Progressive Indiana Network: https://progressiveindiana.net
HoosLeft: https://hoosleft.us
Sean Steele Campaign Site: https://www.steele4indiana.com/
SUMMARY:
Closing out an extended Independence Month of coverage on breaking free from the two-party system, Scott sits down with Sean Steele — art teacher, 30-year classroom veteran, and independent candidate for Indiana House District 65 in the Bedford area. Steele comes from a prominent Republican political family (his father Brent Steele served in the state legislature for over two decades, his grandfather Ruel Steele was a state highway commissioner with a highway named after him), but took the long way to politics himself, spending three decades teaching social studies and art before running against an unopposed incumbent this year. The conversation covers his family history, his break with a Republican Party he says his father and grandfather wouldn’t recognize, his frustration with a Democratic Party he feels has abandoned rural and working-class voters, and a detailed rundown of his platform: fully funding public education, standing against data centers without real environmental and financial accountability, protecting rural hospital access, and using Indiana’s $4 billion surplus to actually help people who are struggling.
WHAT’S INSIDE:
00:00:23 Introduction: Closing Out Independence Month
- Scott recaps six weeks of programming on breaking free from the two-party system: Metin Pekin’s no-party-system book, independent candidates Ben Davis and Joshua Brant, former Republican Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard the prior night, and now Sean Steele closing out the run.
- Steele is introduced as coming from a prominent political family in the Bedford area who took the long way to politics — 30 years in the classroom first.
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00:02:58 Meet Sean Steele
- Steele has two kids (22 and 19), a wife of 27 years who spent 28 years as an ER nurse and now works at IU Health Bloomington. Born and raised in Bedford, he graduated from BNL and played Division III football at DePauw, then went to law school and practiced with his father and uncle for a year before a string of difficult cases convinced him it wasn’t the right path.
- He went back to school, student taught at Mitchell Junior High, and started teaching at Orleans Junior Senior High in 1997. At a small school he wore many hats: eighth grade history, government, econ, sociology, and psychology — plus coaching girls basketball, sponsoring student council and the senior class, and directing the school play. He taught most of the social studies department there for 22 years.
00:08:14 The Restless Artist and a Job That Never Feels Like Work
- A lifelong self-taught artist, Steele took workshops during his teaching years and added an art license with just a few more classes. No opening existed until 2018, when he moved to Oolitic Middle School, then Bedford Middle School, where he’s now the art teacher — a job he calls his dream job.
- He reflects on the contrast between high schoolers (who need waking up for econ) and middle schoolers (who need peeling off the ceiling) — a wide maturity range that makes middle school uniquely challenging and rewarding. He calls teaching a genuinely rewarding profession he’s grateful for.
00:12:35 Sally and Brent Steele: A Family Rooted in Bedford Politics
- Steele’s mother is Sally Steele; his father Brent Steele served as a state representative and then state senator from 1994 to 2016. His uncle Byron practices law with Brent in Bedford; his late aunt Darlene McSully also practiced at the family firm.
00:13:40 Grandfather Ruel Steele: County Clerk to State Highway Commissioner
- The family firm was started by Steele’s grandfather, Ruel W. Steele, who came up through Republican politics as a county clerk and state senator, became an assistant to the governor, and went to law school as an older man under an alternate entrance path available at the time.
- Ruel Steele was later appointed Indiana State Highway Commissioner, overseeing the four-laning of what’s now I-69/Highway 37 from Indianapolis to Bedford — previously known as “the killer highway.” The route is still marked the Ruel W. Steele Highway. Sean’s son is named Ruel after him. (Steele confirms no relation to the painter TC Steele, despite the shared name and shared artistic interest.)
00:17:42 Why Independent: An Unopposed Incumbent and a Party His Father Wouldn’t Recognize
- Steele decided to run because incumbent Chris May ran unopposed last cycle, and because he’s frustrated with both parties nationally and in Indiana. He says the Republican Party of his father and grandfather no longer exists — it’s now just MAGA — citing the party’s comfort with January 6th, Senators Young and Banks confirming unqualified nominees along party lines, and Liz Cheney’s expulsion as evidence any middle ground gets primaried out.
- He balances this with frustration at Chuck Schumer’s comments about not needing to cater to rural voters and instead courting the suburbs — leaving working-class and rural people without a home in either party. His core belief: people have more in common with their neighbors than what divides them, and running independent means neither side automatically shuts the door on his message.
00:22:22 A Father’s Race, a Cruel Ad, and Why Sean Wants to Run Positive
- Steele recounts his father Brent’s early legislative race, where — after taking a case representing someone accused of child molestation on the condition the client plead guilty, take responsibility, and pay for the victim’s counseling — the opposing party ran an attack ad implying he defended child molesters.
- The experience, compounded by discomfort even with negative ads Republicans ran on his father’s behalf, shaped Steele’s approach: run independent, point to the record, but avoid going negative the way traditional party campaigns often do.
00:25:39 The 50-50 Country and 9-0 Redistricting
- Scott relays Greg Ballard’s framing from the previous night’s interview: the real 50-50 split isn’t Democrat vs. Republican, it’s party-affiliated vs. independent. Steele says he’s hearing genuine excitement from voters for a true independent alternative, and often opens conversations by telling a room he’s likely more conservative than some in it and more liberal than others.
