Why Young Americans Are Giving Up on Politics

I see the potential. I know it's there. We're right there. Coming back to the human side of what this is all about. Whether it's your career, whether [music] it's your business, if people see you pushing in the state of Indiana, someone is getting on that back bumper with you. You shouldn't just wholesale by the party line.

You should look into every [music] issue and come to your own conclusion based on the merits. Young people in Indiana, what are the issues that they [music] actually do care about? From South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between, this is Get In, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, [music] founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation. This episode of Get In is brought to you by Hope Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling, your neighborhood one-stop shop for all your home service needs. Are you hot?

I'm for sure hot. Lucky for us, Hope Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling wants you to call them if you're hot. And I'm a [music] solid 9. 5, so I'll be calling them right after recording this podcast episode. Hope Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling wants [music] to make sure you stay cool this summer and is offering a few different sweet deals. Get [music] an AC evaluation for only $49 to make sure you stay cool all summer long.

And Hope will buy back your old AC unit for $1,500 [music] when you upgrade to a new system. So, if you're feeling hot, it's time to call Hope Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling for all your plumbing, HVAC, and electrical needs. Let's get in. [music] I've got two incredible guests today. First up is Lindsay Gramlich, and she is a lifelong Hoosier, Carmel resident, mother of three, nonprofit CEO, and 2026 candidate for Indiana House District 39, which includes parts of Carmel and Westfield. She currently leads Girls, Inc.

of greater Indianapolis and has built her career around expanding opportunities for young people and families in central Indiana. My second guest is Beau Bayh and he is a seventh generation Hoosier, Marine Corps veteran, attorney and 2026 candidate for Indiana Secretary of State. He served as a Marine infantry officer, rose to captain, earned degrees from Harvard University and Harvard Law School, and now works as an attorney here in Indianapolis. Today, we're not talking necessarily straight politics, we're talking public service. uh whether you're on any side of the aisle, you're going to like today's episode because it's all around getting younger individuals interested in all things government, getting out there, and at the end of the day, making the state of Indiana a better place. I'm really excited to dive into the conversations around again getting people out there interested in making Indiana better.

So, I appreciate you both coming on the show today. Welcome to Get In. Thanks, Nate. Appreciate it. Thanks so much. Things are starting to heat up.

you know, obviously in all things the political landscape and one thing that I get so upset about is it starts to get just like angry and dirty and I don't even know like politics is a thing that me on the outside has said like I will never get involved in because you can't make anyone happy. So, I guess the question we're going to start with, why put yourself out there to do this if if you know immediately as soon as you elect to run for an office that 50% or whatever are going to be upset and not like you because of that? Yeah. I mean, that's that's such a good question and and I think you're right with your assessment of particularly young people's view of politics. They look at it and they just go, "This is so nasty and so divisive and it's just hard to make real change sometimes and so why would I involve myself in this?" But it's important that young people get involved because you can have a real positive impact in people's lives this way.

You know, I was um raised in a family of public servants. And so I was kind of shown the example from my dad and my granddad about the real impact you can make in people's lives through this line of work. And so that's at least in my case inspired me to do something similar. That's why I joined the Marine Corps. And um yeah, I think you know young people should be getting involved because this is so important. Yeah.

And I I think I don't do politics. You are doing politics right now. your lights are on, right? Um, utilities, um, you pay taxes, all of that matters. It's all politics. And I think we get distracted by all of the constant negative rhetoric that makes people uncomfortable.

We got to get back to a place where we can work across the aisle because the better things happen when you have two viewpoints in a room. That's how I lead. That's how things have. We've seen success at Girls Inc. Andy, cuz I'm not always right. Right.

I have to We work across the aisle with different stakeholders and we have to get to that place where we're working together again. Um and we have to get out of the space of just being just constantly attacking each other. It's not doing anything. We're not [clears throat] getting any better. Um we're actually, you know, likely getting worse in lots of spaces because of that. And we're losing um young people and getting them involved.

