https://progressiveindiana.net
The Socialist Party of Indiana held its official launch event in Terre Haute at the historic Eugene V. Debs Museum, bringing together organizers, candidates, and activists to announce the formation of a new political party aimed at giving working-class Hoosiers a voice in government. Party Chair Mary Kate Dugan outlined the path to party recognition: gathering 100,000 signatures to get Secretary of State candidate Harrison Jacobo on the ballot and securing 2% of the vote in the general election. Speakers addressed Indiana’s failures on education funding (school voucher schemes defunding public schools), healthcare access (restrictive Medicaid income limits), disability rights, housing affordability, reproductive justice, and the criminalization of poverty. The event featured speeches from education organizer Adrea McCloud, Secretary of State candidate Harrison Jacobo, disability advocate Lucas Waterfill, House District 13 candidate Ben Davis, and IU YDSA co-chairs Diego Barron. All emphasized that working-class control of workplaces, schools, hospitals, and neighborhoods is achievable through collective organizing, rejecting both corporate Democrats and MAGA Republicans in favor of independent working-class politics.
WHAT’S INSIDE
00:00:23 - Introduction by Scott Aaron Rogers
• Scott introduces livestream from Terre Haute outside Eugene V. Debs Museum
00:02:19 - Mary Kate Dugan Opening Remarks (Chair, Socialist Party of Indiana)
• Acknowledges dark times: brink of world war, institutional failures, elites complicit in child trafficking and abuse
• Indiana legislature defunding public education, rolling back child labor protections, paying for data centers while criminalizing poor
• Better world is possible - Eugene Debs fought for minimum wage, right to unionize, free speech against war
• Lifelong Johnson County Hoosier, voting 20 years, watched representatives strip healthcare/bodily autonomy rights
• Neither Democrats nor Republicans represent working people - time for independent working-class party
00:07:38 - Adrea McCloud (Music Educator, IPS; Union Organizer, Indianapolis Education Association)
• ISU graduate, mother of two, teaches in IPS (one of legislature’s “most hated” districts)
• Children deserve better - every year faces funding cuts, spends free time at statehouse organizing
• Legislators don’t care about teachers, students, or quality public education
• Defunding public schools while increasing taxpayer support for private schools
• School vouchers taking resources from 90% of students in public schools to subsidize wealthy families
• Turning Point USA in schools - partisan/religious organization violating separation of church and state
• Women’s healthcare restricted, reproductive rights attacked, gender-affirming care criminalized
• To fellow “aunts” (educators/caregivers): proud to fight alongside, better world isn’t just possible - it’s in all of us
00:14:31 - Harrison Jacobo (Candidate for Secretary of State, Socialist Party of Indiana)
• Son of two US Army veterans, descendant of indigenous Aztecs (father’s side) and Black indigenous farmers from Sullivan County (mother’s side)
• Farmer who learned soil health and community health are connected
• Plants need water, air, soil to survive - but require clean air, clean water, healthy soil to thrive
• Working-class people same way - cannot thrive deprived of clean air, water, healthy food, affordable housing, healthcare
• Indiana prioritizes corporate profits over people - must choose between healthcare and poverty
• As Secretary of State, will fight for accessible voting, worker rights, environmental protections
00:18:16 - Lucas Waterfill (Comedian, Indianapolis; Disability Advocate)
• Performs Gil Scott-Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”
• Chronically ill and disabled - believes in power of organized people
• Dire times for teachers, students, healthcare workers, chronically ill, disabled
• Abandoned by both Republicans and Democrats
• Republicans privatize and defund; Democrats use disabled as poster children while taking corporate money
• As disabled person, constant struggle to live independent and free - must choose between healthcare and poverty
• Indiana Medicaid monthly income limit: $1,330 (for rent, utilities, gas, groceries)
• In push wheelchair because van damaged by Indianapolis potholes
• Being disabled only marginalized group everyone will eventually join
00:30:29 - Ben Davis (Candidate, Indiana House District 13, Socialist Party of Indiana)
• First to officially file as Socialist Party of Indiana candidate
• Running for House District 13: southern/western Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, Warren, Benton, most of Fountain, portions of Newton, Jasper, Montgomery counties
• Chosen to run as socialist because of and for working class
• Elite politicians gaslight us: resources scarce, housing limited, healthcare too expensive
• In 48 years in Indiana, never seen empty grocery shelves, no unoccupied housing, people turned away from healthcare
• Resources abundant - just hoarded by wealthy while rest left with crumbs
• Cites Eugene Debs: “While there is a lower class, I am in it. While there is a criminal element, I am of it. While there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”
00:35:45 - Diego Barron (Co-Chair, Young Democratic Socialists of America at Indiana University)
• Dues-paying DSA member since junior year at North Central High School in Indianapolis
• Socialism means working class, not billionaires, control government, workplaces, schools, hospitals, neighborhoods
• High school DSA chapter worked on tenant organizing, rent-stabilized apartments, legal assistance for evictions
• Worked on Jessa Brown’s 2023 campaign - when won, showed neighbors will vote for socialism
• Took break from organizing freshman year at IU, made excuses until Trump reelection November 2024
• Organized first YDSA meeting at Indiana University - three comrades standing behind him
• Transformed fear and anxiety into fighting for socialism in our lifetime
• This moment to present independent working-class party fighting alongside, not against, working class
• Leads chant: “I believe that we will win”
00:47:04 - Mary Kate Dugan Closing Remarks
• Recognizes all speakers, celebrates momentum
• Three candidates declared, collecting signatures in 10+ counties
• Path forward: 100,000 signatures for Harrison Jacobo, 2% of vote in general election
• References Zohran Mamdani NYC mayoral primary: Super PACs spent $30.1M (89% against him), but 100,000 volunteers mobilized and won
• Not about money - about people power, door-knocking, one-on-one conversations
• Solidarity
00:53:37 - Outro
• Socialist Party of Indiana will need volunteers and donations over coming months
• Onerous process to gather signatures and get ballot line in Indiana - but only have to do it once
• Whether you agree with socialism or not, this is democracy
