What is your professional experience?

I am a combat medic that has served in the Indiana Army National Guard for 7 years now that has deployed overseas and across the country, and a nationally registered paramedic that has worked on the ambulance. I have also helped on a handful of other political campaigns in and around Muncie, including being a policy adviser for a previous congressional campaign running in this district. I am an activist, going across the state fighting for progressive policies and a proud Muncie Resist member.

What is your public office experience?

have never run for office before

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?

As a soldier and a triplet I know how to work in a team for a goal much larger than myself. I am also very knowledgeable and passionate about policy details in legislation. I am a fighter for the working-class that we need in Congress, and I’m unyielding when it’s comes to the duty of giving working people a voice and fighting against corporate influences in our politics.

What are your top 3 priorities if you are elected?

(In equal measure of importance)

- Impeachment of the criminals in our government, notably the President and his top cabinet officials.

- Expanding healthcare access to as many people as possible, with Medicare for ALL as the only reasonable end-goal.

- Draft a Constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, ban corporate lobbying, and move to public funding of our elections to get lobby money out of politics.

How do your values motivate your run for office?

My values motivate this campaign to fight for a system that represents all Americans, no matter how wealthy they are, where they come from or what their beliefs are. I believe in creating a government that strives to lift up working people, and where politicians serve the constituents that they swore an oath to, not special interest or corporate lobby groups.

Our values tell us that we need to fight for a system that places justice and liberty for all as a principle for our society.

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?

Codify LGBTQ+ rights into the constitution with ensuring that the Equal Rights Amendment becomes the 28th amendment. Until then we also need to codify the Obergefell v. Hodges case case to ensure that this rogue SCOTUS cannot overturn that decision.

We also must guarantee parental protections to LGBTQ+ individuals to have equal adoption rights and legal protections as any other family. We must also investigate every murder of trans individuals as a federal hate crime. As well as many other civil rights policies to expand protections (Go to campaign website for more policies).

b. people with disabilities?

As your congressperson, I promise to fight for our friends in the disabled community by ensuring that they have the economic independence/aid, healthcare access, and the civil rights that they deserve!

I will fight to remove the federal sub-minimum wage that allows employers to pay workers with disabilities LESS than the standard federal minimum wage. This is unacceptable and we must end this discrimination.

We must remove the 5 month wait period for SSDI, and end the 2 year Medicare waiting period for newly approved disabled beneficiaries, as well as fully fund and expand SSI as the current system is very outdated and the disabled community is not getting enough financial assistance from the government.

I will ensure that the federal government fully funds the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) as it already promised to fund special needs education programs by 40% but has never truly funded it more than 18%. This is not a budgetary issue, this is a civil rights issue.

c. people experiencing poverty?

We must eliminate poverty for all Americans. We will do that by implementing popular policies like raising the federal minimum wage to $25 an hour, having a monthly allotment of at least $1000 to all American adults (universal basic income), having Medicare for all, expanding SNAP access (food stamps), having strong labor unions, ending the sub-minimum wage for servers, having universal childcare/daycare, and many other policies that lift up working class people.

The billionaire oligarchs and the politicians they influence will say that these popular policies are undoable, but we are the only developed nation on the planet to not have most of these policies. We will reject their lies and create a system that represents all people, not just the top 1 percent. A system that places over profits.

d. immigrants?

We must create a pathway to citizenship for our undocumented friends that live here. We must have immediate citizenship status for DACA recipients because children do not deserve to be thrown in a cage and sent to a country they’ve never known. Same goes for those that have temporary protected status, and essential workers that are just doing their best to live their life and protect their families.

We must ABOLISH ICE. We do not need a paramilitary, masked militia that’s mission to scare and terrorize our communities and that kills American citizens in the streets and assaults and separates children from their parents. We have learned the lessons of history with Germany’s Gestapo. If we lived in 1945 Germany, we would not call to simply “defund” or “retrain” the Gestapo, we must remove them as an agency and prosecute all those that committed violent crimes against our communities. Enough of America “the empire” now is the time for America the bastion of sanctuary.

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” - Inscription on Statue Of Liberty’s tablet

e. people who are racial or ethnic minorities/minoritized individuals?

We must end the racist drug war that intentionally discriminates against people of color. This looks like decriminalizing many drugs, legalizing drugs such as cannabis nationwide, and ending mandatory minimums which forced our judges to impose long prison sentences for non-violent drug offenses which overly targets people over color. We must in affordable housing in historically segregated communities. Invest in historically black colleges and universities.