Like they need to care. This is their s well. I believe it's your civic duty. Um, not everybody believes that, but Well, it it's so easy to say you should care, like we should care about something that you guys clearly care about, right? You're you're you're the people in the arena. You're doing the dang thing.

But like if you could go out there and talk to young people and like like what is the the message that you think resonates like as you are shaking hands talking to people out in the community what is resonating with that you know 20 to 35year-old crew about you know government about politics because I do think largely people know the most about the biggest elections the president like all of these national ones but from my perspective the the elections that have always the biggest impacts are the ones that are the closest to home. So like when you're out there talking, what do you what are the conversations you have with young people that get them fired up about Indiana government, civic, you know, servant leadership, the whole nine yards? Yeah. I think it's just the issues that young people care about. So I know, you know, you're a Depal guy. I was in Greencastle a few months ago.

I was going around just doing some social media content, interviewing some of the students there on campus, and I would just ask them, "What are some of the biggest issues for you as a young person?" And they would say that, you know, generally the same things. I'm having anxiety about whether or not I'm going to get a good job when I graduate, my student loans, you know, just affordability generally, daily cost of living, cost of my health care, whether my the neighborhood that I move to is going to be a safe neighborhood uh to raise a family in, right? And so I think, you know, young people have those concerns and um telling them and or just having a conversation with them about the way that politics is a direct means to address some of those big anxieties that they might be having is a way to maybe uh get some more people to participate. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I think it it goes back to community, right?

Um where where you grow up, how you want to see your community thrive, um is really big, but young people are absorbing news differently, right? And so it I I actually sat down with a group of young professionals back in December to be like, "How do you make your voting decisions? Like just help me understand." And they're like, "Well, I kind of look the week before at, you know, the websites and like, "Oh, I like that person." Like, "Okay, we got work to do here." Um, but if that is the reality of it, we need to do a better job of getting in front of those um, younger professionals that live in the apartments that you can't really necessarily go door knock and have those conversations.

So, how are we providing that space that we can have these discussions? You know, we also have to start pretty young. So, at Girls, Inc. , um, we do a program called She Votes and they run for class president at summer camp. So, class president and vice president and they have to do their like campaign speech and it's pretty cute. It's like glitter sparkles campaign and like bubble guppies, you know, it's like very high level, right?

Um, but it's it's starting that and understanding that like, oh, I lost this by two votes in my class. Like, and then you start to have those civic discussions of like why local politics matter so much more. What got you interested in politics? Oh, man. Well, I think I told the story last time I was on um, but I went to Who's Your Girl State? Shout out.

Uhhuh. Yeah. Wait, did you guys do that? My my grandma was big in your story. I I did Who's your boy state? Okay.

Uhhuh. Actually, I want to hear your intro story. And I have a great who's your boy state story. [snorts] So, you know, I was like, you okay, you guys are sending me to government camp for a week? Like, great. This is awesome.

Um, my my parents were um high school principles. My dad was my high school principal. So, like I like had to do certain things, right? Um when he told me to. So, this was one of those. I loved every moment of it, though.

I just it was the coolest thing ever. I ran for a senator. Um I was elected. We got to go um to you know the Senate chambers and sit there and I actually for the first time envisioned myself in that position and it was such a like powerful visual. Um it's really funny. The governor that we elected ended up being my sorority sister at the PA and she had this like tagline and I just like would it was just really funny.

We would just be like who's your girl state all the time. Um, so it's those programs like that can that can change a perspective and I think that is that that's the the time that it all kind of clicked for me. I went to Who's Your Boy State? Okay. It's the summer before senior year, isn't it? Yeah.

Yeah. So this is circa would have been the summer of 2014 there up in TR in Angola, right? You get there and I like wanted to run for governor. I was like this is what I'm running for. Absolutely. And at the time I had my first job.