- Steele points to Indiana’s mid-census redistricting push — moving from a 7-2 to a potential 9-0 congressional delegation despite a competitive 2024 governor’s race — as a moment that fired him up. He believes elected officials underestimate how angry voters currently are.
00:29:41 The National Guard Police Force and Senate Bill 76
- Steele lists grievances voters raise unprompted: criminalizing homelessness, favorable treatment for data centers, and a new law giving the governor discretionary authority over a National Guard police force with arrest and search powers — a reversal, he notes, of traditional Republican wariness of an armed, empowered executive.
- As a civil libertarian and attorney, he’s specifically alarmed by Senate Bill 76, which he says opens school doors to immigration enforcement without search warrants.
00:31:03 Vouchers and the Eyes on Education Portal
- Steele walks through Indiana’s shift from local property tax school funding to state funding that’s since been diverted through vouchers to private and charter schools — schools that don’t face the same accountability, admissions, testing, or transportation standards public schools must meet.
- As a former social studies teacher, he connects this to Senate Bill 202 and the Attorney General’s Eyes on Education portal, which he says makes teaching honest history — including the country’s flaws alongside its ideals — a professional risk.
00:35:33 IU’s Board of Trustees and a State Legislature Operating in the Dark
- Steele criticizes Governor Braun’s move to install his own IU board of trustees after a 9-0 law change, pointing to arts and humanities degree programs being cut because students in those fields don’t earn enough — a policy he says contradicts traditional Republican support for individual choice and freedom.
- Scott connects the throughline: these policies aren’t small government or local control despite the rhetoric, and they thrive because state political coverage is thin, especially in “no man’s land” areas like Bedford between Indianapolis and Louisville. Most voters, regardless of party, don’t line up neatly with either party on a given issue — which sets up the question of what Steele will actually advocate for at the statehouse.
00:40:04 Fully Funding Public Education and the Data Center Environmental Case
- Steele’s top priority is fully funding public education. His district stands to lose $3 million over the next couple of years because of Senate Bill 1, forcing schools statewide to ask taxpayers for referendums just to maintain class sizes, band, and arts programs — effectively shifting the tax burden rather than reducing it.
- He’s also concerned about data centers’ unsustainable electricity and water use, citing a 2025 U.S. News and World Report ranking placing Indiana 48th overall in environmental quality and 50th in air and water pollution.
00:42:29 Rural Hospitals, Medicaid Cuts, and a $4 Billion Surplus
- Steele wants to protect rural hospital access — the area has already lost one hospital, and the nearest OBGYN for a woman giving birth locally is in Bloomington. He contrasts this with the state’s newly announced $4 billion surplus, comparing it to having $50,000 in the bank while a tree sits through a hole in your roof.
- He references a Hoosier Action Coalition meeting in Nashville, Indiana, where he learned how many Hoosiers stand to lose Medicaid coverage under state-level cuts compounding federal “One Big Beautiful Bill” reductions. His position: with a multi-billion dollar surplus, the state should prioritize people struggling with health care costs rather than sitting on the money.
00:45:56 School Choice as a Misnomer: What Rural Districts Actually Have
- Scott asks what “school choice” actually means in rural Lawrence, Orange, and Washington counties. Steele lists the extremely limited options: St. Vincent (K-8), Lighthouse Academy, Springville, and LCIS (Lawrence County Independent Schools) — arguing that “choice” mostly means schools choosing which students to admit, while public schools must accept everyone and provide transportation and special needs services regardless.
00:49:45 Data Centers, Tax Abatements, and the Path to Victory
- Scott and Steele agree data centers are a rare issue that unites voters across party lines — nobody wants them without real safeguards: their own power generation, no diesel generator pollution, no excessive water consumption, and actual tax payments. Steele adds that tax abatements compound the problem, especially exemption from the 7% sales tax on utilities that would otherwise benefit public schools. He calls for fair taxation, grid upgrade cost-sharing, local union labor requirements, and — absent those safeguards — a moratorium to study more sustainable approaches, especially given nondisclosure agreements limiting public input
00:53:51 Mayor Shawna Girgis and 31 Years of Trust Built in the Classroom
- Asked about his path to victory given heavily gerrymandered statehouse and senate districts, Scott notes the Bedford area has a recent track record of electing independents.
- Steele’s campaign manager is Shawna Girgis, who served as Bedford’s independent mayor for 12 years — proof, in his view, that independent candidates can win locally.
- His own path to victory rests on 31 years as an educator across the district, particularly Orleans — generations of students, parents, and now grandparents who know he genuinely cared about their kids. He’s been visibly present at the Lawrence County Fair, Orange County Fair, Jackson County Fair, the Lions Club Pancake Festival, and the Kiwanis Fish Fry, contrasting his visibility with his opponent’s more limited public appearances. He’s committed to accepting any town hall or debate invitation to contrast his record directly with the incumbent’s.
00:58:45 Closing: Bertha’s Mission, Harp Commons, and Where to Follow the Campaign
- This Saturday: a free community concert at Harp Commons in Bedford, 6-10 p.m., collecting canned food donations for Bertha’s Mission, which feeds 500-600 people a week with no questions asked.
- Campaign: steel4indiana.com and @Steel4Indiana on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook; Steele notes the website needs updating and policy positions are coming soon.
- Sunday’s HoosLeft This Week guests: Indianapolis progressive organizer Alexandra Rollo and Northwest Indiana school board candidate Mitch Reynolds.