As well as policies that seem more broad but will significantly make our society more equitable for all people, such as: Medicare for all, which will wipe medical debt and tackle the especially high maternal mortality rate among black communities due to the current systemic inequalities. We must full fund title 1 schools, increasing federal funding for low-income school districts. Ending the private prison system, as nobody should have a financial incentive to throw more people behind bars. On that note, we must amend the 13 amendment as it still allows slavery in the nation as long as the person is incarcerated. This must change and we must abolish slavery FULLY in this country.

What have you done and/or what do you commit to doing to support voter access? (This might include your position on vote centers, polling hours, voter IDs, signature matching, the SAVE act, etc.)

We must expand and reform our democracy like never before in American history if we want to live in a nation that truly represents us. Amid mass voter suppression efforts it is crucial we stand up and fight for a system serves us and not benefitting the wealthy elite. We live in an era of new Jim Crow of racist and sexist voter suppression, and here is how we fight it.

As your congressman I will fight for:

- Automatic voter registration for all American citizens once they turn 18 (will fight to lower to 16 if able).

- Making Election Day a national holiday to allow us working people to take time off work to partake in our democracy, as it should be a right.

- Federally ban all gerrymandering and move to non-partisan voting commissions to create our congressional districts.

- REPEAL Citizens United and other decisions to get money out of politics, as well as restore the Voting Rights Act.

- Move to public financing of our elections, removing corporate influences on our politicians

- Move to Ranked choice voting, allowing for 3rd parties and removing the disastrous 2-party system that sticks us voters between voting for the “lesser of two evils”.

And more policies that strive to allow the voices of the working class to be the dominant force in the halls of power.

In recent months, federal agencies have overstepped the power of local and state governments. In what contexts would you support resistance by local officials?

Local government exists to serve the people, not to be a branch office of authoritarian power, and I would absolutely support local and state officials resisting federal overreach when it violates civil rights, constitutional protections, or basic human dignity. If a federal administration tries to force cities to carry out mass deportations that tear families apart, I support local leaders refusing to turn their police into immigration agents. If federal officials attempt to criminalize healthcare decisions between patients and doctors, I support states protecting reproductive freedom and gender-affirming care.

As a member of the National Guard not speaking on behalf of the organization, I would be fully prepared to be deployed against agencies such as ICE to protect our communities from their abuse of federal power, and I think that Democratic governors should consider this option to deter further abuse. When we fight back like how we are supposed to, Trump will back down.

In recent months, federal agencies have overstepped the constitutional rights of the people. How would you protect and defend our constitutional rights?

Federal agencies and the current administration more broadly have been trampling on our constitutional rights, spying on our people, putting us on lists, limiting access to healthcare, trying to make it harder for us to vote, and cracking down on peaceful protest, and I will fight back in Congress with everything I’ve got. We need real accountability for federal agencies, stopping unconstitutional surveillance, making sure every vote counts, protecting and expanding reproductive freedom and trans healthcare, and defending the right to protest without fear of jail. I’ll push laws to rein in federal overreach, make sure people targeted by power get justice, and lock in these rights to the constitution so no administration or rogue Supreme Court can take them away quietly. Our constitutional and human rights aren’t optional, and anyone who tries to take them from the people will face resistance from me and the people I represent.

There is no middle ground when it comes to fascism and democracy, we simply defeat the fascists.

What have you done and/or what do you commit to doing to support healthcare access for all?

I have been on the frontline of this fight to expand healthcare for ALL. I strongly believe in Medicare for all. During a time one more than 120,000 Americans die every year due to lack of health insurance, we must join every other developed nation on the planet to guarantee healthcare access to all of our people as a human right and not a privilege.

As someone who has worked on the ambulance and has seen too many people die or go without the care they needed because they could not afford our American healthcare system, I will fight for the rest of my life if need be to ensure that healthcare will be seen as a human right by our government, and that there will be justice for the countless people that have died to this “wealthcare” system that prioritizes the profits of the billionaires of the large health insurance industry over the needs of us working people. We will have a system that places people over profits.

I think if there is a politician in this party that does not support some form of Medicare for all, that does not see healthcare as a human right but rather a system that needs a profit motive at our expense, they should be kicked out of the party for being the extremist they are. 70% of the nation wants Medicare for all according to the polls, but lobbying from health insurance companies have infected both parties to work against us working people. Be wary of any candidate who does not clearly state “Medicare for all” and check their OpenSecrets / FEC filings for who is donating to their campaign.

What have you done and/or what do you commit to doing to address the affordability of

housing costs?

Housing/shelter is a human right, and as your congressman I will fight to guarantee that right for all. We must support strong tenant unions to negotiate prices with landlords, have more rent control and tenant protections, and we must end Systemic Inequality, as our current system, housing is often treated as a speculative investment rather than a basic need.

