Extended interview: Deborah Pickett, Democratic candidate for U.S. House District 5

WFYI is speaking with U.S. House of Representatives candidates running for election in Central Indiana.

Democrat Deborah Pickett is running for office in the 5th Congressional District, which represents parts of Hamilton, Madison and Howard counties. She faces incumbent Republican Victoria Spartz, Libertarian Lauri Shillings, and Independent Robby Slaughter.

Pickett has a military background and served in the U.S. Army Reserve. In the private sector she has worked in public policy research and international economic study.

WFYI’s Samantha Horton met with Pickett to discuss why she’s running for Congress.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and style. WFYI fact checks all candidate interviews and provides editor’s notes in the audio and digital publications.

Samantha Horton: I'm joined by Deborah Pickett, the Democratic candidate for Indiana's District 5 congressional race. Thanks for joining me.

Deborah Pickett: Thank you. What a great pleasure to be here, Samantha.

Horton: So just first question, can you talk to me a little bit about could you talk to me a little bit about why you are running for election in this district?

Pickett: Well, I'm running for election for really, three main reasons. One is, I've been deeply concerned by the attacks on our democracy. I have been deeply concerned by the attacks on our rights, and I've also been concerned by the chaos in Congress. And these are my three priorities.

Horton: And a little bit about your background, why did you choose to put yourself into running for you know this district position?

Pickett: Well, I have always been interested in public policy issues. I was with the United States Army Reserve many years ago. I served in two different capacities. I served as a 50 with a 55th medical detachment, as a behavioral science specialist, and then I also served as an intelligence analyst with a 21st support command. So I've always been interested in military, national security issues.

I also worked at Hudson Institute for a number of years as a researcher on their international trade and economic studies. So I've always been interested in foreign affairs, interested in trade issues, tariffs. These are issues actually that are of tremendous concern to multinational corporations in the state of Indiana and our farmers and also consumers. Tariffs are, actually, inflationary.

And then when it comes to the chaos in Congress, I have also been very concerned. My years of serving as a volunteer in the community have given me great insights into sort of the spirit and the soul of a community, and what are the issues that are near and dear and close to the hearts of the citizens, the Hoosiers in the fifth district.

That's where you really see what are the daily problems that they're dealing with on a daily basis. And so, when Congress is not functioning properly, and it's a state of paralysis, and which has really been the case under Republican leadership, you have a number of concerns and problems that arise.

Horton: And so could you talk about – there some key issues for you, that you would want to tackle if you were to win the election? Could you talk about some of those important issues you see facing voters in District 5 today?

Pickett: The one of the main issues and concerns that has been a real rallying point for my constituents, has to do with the attack on their reproductive rights, on their personal rights. This would be a priority of mine, when I am, when I do go to Congress, it would be really to codify Roe v Wade. This would be a number one priority of mine, and people are also concerned about, well, what other rights are now going to be taken away from me?

If Roe v. Wade was overturned and the state of Indiana has imposed some of the most severe restrictions on a woman's right regards regarding reproductive choices and decisions, then what other violations on our personal rights are going to occur?

Horton: And I'll go ahead and jump in on some of the key topics we want to talk about a little bit. And one of them is – communities are facing a lack of healthcare access, and the costs are on the rise. What policies do you believe would help?

Pickett: Sure, well, I think that this is important to remind everyone that under the Obama administration, you had the Affordable Care Act that was a critical piece of legislation for not only all Americans, but for Hoosiers. It was critical during the global pandemic, and it is critical now. It's critical because it allows for people to have some access to health care. It also is a framework that allows for funds from the federal level to come down for mental health issues.

The state of Indiana has a lot of people who are struggling with mental health issues. And actually this is something that has been of concern to me, is that we had a number of our U.S. senators, and also representatives, who voted against funding for mental health. They're very happy to take credit for it when they are at a mental health clinic, but they voted against it. And they've also, Republicans have made a number of efforts to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act. So this is an important piece of legislation that is critical to, to my constituents.

Right now, what is of concern is the lack of hospitals, the lack of clinics out in the rural areas, and the lack of physicians. And the Indianapolis Business Journal just did a very interesting piece on how Medicare is now, the rates, they're trying to reduce the rates for physicians who take Medicare patients. And this is something that has to be addressed. It has to be repealed, because it is those physicians you can cut in other areas. You can streamline services.

We can make the system more efficient. But when it comes to reimbursing, those physicians, who spent years undergoing training, and spent 1000s of 1000s of dollars they need to make – they need to be reimbursed. Their reimbursement rate and their salaries, need to compensate them and need to track them to the field. And they need to. We need them out there in these rural communities, not only in the cities, but in the rural communities as well.