It was at McDonald's electric first job, right? [laughter] I got a company issued McDonald's tie. They let me have and I wore my McDonald's tie and I stood at the lunch line and shook every single boy's hand in in an order to win governor. And if you are from Who's Your Boy State Circuit 2014 and did not vote for me, I [laughter] did not win. I shook all the hands. I was like, "What the heck?"

Like they they just said it was uh me not professional enough. Who would have thought, right? [laughter] But then I went back and won class president and I just brought candy and gave people candy and that one high school class president, right? Yeah. Like when you're Oh, okay. I've told my government story before.

When I was in second grade, I said I wanted to be president of the United States of America. That was my career, but I was adopted from Russia. My parents went and got me. So, I was born uh overseas. And so, my second grade teacher said, "Oh, sweetheart, you weren't born here. You can never be president."

And so I became the class president basically every single year after that that I was allowed to in order to get back at my second grade [laughter] teacher who said I couldn't ever do it. That was the end of my my political service to Triton High School. Shout out. Um but you are so right though going there and spending a week at government camp is really really is a way to get a a certain level of young people interested and just understanding it. I feel like a big piece of it is, you know, when you're 22, 24, it's not necessarily the most interesting thing when you're thinking about tax rates or whatever, but what are you hearing from 24, 25 young people in Indiana? What are the issues that they actually do care about?

I graduated to PA 2009, recession time. Really fun time to graduate when, you know, there were no jobs. Um, I think that we are facing a similar time, right? We're after the pandemic and uh folks don't know exactly what they want to do from here, right? Um a lot want to move back and live in a community where they grew up in or that they have family. Um and I think that is right now, especially in district 39 is a is a challenge because housing is so expensive.

I think um we're at $450,000 is like the typical that's like the average cost of a a house in in Carmel right now. And um that is just unachievable for lots of people. And so it's this conversation of what's next? Where am I going to go? Then you go into this whole topic of brain drain too. So like we're pushing people out of our state that could be doing great things because they're going elsewhere to find jobs and and places to go.

We want them to come back, right? So, what are we going to do to make sure that that happens? I think there's a real big disconnect there. It's also, you know, trying to get out of this national conversation. Um, there it's it's very distracting, right? I mean, that's the first thing people see.

That's the headlines of of what's going on from the federal level. We got to get down to the the the the soul, the city council, the school board level, because those are the things that are going to matter in their future. Um, and so making sure that we're just kind of reminding them of that. um and highlighting what's going on in in the the city level. Yeah, I would second everything Lindsay just said. The cost of housing, I mean, is a nationwide problem, particularly here in Indiana, that's making it really hard for young people, you know, our age and below, to buy their first house.

And that wasn't a problem for my parents' generation. And you know, a lot of times people's home is their largest source of wealth. It's their biggest asset throughout their entire life. And so, we got to make it easier for young people to to be able to afford uh those things. But something Lynch Lindsay uh touched on which is important that goes beyond any kind of narrow policy Nate is that young people I mean I think Americans generally but particularly young people are just so apathetic about our politics. They just look at this whole circus particularly in DC and they just see nothing being accomplished and it's more sometimes like it's operates like a reality TV show.

And so they say well all these people are going to Washington or sometimes in Indianapolis and they're not trying to help me in my daily life. And so we got to get back to a place in our state and in our country where we don't demonize the other side, where we're willing to work with people across the aisle to just deliver solutions for people because at the end of the day, nothing is partisan about affordable housing or about affordable healthcare or public safety or good, you know, good jobs. That shouldn't be a partisan thing. We should be able to work with each other to deliver on those things and other things. Yeah. I've always thought you even down to like schoolboard level.

Like school board to me doesn't seem like a political thing. It seems very it is now. It's a you have to declare a party. It's partisan now. That's kind of wild to me. I don't know.

Like I just feel like the education of students is not a side of the aisle for me. I think that's just like something that the best people who care like who know the most care the most and are going to do the best job to give everyone the best opportunity to, you know, have education. When you talk about the roles, like if the common person out there is listening to this episode and they, you know, let's say they have two hours before the election to go out there and do research. What are the most important roles or elections that are going to affect hers uh like their daily lives if that makes sense? you know, like when you're looking through there, I everyone obviously knows like the president and the governor and all these crazy, but what do you guys think? What role affects everyone's daily life the most?

