Candidates vying for Indiana’s 5th District Congressional seat took to the digital stage this week to make their case to voters.  Because current Congresswoman Susan Brooks is retiring, there are nearly two dozen hopefuls running for the position.

This week, fourteen Republicans and four Democrats took part in digital town halls. The organizer, Indiana Town Halls, set a format that offered no opportunity for the candidates to interact with each other. Instead, each was given a set time to answer the same questions.  Questions on the coronavirus pandemic dominated the discussions.

Indiana’s primary elections will be held June 2.  To vote absentee by mail, Hoosier must have their applications in by May 21.

GOP Town Hall

Watch the GOP Town Hall on Youtube

Most candidates praise President Donald Trump’s response but also warn of Congressional overspending and the overreach of stay-at-home orders by states focused on slowing the disease.

Most also agree the country’s healthcare system could be improved with fewer regulations and more choices for patients. Nearly all candidates decry a single-payer, national health insurance program, often called Medicare.

The candidates took part in two seven-person online forums running a total of two hours.  One candidate, Victor Wakley, did not take part.

White House and COVID-19

Trump is a good leader when it comes to the response to the pandemic, says a majority of the candidates.

Henderson, the former nurse, said the administration is “doing a really good job … I think people are very anxious to get the economy up and running,” Henderson says. “I think they are doing that in a very responsible fashion.”

Carl Brizzi, a former Marion County prosecutor, says China has carried out a “cover-up” over the virus and that Trump and Pence “are the subject of Chinese propaganda.” He says, “They are doing everything they can possibly due to combat this virus.”

Not all agreed. Matthew Hook, a retired private-equity investor, rated Trump a “C-minus, or D-plus.”

Term Limits

All but two candidates favor term limits for members of Congress.

Mitchell says voters should be the ones to decide whether a Senator or representative remains in Washington.“I firmly believe that the voters should be the one to decide who is in and who is out of office. They get to decide every two years who gets to represent them,” she says. “They are our employers.”

Allen Davidson, a former Democrat and staffer at Indiana Department of Environmental Management, worries term limits would force “good, reliable” lawmakers. “Force them into the lobbying profession where they could come back and try to influence the freshman,” he says.

Climate Change

Creating new technologies, clean and renewable, was favored by most candidates as a means to reduce pollution, such as Matt Hook.

Hook took issue with a new Indiana law that extends the life of coal-fired power plants. “That is the kind of crony capitalism that is going to kill us,” he says. “We need to be a leader in these clean energy technologies.”

But some questioned why the U.S. should do anything more to reduce carbon. Kent Abernathy, former chief of staff for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and U.S. Army veteran, says government overregulation does not help. “American’s simply can’t afford to bear all the burden of trying to slow climate change when other countries are getting a free ride on our effort,” he said, naming China and India.

Party Or Country First?

The candidates vowed to follow their own values and the Constitution, rather than blindly back GOP or Trump, no matter their initiative.

Andrew Bales, a retired teacher and U.S. Army veteran, says he agrees with Trump mostly. “I may be that one voice that goes against party lines, when everyone says ‘do this,’” he says. “I don’t like being whipped.”

Micah Beckwith says he adheres to Vice President Mike Pence’s famous response: that he’s “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.”

Democratic Town Hall

Watch the Democratic Town Hall on Youtube

The pandemic was top of mind and all four candidates agreed that the current administration’s response has been lacking.

Questions posed to the four candidates centered around emergency response, immigration, health care and partisan divide.

Here are a few of the issues discussed:

COVID-19 Response

Christina Hale, a nonprofit executive and former state representative says she’s talked to many people who are concerned about the country’s lack of preparation.

“People expect the adults in charge to know what they are doing, to be there for the right reasons and to know what they are doing,” says Hale, “There was not a plan for this catastrophe or likely for any other.”

Businesswoman Dee Thornton says the pandemic is the crisis of our lifetime, and bi-partisan solutions are a must.

“We must have leaders, leaders who are willing together to solve big problems,” says Thornton. “We can move our country past the politics of division and fear and prepare our country for the future.”

Climate Change 

Jennifer Christie, is a scientist who says she is the only candidate who has a laid out a climate change plan. She says it’s time for change in Washington. “This is our moment to take real action if we have the courage to do so,” says Christie.

Andy Jacobs, a lawyer and son of a former U.S. Representative, also leaned in on climate change. He says public transportation is a key solution.

“We need to get away from being a society that uses cars to commute,” he says. “We need remote working to become the new standard.”

The ACA

Jacobs believes in a single payer health care system. Thorton says the current system is broken. “We spend more than any other high income country in the world and we have the lowest life expectancy,” she says.

Immigration

Hale says all Americans have immigration stories.  Thornton says she “strongly supports reinstating DACA.”