Horton: And so another big topic I know for voters would be housing, which has become more unaffordable for people. What measures do you think could improve options for people?

Pickett: You know, this is an issue that has been of great interest to me for a number of years, actually going back to 2008 when we had the financial crisis. At that time, there were a number of investors who had purchased a lot of homes that were part of these mortgage backed securities.

And I've actually been concerned, and would like to have studies done to see, how much these investment firms, these private equity hedge funds, how have they distorted prices? How have they impacted the inventory of houses that are available to homeowners? I think this is something that I'm not hearing enough about, that I would like to have explored, and something that, when it comes to financial reform, particularly consumer financial reform, that I would like to have investigated further.

The other thing too is that this is a big challenge for many communities who are working through the zoning issues, and I see that there are different kinds of incentives to encourage building for lower income or middle income homeowners in different areas, and how the accommodation is made between commercial and residential space is always going to be an important priority.

Horton: And so another big topic is the economy, and that's always on top of mind for many voters. And so can we talk about how, what policies you support to improve inflation and create more opportunity?

Pickett: Well, one of the priorities for the state of Indiana, and for really, for the United States of America, has to do with the sort of two issues that come to mind. One has to do with education. This is absolutely critical. The more educated our constituents are, the greater personal opportunities they have, and also the greater wealth that they can contribute to their communities.

The state of Indiana lags behind in so many different metrics when it comes to education attainment. I just read recently that there are a number of jobs right now that require individuals or people with bachelor degrees, with graduate degrees and with professional degrees. There's a huge shortage, I think it's over 250,000 positions that are open in the state of Indiana.* We remain like 42 out of 50 for people that have those skill sets, that expertise, that talent.**

And we have, there's been a number of important pieces of legislation that have happened under the Biden administration. We have the CHIPS act. We have, we have the infrastructure bill. We have other major investments in industrial activity. We have the push for green technologies. And so it's not that there's not this extraordinary innovation and opportunity for jobs, it's that – do we have the skills set in the state of Indiana, and to help to serve those industries and to really drive and supercharge that innovation that's happening. So education is really critical to giving people greater opportunities for their financial well being, and also for driving greater prosperity within the communities.

Another area that, this is an interesting topic, and this is where I definitely differ from my opponent, and that has to do with immigration. Well, immigration is absolutely a very critical issue for the state of Indiana. Primarily because the state of Indiana relies heavily on immigrants to fill many positions that are unfulfilled or require labor.***

That is everything from the construction industry, the hospitality industry, the meat packing industry, the agricultural industry, and so we need to definitely revise our immigration policy. And it needs, but it needs the visa process – needs to be revised – so that it takes into account what the labor needs are, and it also needs to be done so that the court systems have the resources to adjudicate these cases properly.

The other thing, too, that is very important, has to do with the flow of immigrants. The world right now is in a turbulent state. And it is [in a] turbulent state because you have people like Maduro, who is continuing to, you know, throttle the Venezuelan people. You have Putin, who invaded, unprovoked, Ukraine. And you have Bashar al-Assad in Syria. You have all of these tyrants who have really driven and are responsible for pushing people out of their homelands. And they're there. The people are coming to the United States because they are. They're coming from places where there's been crime, where there has been poverty, and where they feel there's a huge amount of corruption, and their governments are not functioning properly.

So immigration is necessary for actually helping to supercharge our economy. So immigration reform is something else that I think would help to drive our economy – grow more jobs and provide more consumers to purchase our vehicles and our products.

*Editor’s note: The most recent report shows this number is lower now, at 163,000 for nonfarm jobs according to this report from the Labor Department.

**Editor’s note: A 2022 Indiana Chamber report ranks Indiana lower, at 48.

***Editor’s note: Immigrants made up about 7 percent of Indiana’s workforce in 2018.

Horton: And so, the next question I have is about environmental change and how it's impacting communities in your district – from agriculture to water, what type of protections or policies would you like to see in this area?

Pickett: Environment and resource management – from our from our water, to our soil, to our air – is an absolute critical priority of mine, and working and serving as the congresswoman for the 5th district, one of my priorities would be to make sure that the Environmental Protection Agency is well funded, that they have the resources, that they have the funding that can be channeled down to the state of Indiana, so you have the resources to make sure that we can enforce these, these national and state laws.

Unfortunately, in the state of Indiana, we have not been very good about monitoring and enforcing the laws we have. And this is particularly concerning because a lot of the industrial activity that is now being supercharged by legislation is going to require analysis of our resources and require a deep analysis about what we do.

We do not want our resource base to be compromised because of industrial activity, and we've seen this with concerns about how water is going to be used, how much water is going to be used, how is the water quality going to be impacted by industrial activity? So this is, so when we're talking about industrial activity and resource management, this is a great priority and interest of mine.