Obviously, you have your town council, city council, those positions, those very, very local positions are important because they're making the decisions that are closest to people's everyday lives where they live. I think the secretary of state's office, which the office that I'm running for, makes a big impact in people's lives. What I don't even What is the secretary [laughter] of state? So uh there are four primary uh responsibilities for this office. The first is you're the chief election officer of our state. So you handle the elections.

It's a big job. You handle business registrations in our state. So when people start a small business in our state, they do that through the Secretary of State's office. That's a really important function because you know these business owners create good paying jobs that fuel our economy. You root out securities fraud in our state. You do those investigations and then you regulate auto dealerships.

But you know auto dealerships. I know. Wait. you there's three like very broad things and then someone said yes and then the auto dealers auto dealerships but you know with the with the elections you know I our probably our state and our country's most precious resource is the health of our democratic process you know and this this position uh in your hands is entrusted the responsibility to oversee that that's a really important job and if people don't have faith in our elections being run smoothly and fairly then the whole system kind of collapses in on itself so you know that's why I'm really energized about this campaign is that that's a really important responsibility and I think uh people are are are hungry for um you know better leadership in that office. Okay. All right.

I think it's all important, right? It all works together. But um as it relates to you know a state representative, those decisions are being made about you know your property tax um your um utility costs um any special interests that are a part of it. Um how clean your water is. Um, you know, there's uh a lot of other conversations about data centers and and those types of things. Those are all done at the state level, right?

Even the cell um there's the cell phone ban now in schools where kids are not allowed to have their cell phones um at school, which not going to get into feelings about that, but that's those are the decisions. And um right now in our state house, we have a supermajority, which means that there does not have to be a Democrat in the room to pass any policy because of the supermajority. That is an issue. I would say the same thing if we were in a Democratic 12-year supermajority. You do not have a dissenting viewpoint that has to be heard at all. And so every single issue that's coming out of the state house is coming from one side.

Yeah, that is interesting on the idea of, you know, competition breeding excellence and and all those yards. It it's like, oh man, like the more you get into politics, again, this is why cuz it's just it's hard. Like I think that at at the core, people aren't apathetic towards politics because they don't care. They are apathetic towards politics because it's it's so hard because you get into this and you're like, "Oh man, like there's this viewpoint and there's that viewpoint and I I don't know. It just like puts you in a a little bit of a conflicting seat to sit in." I mean, how do you guys feel when you have to go out there and you have to, you know, find causes and things that you believe in and you have to listen to your constituents or your potential constituents.

You have to like take a lot of knowledge in and then use that to make a an opinion and a decision and then go out there and chase that. The role of a state rep is not for me to do what I want to do, right? It's for me to sit down and listen to you guys if you're in my district and understand where you're at. You don't have to listen to me. It's okay. Well, 450,000 450,000.

[laughter] You put that McDonald's tie on. Is she going to start listening? I'm a I'm a proud Broadripple resident here. We're in Marian County. Well, you have representatives, too. But, um, that that's the job is to listen.

And you know what? I actually had we were um door knocking together one day and a lady actually asked like, "If we elect you, will we ever see you again?" And I was like, "Oh, man. Yes, as much as you want to see me." Because that again is the role of this job. And so, yes, there I mean this is I'm not gonna sugarcoat this.

This is hard. you get into a room and you have all these people that have all these opinions about everything and you have to be able to discern what to take with you and like kind of what to like, you know, leave it in the parking lot for for later. Um, but it has to go back to, I think, your core values. My core values are family, faith, and community. And like that is how I lead my life. And so it has to come back down to that.

I'm doing this for my community. I really don't have aspirations for Washington. And you know, you asked an interesting question and Lindsay and I experienced this door-nocking. I think everyone does when they're running for office. Um, you know, rarely in life are you going to agree with someone on every issue. I mean, that's just impossible.

