibility and Building Coalitions
• Trans at work, people know she’s trans and easy to work with - 70% of people haven’t knowingly met trans person (Guess what? You have!)
• Allen County created Indiana’s first Veterans Caucus - attracts Republicans too, healthy to have friction and different perspectives
• When good people with different life experiences step up, we all learn
• Fight collectively now, discuss tax policy at bar later after we’ve won
00:48:41 - Running as Trans Woman Against Hostile Incumbent
• Liz took announcement videos, stitched with title “meet Mr. Andes” and transphobic bullshit
• When focused on issues, identity kind of irrelevant - trans people will eventually be normalized like all minorities who fought and won
• Some never agree, but others willing to feel it out - takes extending olive branch
• Even left-leaning people sometimes don’t understand how to interact - she’s just a person
00:54:38 - How to Support Campaign
• ChloeforHoosiers.com, handles @ChloeforHoosiers (YouTube: Chloe4Hoosiers)
• Email: Chloe@ChloeforHoosiers.com
• Vote - even if not in District 15, vote for Dem in your district
