Survey Responses - Dylan McKenna (D), Congressional Candidate
What is your professional experience?
I am a small business owner and have been in technology sales for the past 26 years.
What is your public office experience?
have run before but not held office
If applicable, please list offices you have run for or held.
N/a
What are the specific skills that you bring to the position for which you are running?
My experience in sales and leading sales teams has taught me that leadership come from service, not authority. I intend to serve the people of the Fifth District, listen to their concerns, and make their voices heard in Washington.
What are your top 3 priorities if you are elected?
1. Rule of law - Our democracy will not survive and our government cannot serve its people if we are ruled by lawless elites who answer to no one. I will ensure that those who have flouted the law are held to account, up to and including the President.
2. Affordability - Republicans in Congress like Victoria Spartz have surrendered their constitutional authority over appropriations, allowing Donald Trump to impose tariffs and impound congressionally approved funds. These actions, along with tax policies that harm middle- and working-class Americans and a broken health care system, have driven up costs and forced families to do much more with much less.
3. Immigration - We should encourage people from around the world to come to the United States to visit, work, and if they choose, to live here. We need to strengthen and expand our immigration system so we can fairly and legally admit people who yearn to become Americans. We need enforcement at the border and other points of entry, and we need regular law enforcement in America's interior to remove illegal immigrants.
What we do not need is a disorganized, haphazard military invasion of our cities. We do not need to terrorize legal residents in immigrant communities. We do not need to kill American citizens exercising their First and Second Amendment rights. ICE and CBP need to be disbanded and replaced, removed from our nation's interior, and returned to our border. Everyone responsible for ICE's lawless behavior must be held to account.
How do your values motivate your run for office?
My parents brought me home from the hospital to a tiny one-bedroom apartment around the corner from the house where my dad grew up in Madison, Indiana. They taught high school and my dad also coached varsity basketball. There was no money for childcare, so they brought me along wherever they went, serving their community while that same community helped them take care of me.
After my sister was born, my dad went back to school at Notre Dame, my mom worked to pay the bills, and we somehow got by on a $20 per week grocery budget. This time, there was childcare available in the apartment of a woman in the next building over. Looking back, I realized something so important that brings me to this moment today. America works best when neighbors are helping neighbors. My dad, when coaching me in elementary school, insisted on the same fundamental rule for our family as he did for his teams:
“Everybody gets in the game.”
That’s how they raised my four sisters and me and that is why I am running for Congress. We grew up believing that community is essential and that neighbors can be like family. Mom and dad taught us that values can’t just be words. They have to be put to work.
Key Issues
Please share with us your position on a number of issues that are key for Muncie Resists and describe what actions you would take with regard to them. We recognize that some elected positions may not have a direct role in addressing some of these issues, but if you had an opportunity to have an impact, what would you want that to be?
What have you done and/or what do you commit to doing to support the rights of
a. LGBTQ+ individuals?
I have tried to live my live with humility, grace, and the fundamental belief that all people have inherent dignity. I have learned a lot from my friends and family in the LGBTQ+ community. Above all, I believe they want nothing more than the dignity they were born with, the right to live the lives they choose, and to be left alone. I will never do anything that would curtail those rights or diminish their dignity.
b. people with disabilities?
My 24-year-old son is I/DD, so I know how hard it can be to be for families to find their loved ones the care they need. There is nothing easy about it. My son has been lucky to have been involved with the Shamrock Project and Unified Sports at Westfield High School, Best Buddies International, and the Village of Merici. Access to programs like these, along with more established programs like SSI and SSDI, should be funded and expanded, allowing people like my son thrive and live their lives to the fullest.
c. people experiencing poverty?
As the richest country in the history of the world, we need to do more for our neediest neighbors. Through a combination of tax policy, healthcare reform, and social welfare programs we can do so much more to help the least fortunate. Poverty in America is a policy failure, not a moral one.
d. immigrants?
As stated above, we should encourage people from around the world to come to the United States to visit, work, and if they choose, to live here. In order to accommodate them, we need to strengthen and expand our immigration system. We need enforcement at the border and other points of entry, and we need regular law enforcement in America's interior to remove immigrants who crossed the border illegally.
What we do not need is a disorganized, haphazard military invasion of our cities. We do not need to terrorize legal residents in immigrant communities. We do not need to kill American citizens exercising their First and Second Amendment rights. ICE and CBP need to be disbanded and replaced, removed from our nation's interior, and returned to our border. Everyone responsible for ICE's lawless behavior must be held to account.