During Progressive Indiana Network’s Portraits and Perspectives event, I sat down with Michael Potter, candidate for Indiana State House District 47. The district covers the southern half of Johnson County (just south of Indianapolis) and half of Shelby County—and thanks to gerrymandering, it happens to look like a rubber ducky. Michael has fully embraced this absurdity, appearing at parades in a duck suit with a duck logo that puts the district map front and center. As a geologist who was a mapping geologist through school, he loves that his campaign literally centers the constituents of that uniquely shaped district.
When I asked about his motivation for running, Michael pointed to the LEAP District and the IEDC’s commitment of massive amounts of water to corporate interests. As someone who understands that area’s geology, he knew immediately there wasn’t that volume of water available. What drove him to run wasn’t just the bad policy—it was listening to statehouse officials pontificate about things they clearly didn’t understand instead of admitting they relied on experts. Michael never saw politics in the cards for himself, but watching lawmakers spout obvious lies about technical matters he understands professionally was enough to motivate him to step up.
We discussed personal struggles, and Michael opened up about the everyday challenges of parenting—specifically navigating the parent politics of PTA, volleyball clubs, basketball teams, and all the social dynamics that come with raising kids. He’s also had to bounce between jobs to find one compatible with running for office. He started at an international billion-dollar company where he couldn’t speak freely about issues like AES strangling Indianapolis residents because his employer had contracts that could have been jeopardized. He’s now landed at a small Massachusetts company where his coworkers are all Democrats who encourage his campaign.
When I asked about fictional characters, Michael kept it simple: he’d like to fly, so some kind of flying superhero. Superman maybe, though he joked that being made of steel would help with the landing part.
The conversation turned to interpersonal relationships in the statehouse, and Michael’s answer revealed a lot about his approach. He’s always been a team guy—football player, baseball player, coach for both football and semi-pro ultimate Frisbee (the Indianapolis Alleycats). His geology degree was actually aimed at earth science education. Even his environmental work responding to emergencies like train wrecks and pipeline spills requires building teams on the fly and cooperating with competitors when clients demand it. Everything he’s done has been collaborative work. He pushed back on the notion that calling out injustices creates division—doing the injustice creates the division, calling it out is just pointing to what’s already there.
When I asked about legacy, Michael shared that people often tell him “we need more people like you” when they learn he’s running. He hopes that means reasonable, level-headed, protective of neighbors and Indiana’s natural resources. He wants to be remembered for being in it for the right reasons: protecting his family, neighbors, the people of House District 47 and Indiana, and the planet. Whether you believe the land was given to us or evolved, he argues there are both religious and scientific reasons to take care of it—something we’re not doing a good job of right now.
This wasn’t just a conversation about policy positions. It was about bringing technical expertise, collaborative skills, and genuine care for natural resources to a statehouse that desperately needs all three. Michael Potter is making the case that sometimes the best candidates are the ones who never planned to run—they just couldn’t stand by and watch incompetence go unchallenged.
Check out Michael’s interviews with Derrick Holder and Brianna Newhart, and all of our interviews with other candidates from this event at progressiveindiana.net.
