As I travel around the Indiana 9th Congressional District, questions are frequently raised at town hall meetings and in one-on-one conversations. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions and my replies to the concerns of my fellow Hoosiers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Economic Stability and Prosperity
“Straight answers on jobs, wages,
and the cost of living for working families.”
1. Top 3 Legislative Priorities
- Immediately establish universal nonprofit healthcare (Medicare for All), because no one should have to go broke just trying to stay alive.
- Advance economic reform that raises wages, expands overtime protections, and increases the standard deduction so working families finally gain the economic security they earn every day.
- End political gridlock and manufactured crises by aligning the federal budget with long-term American values and interests.
2. How will you make it easier for families to afford groceries, housing, and utilities?
- Raise the federal minimum wage to twenty dollars per hour because no full-time worker earning today’s minimum wage can secure a stable, decent life.
- Increase the standard tax deduction from $15,750 to $20,000 to give working families immediate financial breathing room.
- Expand overtime protections to cover salaried workers earning under $100,000 so workers are finally compensated for the hours they actually work.
- These steps mean more money in your paycheck, fewer surprise bills, and a real chance for your family to get ahead instead of constantly falling behind.
3. How will you bring more good-paying jobs to our community?
- End tariffs that were marketed as strength but caused higher prices, unstable markets, and lost opportunities for Indiana workers—on factory floors, in warehouses, and on family farms.
- Strengthen the middle class by putting money back into their hands, creating real customers and reliable demand for local businesses—from diners on Main Street to machine shops and farm suppliers.
- Invest in colleges and skilled-trade programs so workers can enter high-wage industries instead of being left behind by outdated policies.
4. Will your policies raise taxes?
- I will not raise taxes on families living on low or middle incomes.
- Enact fair, progressive taxes by increasing rates only for households above $383,000 and for large corporations that have benefited from decades of tilted policy.
5. What is your plan to help small businesses?
- Health insurance should not be the reason a small business can’t hire or grow. Medicare for All takes that burden off Main Street so local businesses can focus on serving customers and creating jobs.
- Medicare for All would add predictability for small businesses and allow them to better compete with large companies.
- End tariffs that punish small manufacturers and retailers and make it harder for local businesses to stay competitive.
- Restore the Small Business Administration workforce and funding. The current administration plans to cut the agency by 33 percent and cut $167 million from entrepreneurial development programs, directly harming small-business startups and growth.
6. What is your plan to help farmers?
- End the tariff war that has hammered farm families. It has gutted export markets, driven up input costs, and made it nearly impossible for farmers to plan for next year.
- Shift federal support away from giant corporate farming operations and back to independent family farms that keep our rural communities alive.
- Farming is one of the only businesses that has to buy everything at retail and sell everything at wholesale, and other essentials have climbed year after year, squeezing farm families from both sides.
Have a question about your job, your farm, or your business?
Ask Brad a question
Personal Rights and Protections
“Where I stand when it comes
to your healthcare, your body, and your freedom.”
7. Position on Healthcare
- I will fight for universal, nonprofit healthcare (Medicare for All) because no one should have to go broke just trying to stay alive. We pay twice as much as other countries and die years earlier—that is a moral failure, not just a policy difference.
- I will fight for universal, nonprofit healthcare so you can see a doctor when you need one without fearing the bill.
8. Position on Reproductive Rights
- I trust women and their doctors—not politicians—to make deeply personal medical decisions.
9. LGBTQ+ Protections
- Support full federal protections so every person can live, work, and raise a family with dignity and freedom, including those some target or exclude.
10. Position on Gun Control
- Support gun safety policies that have wide support, including: universal background checks, red-flag laws, and preventing gun purchases by individuals on terrorist watch lists, so public safety is not sacrificed to partisan gridlock.
Have a question about your healthcare, your rights, or your family’s freedom?
Ask Brad a question
Supporting Key Constituencies
and Systemic Integrity
“Where I stand when it
comes to your rights, your vote, and
treating people with dignity.”
11. How will you safeguard our constitutional rights?
- Restore the staffing and authority of civil rights agencies that were dismantled and politicized, so discrimination is investigated and punished instead of ignored.
- Ensure federal civil rights enforcement in justice, housing, education, labor, and healthcare is fully resourced so your rights don’t depend on your ZIP code, race, religion, or who you are.
12. How will you protect voting rights?
- Require mailed notice before a voter is removed from the rolls to prevent wrongful purges from silencing eligible voters, so your vote is never quietly taken off the rolls.
- Fully restore funding for election security and enforcement agencies so every eligible citizen can cast a ballot safely and freely—and know their vote was counted.
13. What is your position on Immigration?
- Here in southern Indiana, many employers already rely on immigrant workers in agriculture, caregiving, and manufacturing; our laws need to match that reality.
- Recognize immigration is an economic necessity because the labor participation rate has been declining for twenty-five years, and our workforce needs cannot be met without it. We need to welcome the talent and hard workers that are necessary to power our next-generation economy.
- Expand legal, controlled, and documented immigration to replace the intentional under-authorization that has produced today’s undocumented workforce.
- Modernize visa programs so legal immigration meets workforce needs. This will end employers and employees working in the underground system, which is not in the best interest of the employers, employees, or the country.
14. Should Congress reform campaign finance laws?
- Support meaningful reforms that reduce the influence of money in politics and are crafted to withstand Supreme Court review rather than symbolic proposals designed to fail, so your representative answers to voters, not big donors.
Have a question about voting, civil rights, or how government treats people?
Ask Brad a question
National and Global Strategy
“Where I stand on the
United States’ role in the world.”
15. How should Congress address climate change?
- Restore scientific capacity so policy is based on facts rather than on political convenience or denial. That means fewer extreme weather disasters, more clean-energy jobs, and healthier air and water for our kids.
- Establish a national clean energy standard to accelerate the shift to American-made renewable energy.
16. America’s role in global conflicts
- Respect service members’ commitment by ensuring force is used only when necessary, with clear purpose, and in a manner consistent with national values.
- Use American strength to prevent conflict, deepen alliances, and maintain global stability.
- Congress should exercise its power to decide when and if war is necessary.
Your Question Still Not Answered?
If your question isn’t here, I want to hear it. Send me your question, come to a town hall, or join our volunteer team so we can fix this together before another election passes us by.