I love I have a twin brother. I love him very much. We don't agree on everything, but uh it's our um responsibility. Now, that would be a heck of a hack for door knocking. Yeah, I know. We're fraternal.

We're fraternal. I know. I wish. But the identical dude, this guy is everywhere. He's everywhere. But uh you know like it's our responsibility as future elected officials in our state not to let the things that we disagree on define our service right let's focus on the things where we do have broad agreement for examp Lindsay's and you know you you can tell this yourself but like supporting public education you know a lot of people agree that you should have a good school in your community right and and Lindsay and and everyone in our state should be willing to work with whomever of whatever political party to accomplish that.

Yeah, absolutely. Um I am a public education champion through and through. Again, my parents um both um retired high school principles. Um it we have a real issue right now with um one of the bills that went through SEA1 that is going to it's a property tax bill, but is going to end up cutting millions from public education. Public education is just being under attack right now. And it's it's really terrible because in places like Carmel and Westfield, those are the gems of our community, right?

We moved to Carmel. I was a not going to be a suburb person. I was going to live in in on 49th and Central forever, right? That I mean, Midtown was like where where we were at. But we we outgrew that space, right? And so and then we found this this house that is right by an elementary school and you just look at the stats that come out of Carmel Clay Schools and you're like, "This is where I want to be."

We cannot um take away from that. Um, and that is what is going to happen in the next couple of years. And as we talk through that, it's also the infrastructure. We like our roads up in uh, Carmel. You know, there's the whole conversation of like you cross 96 Street and you know, your roads get instantly better and your roundabouts too. And your roundabout.

We love our roundabout. Do I actually have an idea for an awesome YouTube video where I want to see if I can make it from one side of Carmel to the other without hitting a roundabout? Oh, without a roundabout. Like, do you think it's possible? like without without going on, you know, like one of the like 31 or Keystone, but I'm talking about like east to west. Could I go from one side of Carmel to the other without like you're like talking like I have to map out the trail?

It would be awesome. I might have I'm going to pitch this I think I have Sue coming on the podcast in a couple months and I'm going to pitch it to her about the idea. I want to do a ride along, see if she can navigate me through uh east to west in Carmel without hitting a great challenge. That would be so fun, right? Yeah, absolutely. But yeah, you talk about public, you know, road even I mean the Monan trail gets a little just something something happens when you cross 96 street and head into the that area.

Do you know I just recently learned this there's 17 miles between um like the start of the Monon Trail up to the end and there's a 17-year life expectancy difference if you like you can actually see um the life expectancy increase as you go um north on the on trail from downtown downtown. Yes. Because of the the infrastructure and the quality of life um as it increases. So nothing to do with the trail, but it's a sliding scale scale of as you look at infrastructure. So where is the where's the longest life expectancy um up in the the northern suburbs? Wow.

Yeah, that's pretty crazy. It is. It's it when you actually think about it, like it blows your mind and when you think through it. Well, I'm at way I'm at 65th. I might need to get a little further north. like, "No, [laughter] I'm not."

No, that's not the answer. The answer is like, "We got to figure that out, right?" Yeah, of course. True, true, true, [laughter] true. That's why that's why you guys are the public servants and I sit here on the podcast. But this is the interesting piece like when you get down to the root cause, right?

You know, Beau, you come from a long line of Indiana public servants and um and Lindsay, you come from a a long line of public servants from the the side of education at your core. Mhm. Why? Like when you really think about this, it seems like a lot of headache for I'm I'm assuming I don't know what the number is, but it can't be a lot of money and it can't be a lot of like like I mean a lot of people that are going to talk [ __ ] to you, a lot of people that are going to be upset whether you're I don't know. You could literally just say anything like you know the sky is blue and people are going to be mad about it. It's like why why subject yourself to that?

