.png)
Healthcare
3.67
Economics
4.00
Candidate Name
Brad Hochgesang
District
State Senate District 48
Values
Grade
Values
Party
Democrat
Experience
Challenger
Grade
Democracy
3.67
Accessibility
3
Governance
4
Cost
Choice
4
3
Freedom
Voting
4
3
Community
3.00
A
Overall Grade
Education
3.67
Affordability
Equity
Opportunity
4
4
4
Environment
Public Safety
Inclusion
3
X
4
Stability
Funding
Belonging
4
4
3
Notable Information
Candidate Name
Candidate for:
State Senate District 48
Democrat
Challenger
Notable Information
MADVoters Survey Responses
Healthcare: The Big Beautiful Bill is projected to cut $31 billion from Indiana’s Medicaid funding, including almost $13 billion in hospital funding, over the next decade. What will you do if elected to ensure healthcare affordability and access given these changes? (Source: Indiana Hospital Association)
Rural Indiana can't afford to lose another hospital, and Hoosiers can't afford to lose care they already paid for. These cuts pull $13 billion out of our hospitals and Medicaid. I'll fight to protect that funding and the coverage working families and seniors count on. I'll push for real price transparency so you can see what something costs before you get the bill, and I'll go after the surprise billing and the medical debt that bankrupt people who did everything right. I'll listen to our doctors and to the data. The care decisions that matter most belong to you, your family, and the doctor you trust, not to insurance bureaucrats and not to politicians in Indianapolis. Keep the hospitals open, keep the prices honest, and keep those decisions where they belong, which is at home.
Economics: AI and data centers are having a huge impact on jobs and communities across the nation, particularly in Indiana. What is Congress’s role in addressing this developing technology? What action will you take to hear and represent the concerns of Hoosiers on this topic?
Economics: Dozens of AI data centers are planning to come to Indiana, drawn by the state’s “business-friendly” reputation. How should Indiana manage these large industrial site proposals and their potential impact on communities? (Source: Citizens Action Coalition)
Indiana is rolling out the red carpet for AI data centers, and District 48 families are going to get the bill. These plants burn through enormous amounts of power and water, and we already have the steepest electric rate hikes in the country, with utility CEOs pulling $18 million while 174,000 households get shut off. Right now it's the Wild West. Most of rural District 48 has no zoning at all, and the state has almost no rules for data centers, so a company can drop one right next to your house with no guardrails on water, power, or noise. I believe that if a data center wants to operate here, it should be required to follow real rules. Data centers should run closed-loop water systems so they don't drain our aquifers and our wells. We should require that they generate renewable power equal to at least 120% of what they use. And we should prohibit running the on-site gas turbines some of them want, because of air and noise pollution next to people's homes. The same test goes for every big proposal, whether it's a data center, a warehouse, or a billion-dollar highway: the people who live there should get a real vote, not a rubber-stamp hearing nobody heard about. Big industry needs to pay its fair share with no sweetheart tax abatements or pet-project giveaways that stick families with the tab. People deserve wages they can actually live on, safe workplaces, and a fair shake against companies that have the lobbyists we don't. Prosperity built here ought to stay here. Local control and accountability.
Education: Describe your stance on the Department of Education and its role in education administration, funding, and protections for students with disabilities.
Education: Since 2012, Indiana has spent over $5.5 billion in taxpayer dollars on charter schools and the private school voucher program. If elected, would you support or oppose the use of taxpayer dollars to funding private schools and charter schools? Why or why not? (Source: ICPE)
I support fully funding the public schools that are our communities. Out here, the local school is the heart of the town. It's the Friday night lights and the thing that holds a place together. But Indiana has spent $5.5 billion shipping tax dollars to private and charter schools that don't answer to a locally elected board and don't have to take every kid, while our schools get told to do more with less. It's the same broken pattern as the corporate tax abatements and the pet projects: public money flowing to private interests instead of to the people who paid it. I oppose draining public dollars for private interests. Pay our teachers like the professionals they are and give them a real seat at the table. Protect locally elected school boards. And give our kids a strong, honest education that actually prepares them for real careers right here at home. We're losing a whole generation to brain drain because they don't see a future here. A great school close to home, for every child and no exceptions, is how we give young families a reason to stay and raise their own kids in this district.
Democracy: In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge or threat facing our democracy right now? If elected, what will you do to help overcome this challenge or threat?
The biggest threat isn't one party. It's representatives who quit representing. I watched 81% of my county oppose a billion-dollar highway, and the people in charge tried to wave it away and build it anyway. When your voice doesn't count, nothing else on this list is safe. So here's how I fight it, and how I'll govern. Some things are rights, and they're not up for a vote, ever. Your freedom to speak, to protest, to worship how you choose, and equal justice under the law. Everything else, I do the homework, I ask the people, and I get to work. To make that real, you'll always know who's funding my campaign and, and I'll support disclosure laws so no special interest can hide its money in the shadows. I'll fight for fair maps, because you should pick your representative, not the other way around. I'll fight for voting that's easy and secure for every eligible Hoosier, because that's the right that guards all the others. I'll explain every vote I cast, in plain language, win or lose. If I can't explain it to your face, I won't cast it. Democracy works when the people in charge remember who they work for. I won't forget.
Community: Describe your stance on ICE and its role in immigration enforcement and detention.
Community: What role or responsibility do local and state governments have with regards to immigration enforcement?
Jasper was built by immigrants. My hometown is what it is because Germans crossed an ocean, planted roots here, and made this place home. Now we're living through another wave, and these folks are my neighbors, my coworkers, and my friends. Everyone deserves to be treated with the respect they're owed and the rights the Constitution affords them, both state and federal. Immigration enforcement is a federal job. When Washington won't finish it, the answer isn't to turn our county sheriffs into federal agents and hand the bill to local taxpayers. Our deputies should be doing the job we pay them to do, which is keeping all of us safe. That's the duty. When we lose sight of it, we don't just drive out immigrants. We drive out the workers, the families, and the neighbors who keep this district running, and we hurt the local businesses, big and small, that can't find the people they need. Moreover, I don't trust any government to lock people up with no due process. That's not a left thing or a right thing. It's a Constitution thing, and it applies to everybody.