After controlling Indiana’s 9th Congressional District for much of the 2000s, a Democratic candidate has not won the seat since 2010.
Now, with the incumbent Republican seeking another office, four candidates are hoping to retake the district for their party.
Shelli Yoder, James R. McClure Jr., Bill Thomas and Bob Kern are all vying to be the Democratic nominee in the general election. The winner will face one of five Republican candidates in November.
The seat is being vacated by Rep. Todd Young, who is running for U.S. Senate.
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District 9 includes all of Johnson County, stretching from County Line Road south to the Ohio River. The district also includes all of Monroe, Brown, Jackson, Lawrence, Orange, Washington, Clark, Floyd and Harrison counties, as well as parts of Morgan, Scott and Crawford counties.
Yoder has attempted to win the District 9 seat before. The Bloomington resident was the Democratic nominee in 2012, eventually losing to Young. Since then, she ran for and won a seat on the Monroe County Council.
Taking what she’s learned working at the county level, as well as her professional experience teaching at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, Yoder said she could help bridge the virulent partisanship in Congress that plagues the legislature.
“I want to represent the 9th District as someone with a proven track record, who can reach across party lines and can get to the business of solving problems, regardless of what letter appears after your name,” she said.
Yoder would work to invest in 21st century infrastructure, including working to expand broadband Internet access to all people, improving roads and even investing in high-speed rails.
She said her main priority would be to bring and retain high-paying jobs to Indiana, as well as investing in educating and supporting the workforce.
“When given the tools, people want to be able to support themselves, and have a shot at that American promise,” she said. “I want to make sure all people have those opportunities.”
McClure, an IT analyst from Clarksville, also is taking another shot at the District 9 seat after running previously. He ran in 2014, coming in second in that year’s Democratic primary to Bill Bailey. Though he didn’t win, his second-place showing in the election motivated him to try again.
“I’m the only Democrat running for this office who can win in November,” he said. “For the Democrats to win this, they need to run a center-right candidate. I believe the principles that I espouse — limited federal government, personal responsibility, individual liberty — are principles that can appeal to Republicans.”
McClure sees the failure of Congress to properly balance the budget, spending too much and borrowing an excessive amount of money. He would work to see the role of the federal government constrained to what was originally spelled out in the Constitution by the country’s early leaders.
His platform includes putting a 10-year moratorium on all immigration, until the current problems in the system can be fixed.
McClure also would fight to increase personal liberty. The government has overstepped its bounds in regulating and interfering in the way people live, and that needs to be reversed, he said.
“All people should be treated equally in front of the law, whether they be wealthy, poor, male, female, black or white, whatever,” he said. “The best solution to that is, instead of writing special exemptions in the law that certain groups deserve special coverage, those exemptions should be removed so that everyone is treated equally.”
Thomas also ran for the 9th District during the 2014 primary, coming in fourth place in that election. The Corydon resident said that the government has strayed too far from the intentions of the Founding Fathers, trampling the Constitution.
Spending and infighting is out of control in Congress. He would work for a balanced budget, and help rein in the ways government has infringed on the rights of gun owners, women and the religious.
He would seek to reduce foreign aid, reform immigration and secure the border. At the same time, he would vote to maintain the country’s military strength while improving support to soldiers and veterans.
Kern has run multiple times for Congress, including in 1998 when he won the Democratic primary for District 6 and faced Dan Burton in the general election.
The Indianapolis resident has launched campaigns for Congress in nearly every election cycle since, most recently finishing third in the 2014 Democratic primary for the District 2 seat, earning 14 percent of the vote.
His reason for running is to represent the people of District 9, offering an alternative to the typical political mechanisms.
“I would not accept endorsements from those who would politically wish to enslave myself,” he said. “I represent all of the people. Not just the Democrats, but all of the people.”
If elected, Kern would take special focus on protecting Social Security, emphasize term limits and simplify taxation to make it more fair to all people.
Though he would work to encourage job creation in District 9 and throughout Indiana, he would do so more by creating opportunities for people.
“As a congressman, I’m going to give you the resources to create those jobs. I’ll give you the money, the voucher or whatever it takes, loosen some loopholes, make it possible for some small business loans,” he said. “Indiana Hoosiers are good about creating jobs, they’re smart people.”
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Shelli Yoder
Age: 47
Party: Democrat
Family: Husband, Josh Perry; children Ivy, Eden and Oakley
Residence: Bloomington
Education: Bachelor’s degree from Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne; master’s degrees in counseling and human services from Indiana University-South Bend and divinity from Vanderbilt University
Occupation: Communications, professional and computer skills lecturer at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, teaching Kelley Compass courses
Political experience: Elected to the Monroe County Council in 2013; ran for the District 9 seat in 2012
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James McClure
Age: 50
Party: Democrat
Family: Wife Theresa; children James III, Leland, Cassandra and Alexander
Residence: Clarksville
Education: Associates degree from the Community College of the Air Force
Occupation: IT analyst for Scott County Technology Development Corp.
Political experience: Ran for the District 9 seat in 2014
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Bill Thomas
Age: 53
Party: Democrat
Family: Wife, Beth; five children, Tyler, Darcey, Morgan, Benjamin and Hunter
Residence: Corydon
Education: Graduate of Massasoit College in Massachusetts, and seminary graduate with degrees in biblical studies and pastoral ministry
Occupation: Author, associate pastor at Mount Zion Church
Political experience: Ran for the District 9 seat in 2014
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Bob Kern
Age: 52
Party: Democrat
Residence: Indianapolis
Education: Paralegal degree, studied political science
Occupation: Paralegal
Political experience: Congressional candidate multiple times, including running for the Democratic candidate for the District 2 U.S. Congress seat in 2014.
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Annual salary: $174,000
Term: Two years
Duties: Attend legislative session meetings, vote on and propose measures to the House of Representatives
9th District: Represents all of Johnson County and areas of the state south to the Ohio River, including the cities of Bloomington, Martinsville, Seymour, Bedford and Clarksville.
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