Yeah. is you can really make a positive impact in people's lives. And so you mentioned, you know, I I've had public servants in my family. And so I've had examples set for me when I was growing up of ways that you can have an impact in this line of work. So for example, my granddad when he was in the United States Senate, he authored an amendment to the Constitution that lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. At a time in our country during the Vietnam War where young men were fighting and dying in that war, they didn't have a right to vote on whether the war continued or not.

And you know, the premise was was it made common sense, if you're old enough to fight and die for your country, you ought to be old enough to vote, too, right? And so, you're seeing that impact. He authored another, you might find this interesting, a law called Title N, which has allowed women to compete fairly in college athletics. So, every time I see Caitlyn Clark or some other superstar woman athlete in our state or beyond, I think a little bit about my granddad and the impact he was able to have. Well, he was the he was one of the authors. Yeah.

And so, millions millions of girls all over our country look up to Caitlyn Clark and see her as someone to emulate, right? And so that example is set for you at an early age and you want to live a similarly consequential life. I've been given a lot of blessings. And so there's an obligation if you love your country and if you love your state to try and give back to it a little bit. And so this is just one way to do it. You can give back in a lot of different ways.

You can volunteer at your church. You can be a public school teacher. You can serve in the military. You can be a policeman. There's a ton of different ways to do that. This is just one small slice of it.

Yeah. Yeah. Uh I've always wanted to do something bigger than me. Um I uh you know at DEPA we get winter terms and can do really cool trips and um I actually got I was accepted into the lottery to go to Cameroon um for one of them um to do a service trip and I didn't tell my parents. I paid with like my first year mentor like money to like put a down deposit and didn't tell my mom and dad cuz I knew they would be like no absolutely no. Um it that trip changed my entire life.

I I just the entire outlook on everything like when you see actual third world poverty and like what we have access to um as just because we were born here like medicine all that it just changes your perspective and I knew exactly that I needed I wanted to go into to public service in some capacity. I um have been [clears throat] in nonprofit my entire career. Um and right now I in my job I am serving families that are affected the most by policy um at the at the state level. So when things like SNAP benefits um um run out and they're not renewed. Um Medicaid um is um being Medicaid services are being cut. Sunbucks program which feeds kids during the summer.

When those go away, there are real families, real people that are affected by that. I think we have lost the that perspective of that we are um passing these sweeping bills that are really affecting hers um for for at at what cost. And so I think we've lost that perspective of um what public service truly is. We are we are supposed to be making life better for Hoosiers across the board. Yeah. Here's my question.

There's so many different things from you talk about like SNAP benefits to data centers to I mean spending, bills, trails, roads. How is it all politics? Yeah. But like how is it even feasible for anyone to know anything about any of them? Like like I think about me and like what I've spent my you know last 2 or 3 years just like learning stories of Indiana and like I've had to be hyper obsessive about like the Indiana Reddits or reading news articles from Southbend or Fort Wayne or Evansville or the region or wherever and it's like I think that that's a lot and and I don't have to I have to make a video about it. I don't have to like put my vote in for something.

How are you guys educating yourselves about what's going on across the state of Indiana or in even in your district, potential district, and what advice would you have for listeners on how to become more informed about the things that matter? Cuz at the end of the day, when I turn on whatever the news station or I swipe through Twitter, it makes it seem like we live in a war zone and everything cuz again, that's how clicks and links and all the things that get, you know, a local media entity paid usually revolves around that. So, a lot of the stories are negative and not It just makes me kind of sad uh versus inspired to make Indiana better. Yeah. I would say uh spend more time listening and less time talking. So, one of the great things about, you know, there's some downsides to running for public office.

There's a scrutiny and all that stuff that comes with it. One of the great things about it is you just get all around our state. I've been to about I think 80 of the 92 counties in the past 8 months. We're going to get to all 92 before this is done. That's allowed me the privilege of just hearing from people about the issues important to them. For example, I'm not a subject matter expert on what the biggest issues for people in Angola are, but I've been to Angola and I've heard from them about what's important to them.

