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Candidates for Indiana House District 61 lay out competing plans on housing, health care, climate and voting access
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Summary
At a League of Women Voters forum in Bloomington, Liliana Young and Matt Pierce framed the May primary as a choice between working-class accountability and progressive defense of democracy: Young emphasized wages, Medicaid access and constitutional protections for LGBTQ people; Pierce pressed IEDC transparency, renewable energy and student voting access.
Liliana Young, a Bloomington city commissioner and candidate for Indiana House District 61, and Matt Pierce, the other Democratic candidate in the May primary, appeared at a League of Women Voters forum to outline contrasting approaches to wages, economic development transparency, climate policy and voting access.
Young opened by identifying as a working-class candidate who aims to increase state government accountability, raise wages and expand access to health care. "We have a state government filled with people who are moneyed and insulated from the problems that the actual working people of this state have to contend with every day," Young said, arguing for "hard coded legislation" that prevents executive or agency leaders from evading transparency rules.
Pierce framed his campaign around defending democracy, preserving academic freedom on the IU campus and pushing for renewable energy. He criticized the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) for secrecy and alleged self-dealing, citing past projects such as the LEAP initiative and a foundation that funded travel. "We need to go back and really get to the bottom in the details of what happened there," he said, urging a fuller investigation of alleged abuses.
On wages and affordability, Young called Indiana's $7.25 minimum wage "crippling" and said many families need $17–$18 per hour to make ends meet. She also said roughly 27% of residents are enrolled in some form of Medicaid and urged repeal of state restrictions she described as barriers to coverage. Pierce emphasized a broader affordability agenda — housing, health care and worker protections — and criticized recent state bills he described as weakening safety and flood-mitigation standards in the name of affordability.
Both candidates supported renewable energy but differed in emphasis. Pierce described past efforts to expand rooftop solar and proposed competition in the energy market, saying he opposed a net-metering change that hurt rooftop solar economics. Young backed wind and solar development while cautioning against siting projects on farmland and called for stronger staff and authority for the state's environmental agency.
Discussing voting and campus turnout, Pierce faulted a law that removed student ID as acceptable voter identification, calling it an education issue: many students show up to vote but miss registration deadlines or are at the wrong precinct. Young said low turnout reflects lost hope and stressed organizing to engage voters.
On LGBTQ protections, Young said her long-term aim is constitutional safeguards for marriage equality and gender-identity protections to make those rights harder to reverse. Pierce described a history of targeted campaigns against LGBTQ people at the statehouse and said he has coauthored bills to protect parental rights around gender-affirming care.
Both candidates urged voters to participate: the moderator reminded the audience that the primary is Tuesday, May 5, with early voting beginning Tuesday, April 7.
The forum was hosted by the League of Women Voters of Bloomington Monroe County with cosponsors including IU PACE, the Monroe County NAACP, Monroe County NOW and the South Central Indiana Citizens Climate Lobby.