The other area that is of tremendous importance to me has to do with the Farm Bill. Well, the Farm Bill right now has money that is allocated for farmers for their crop insurance, which is absolutely critical. They need that crop insurance for access to loans. This is a time of where we are debating – what is the source of all of this environmental or weather turbulence that we are seeing. And crop insurance is necessary for our farmers, because there are more incidents of droughts, there's flooding concerns, and they cannot get loans unless they have crop insurance.

Another piece of the Farm Bill – which again has been on hold, again because of the Republicans in the House of Representatives stonewalling that legislation – we also have millions of dollars that are targeted for wildlife management and for conservation efforts. In the state of Indiana, we pay our farmers to keep some land protected for the environment. So those are just a couple of different ways that I would, that I would continue in my capacity to protect our natural resource base.

Horton: And so one of the last questions I have for you here is another major topic, is public safety and violence – it’s becoming more of an issue in many communities in this district. How do you propose reduction of gun violence?

Pickett: Violence under the Biden administration has actually gone down. You look at the figures, they've actually gone down. One of the concerns I know, and I believe that the Surgeon General has identified gun violence as being a health issue, a public health issue, and I would want to say that first, living in the state of Indiana and certainly the Fifth Congressional District, that many of my constituents are worried about having their guns taken away from them. I understand that, in the state of Indiana, that there are many that want their guns.

But there are certain measures where there is agreement. There is agreement when it comes to the enforcement, proper enforcement, of the Red Flag Law. There is agreement when it comes to background checks. There is agreement when it comes to making sure that those people who are domestically violent should not be possessing firearms.

As someone who served in the military, there were two things that were very important. One had to do with your proper training with your weapon. The M16 is what we trained with. That's what we used. And at the end of the day, your weapon had to be locked up in storage. So, you know, these are military weapons. They are to be used in battle and war, if you want to fire an M16 or your AR-15, go join the military. There's a tremendous shortage, and we need you in that respect. These are military weapons, and they belong in a military setting.

Horton: And so I did want to go back really fast with you, if it's okay, you mentioned, because with farming and agriculture, and that's a big part District 5, and then going and tying in with the development questions I had. Could you talk about, you know, how do you see possibly addressing as redevelopment is happening, but then it's, you know, farmers might feel like they're farmland is at risk. Are there any thoughts you have on how to address and find a balance there of economic growth in one area, but also preserving livelihoods in another?

Pickett: Well, this is an issue that has been of tremendous importance to me, and that has to do with making sure that all the stakeholders are at that table, being part of the decision making process, and that has been something that has concerned me about decisions that had been made with some of these major industrial projects that have been going on around our the state of Indiana, and I felt that those stakeholders were not at the table. They were not consulted. They were not consulted until, all of a sudden, they found out that their water source now is being routed somewhere, channeled, you know, miles away from where they are. They were not aware of that development project, and they were not, they did not have any say about it.

The other thing that is problematic in the state of Indiana is that, you really cannot, the opportunity to protest against a project is limited, and your ability to take action doesn't happen until there's actually been a violation.*

So this means this can be very onerous for the person who's now having to deal with a chemical spill on their property, or they find out that their source of water has been contaminated or been depleted, they cannot take action against the state or against that district or against that company until there has been a violation. And now you're talking about – it's much more costly. So when it comes to development, I want all the stakeholders to be there at that table, participating, making that part of that decision making process.

*Editor’s note: Local or state legislation that supports development with taxpayer support goes through an approval process when there will be an opportunity for the public to comment. People can file lawsuits against entities they believe have violated them.

Horton: And just the last question here really quickly, is, can you tell us who you're backing for Indiana governor as well as the U.S. president, in the upcoming election?

Pickett: Of course, well, I am absolutely thrilled and very impressed with Jennifer McCormick and her lieutenant governor, Mr. Goodin, and think that they will make a superb team. Their background in rural development is going to be very critical, and Jennifer's background in education, which is so, which is the largest budget item – and her emphasis that we need an educated citizenry will be fully embraced and advocated very forcefully by the McCormick Goodin team.

So I'm absolutely thrilled, and that's who I will be endorsing, and who I'm out there happy to campaign on behalf of. And for the President, I think that Kamala, Kamala Harris, will be, she's absolutely my choice. And I think Tim Waltz, and the Harris team, will also be, there’s just a huge amount of excitement around there, around this great team. So those will be the people that I will be out there campaigning on behalf of.

Horton: And again, I'm joined by Deborah Pickett, the Democratic candidate for Indiana's District 5 congressional race. Thanks for joining me.

Pickett: Thank you. Samantha, what a pleasure.