We need to end houselessness, full stop. Morally this should be enough, but fiscally it is also cheaper to do this as if we provide housing to protect the houseless, they do not circulate through our emergency system, hospitals and jails as much and they can take care of themselves and focus on living life. Most houseless people are employed currently. Mix giving them shelter with funding a good public transit system and other policies, the people formerly part of this community won’t just scrape by, but live happy and healthy lives. If we invest in our people, our people will invest in the country.

food costs?

Food, like many other things mentioned, is a human right that we must protect. We must greatly expand the SNAP program to ensure that everyone who wants assistance with food cost can receive the aid they need and deserve. We also need to greatly expand WIC benefits, and ensure that food pantries / soup kitchen programs receive substantial federal funding.

As your congressman I will also fight for universal school meals for our children, breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a summer program because no child should go hungry.

We also need to regulate the rampant price gouging that large corporations that have nearly monopolized the industry of grocery shopping. We need to penalize prize gouging, as well as strengthen antitrust enforcement against these large corporate conglomerates.

We should provide grants to local food production to reduce reliance on high cost commercial supply chains.

healthcare costs?

We have the most expensive healthcare system anywhere in the world. Not only financially, but we also pay it with our lives. Medical bankruptcy is the number one form of bankruptcy in this country, and thanks to the Republican’s “big beautiful bill” the monthly premium cost are going up by 300% and kicked more than 18 million Americans off their Medicaid. Medications are also far too expensive, and the cost of lifesaving medicines are skyrocketing.

The only logical solution is to move to a system that wipes out all medical debt, is far cheaper, and covers healthcare to all. We must move to a Medicare for all style system as well as to negotiate the drug prices down to a reasonable cost that everyone can afford, up until we nationalize the pharmaceutical industry.

What have you done and/or what do you commit to doing to support discussion about science, history, and gender as necessary parts of educating children in our schools?

I have always fought for schools to teach the full truth, not watered-down or conservative safe versions of history, science, and gender, and I will continue to fight as your representative. That means making sure students learn honest history about racism, colonization, and social movements, teaching science based on facts and evidence without censorship, and ensuring that lessons on gender and identity are accurate, respectful, and inclusive. I commit to defending teachers who face political attacks for doing their jobs, pushing for state and federal policies that protect comprehensive education, and making sure schools are places where kids can ask questions, think critically, and learn the real world as it is, not what some politicians want them to hear. Education is a human right, and I will stand with educators and students to make sure it stays that way.

What have you done and/or what do you commit to doing to support public education?

I have fought and will continue to fight to expand funding of our public schools.

What do you think should be Indiana’s priority in terms of the electrical grid and energy generation sources? What have you done and/or what do you commit to do regarding a clean energy economy?

Indiana, along with the rest of the country, needs a Green New Deal to create hundreds of thousands of jobs while moving to a renewable energy system, saving our ecosystems in the process.

As your congressman, I will fight to transform our energy system to 100 percent renewable energy and create 20 million jobs needed to solve the climate crisis while ensuring a just transition for communities and workers, including a job transition for all fossil fuel workers into this new and expanding sector or something else of their choice.

We need to commit to reducing emissions throughout the world, including providing $200 billion to the Green Climate Fund, rejoining the Paris Agreement, and reasserting the United States’ leadership in the global fight against climate change. We must create a larger carbon tax and use that money to invest in conservation and public lands to heal our soils, forests, and prairie lands.

Ultimately, we need to end the greed of the fossil fuel industry, their lobby influence on our politicians, and hold them accountable for destroying the planet.

What have you done and/or what do you commit to doing to make your specific area of government more transparent to your constituents?

This campaign, as of writing this, has had more town halls in the district than any other candidate (in all 6 counties of the district) because the people deserve to both share their concerns and hold their politicians accountable to their standards, whether the politician is elected or not.

This campaign is leading a grassroots campaign, calling for the party and politicians to NOT accept any corporate lobby money or special interest donations. This campaign is committed to fighting for the working class, NOT the corporate donor class, and is calling to expand transparency at all levels of government. We know when corporations or other groups lobby our politicians that that money has strings attached to it, and we are going to be the ones to cut that string by removing those influences all together by getting money out of politics.

It is our belief that this campaign among others have significantly shifted the dialogue of the entire state’s politics on this issue, and I am very proud of that fact!

Do you have any questions? Is there anything else you would like to share?

Please go to our website JacksonFranklinForCongress.com to sign up to volunteer and donate to this grassroots campaign, and vote for Jackson Franklin in the May 5th Democratic primary! Thank you!