Aaron Freeman is ready for more fights with Indy Democrats

by Peter Blanchard, Mirror Indy

Is it smart to go door-to-door in the Indianapolis metro area wearing a Notre Dame Fighting Irish T-shirt? On a recent Saturday morning, Aaron Freeman was about to find out.

While many politicians might pick a more neutral outfit, especially with all of the IU and Purdue fans around here psyched up on college game day, if history tells us anything, it’s that the Republican senator from Franklin Township is going to do it his way.

“I know who I am, and at the end of this, I know where I’m going home to,” Freeman says of his attitude toward campaigning, paraphrasing former President Harry Truman.

Freeman, a Republican who also runs his own law practice, is seeking a third term representing Senate District 32, which includes most of Franklin Township and parts of Center, Perry and Warren townships. The district shifted after redistricting in 2021 to include parts of conservative-leaning Johnson County, giving him an edge this election.

During his eight years in the Indiana Senate, Freeman has made more than a few enemies among Indianapolis Democrats for routinely meddling in city affairs, leading to accusations he acts as more of a city councilor than state lawmaker.

When the City-County Council passed an ordinance to install no-turn-on-red signs downtown, Freeman sought to undo the effort through state legislation. He authored legislation targeting prosecutors like Marion County’s Ryan Mears, a Democrat who declined to prosecute certain state laws like simple marijuana possession. And Freeman has been unapologetic in his efforts to stifle IndyGo’s bus rapid transit plan.
 

His Democratic opponent, Katrina Owens, thinks Indianapolis residents in the district have grown tired of Freeman inserting the state into city affairs and are ready for someone else to lead.

“The momentum for me has really been there because of all the things that took place last (legislative) session that many were displeased with,” Owens said, referring to local opposition to Freeman’s Senate Bill 52, which would have banned dedicated bus lanes for the Blue Line. The legislation passed the Senate but died in the House.

Freeman has been vocal about his fears that the IndyGo’s bus rapid transit system will eventually “bankrupt the city of Indianapolis.”

“I don't care who tells me anything, it ain't going to work. It doesn't work,” he recently said of the transit agency’s bus rapid transit lines. “That's why you’ve got to have law firms buy up the side of the bus (with advertising) to make all the windows black so that you can pretend like somebody's on the damn thing. And by the way, I'm right.”

Although tasked with crafting legislation for the entire state, Freeman’s outsized focus on Indianapolis has irked Democrats on the City-County Council. Asked why he files so many bills specific to Indianapolis, Freeman said he sees it as his duty to represent the voters in his district.

“We're partners in this. The state capitol is in Indianapolis, and unless they want that to change that, then let's work together,” Freeman told Mirror Indy in February. “I think the state has to work with the federal government all the time. States work with locals all the time. So why am I, as a guy that represents Marion County, not allowed to do legislation that I think is in the best interest of Marion County?”
 

Understanding Aaron Freeman

Privately, some of Freeman’s detractors told Mirror Indy that his efforts to interfere with city government are his way of accomplishing what he couldn’t as a Republican in a Democrat-controlled city hall.

Before getting elected to the Senate in 2016, Freeman served six years on the city-county council. Prior to that, he worked as a Marion County deputy prosecutor.

A Cincinnati-area native, he described having a “rough home life” during his early childhood. He was raised by a family that took him in.

“When you have that situation, it changes your outlook on life,” he said.

After graduating high school, he became a volunteer EMT and worked as a 911 dispatcher and reserve deputy sheriff.

His tumultuous upbringing might explain one of his other favorite quotations, which comes from John F. Kennedy. “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

Freeman’s kids can recite it. “When I come home complaining about something, I love it when one of them spouts off, ‘Dad, we do hard things,’” he says.
 

A portrait of the Democratic president hangs on the wall in his law office, which surprises some of his conservative colleagues.

“They’ll look at me like I’m nuts, right? And I’ll be like, ‘I believe a lot of things: One, I don’t think we have the market cornered on good ideas. Point two is, I don't think John Kennedy would recognize the modern Democratic Party. ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.’ I would ask you to find me the Democrat running in today's elections that fits that mold. I'm pretty sure the Democratic Party just wants to give everybody everything for free and not worry about where it comes from, which, by the way, defies my understanding.”

But if you ask Freeman for his thoughts on former President Donald Trump, a convicted felon who racked up half a billion in fines after losing civil cases on defamation and financial fraud, you’ll get a more nuanced answer. It’s one of the most common questions he gets on the campaign trail.

“I'm with him on policy. I'm with him on judges. I want to run his phone over with my truck,” Freeman said. “Most people laugh. Most people say, ‘Yep, I'm with you.’ That's what I've said for too many damn election cycles now.”
 

Katrina Owens sees desire for change

On a cold January evening, not long after Freeman filed a bill that would have derailed IndyGo’s planned Blue Line along Washington Street, a group of local Democrats gathered at an eastside pizza shop to discuss, among other things, how to beat one of their biggest enemies at the Statehouse.

“We’re going to unseat Aaron Freeman,” newly elected City-County Councilor Jesse Brown, a Democrat, told the crowd, per reporting by the Indianapolis Business Journal. “And I promise you we have the power to do that regardless of the money that he’s got.”

Brown launched a campaign fundraising site against Freeman called “Freedom from Freeman” and knocked on hundreds of doors in the district.

A candidate emerged: Katrina Owens, a workforce management consultant and college instructor who has volunteered for local school board campaigns and U.S. Rep. André Carson, D-Indianapolis.
 

Owens has never run for public office before, but she felt compelled to put her name on the ballot after seeing the fight over the Blue Line.

She believes Freeman’s efforts to stifle mass transit projects effectively undermine the democratic process. Marion County voters approved a referendum in 2016 to expand mass transit through a .25 percent income tax increase. Freeman, who was a city-county councilor at the time, was one of six councilors who voted against the measure.

“When the voters speak, that should be it, because that’s the voter’s choice,” Owens said.

An Indianapolis native, Owens attended North Central High School in Washington Township and went on to earn degrees from Ivy Tech Community College, Indiana Wesleyan University and Ball State University.

Her consulting firm, which connects organizations with job-seekers, declared bankruptcy in April. It’s a decision she owed to the aftermath of the pandemic, as unemployment rates reached historic lows and fewer people sought jobs.

Her campaign messaging has focused on her support of reproductive rights, stricter gun control measures and enhancing public transit, in stark contrast with her opponent.
 

If elected, Owens said she would look to resurrect bills from other Democrats, such as legislation that would add criminal penalties for Hoosiers with dependents who fail to secure loaded firearms in their home or vehicle. The proposal from State Rep. Mitch Gore, D-Indianapolis, came in response to a surge in unintentional shootings by children in Indiana last year.

She said she would also support bringing back housing-related legislation from Rep. Cherrish Pryor, D-Indianapolis, who proposed addressing discriminatory appraisal practices and placing restrictions on investment firms that want to purchase houses.

Like many other Democrats running for office this election, Owens is hoping the excitement around Vice President Kamala Harris will trickle to down-ballot races.

“I think it's refreshing. It's new,” Owens said. “It's restoring hope and faith in the process, and I think it has allowed us to engage where there were disengaged voters. I think that it's fair to say that more people will come out, and we'll see an increase in numbers and voter turnout.”

Election Day is Nov. 5. Early voting started Oct. 8.

Peter Blanchard covers local government. Reach him at 317-605-4836 or peter.blanchard@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @peterlblanchard.

Mirror Indy reporter Emily Hopkins contributed to this story.

This article first appeared on Mirror Indy and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.