Right? So, just being a sponge, soaking up all of that information, getting all around our state and listening to people, not just who agree with you, but people who disagree with you is important, too, because you got to uh question your own uh beliefs, right? Yeah. Yeah. I I completely agree with that. You can you cannot be an expert in all spaces, but you can be an expert in the places that you care the most about, but then you need to sit down and listen to the folks that are the experts in those spaces.

You should be doing that in life in general. Like, take politics away. you should want to learn about all everything um that your friends or your colleagues are are interested in because that expands your worldview, right? If you are staying in your own worldview, playing in your own sandbox, you just don't understand anything. And so for listeners that are wanting to get involved and learn more, just find that community piece. There's so many groups out there that are ran by awesome people.

It doesn't have to be the Young Dems or the Young Republicans. It could just be, you know, an indie hub. Get involved there. Um, and start there and build your community. Um, and start to learn what you really care about. What would you say to young individuals that want to make an impact but like have a hard time getting over the I have to choose this or that.

I have to choose Republican or I have to choose Democrat. What would you say? Person over party is what I would say. We are so focused on party over person right now. Just straight going, I I only vote for the Republican or I only vote for the Democrat. Can we just take those titles away and vote for the person that you think is going to show up the best for your community?

We have to get back down to that. We have gotten so polarized in the way things work. Um there used to be a time that it didn't matter if you were just kind of a moderate. It didn't matter if you were a good person that was going to to really do great things and show up for community. That's what mattered. Now it matters what letter is behind your name.

And that's just really sad. Yeah, I would I would agree with everything she just said. I mean, if you affiliate if you choose to affiliate with the party, which first of all, you don't have to do that necessarily. Well, I mean, like to win a major election, if you choose if you choose to affiliate with the party, uh, have a critical um, you know, system of of challenging everything that party tells you, right? You shouldn't just wholesale buy the party line. You should look into every issue and come to your own conclusion based on the merits of of the issue.

Right. Do you feel like um with more access, so here we are in 2026, you can spend all you can spend days going through Twitter, Instagram, like blogs, the whole nine. There is no shortage of information. Do you feel like voters are more educated and intertwined with what's going on or are le or just like you know so stuck in in their ways of like hey the party is the party and I only see content from one side of it. You know, a lot of these social media algorithms where people are ingesting the information from feed you things that you want to see, right? So, it's it's it's actually an uncomfortable thing as an individual feed you or feed you stuff that's going to piss you off or just you're like so angry looking at your phone and it's like and then it's like the other piece is no one's looking at the credibility.

No one knows like like I can go on there and I can post anything like that. I'm like Indiana's foremost tenderloin expert. No one's checking my credentials on that, you know, like they're just assuming this guy's eating a few tenderloins in his day. No, no. And and so in, you know, the podcast industry that you're in with this with this business that you probably feel a little bit of a push of a p, you know, of a draw to just be as inflammatory as as possible, right? Cuz that's what generates clicks.

That's what draws eyeballs. Dude, it's so Yeah. Like it's so hard, too, cuz it's like at the end of the day, just like you guys, I would say our crew here at Get Indiana wants to make Indiana the best place possible. And again, like stories like this or whatever it might be, it's like, well, some people aren't going to like the guest or some people aren't going to like the topic or you bring someone on to like figure out what's going on with data centers and and it's like, oh my gosh, I hate you guys. And I'm like, at the end of the day though, people sit in these chairs that are human beings that are hooers that have ties to the state of Indiana that genuinely do have a great story or want the best. Like, we haven't had anyone sit in the chair that came on and said like, "I hate Indiana.

this place sucks. But like some people will see the thumbnail, we'll see the title, we'll see whatever and and we'll just automatically say, "Nope, not watching that." Like, uh, so I do see what you guys are saying about no, like obviously you need to learn what whether it's your party or your interest or whatever it is, but spending time in the opposition. Yes. Just like hearing what like their thoughts are, hearing what uh what people are upset about, listening more than you're talking. That's why God gave you two ears and one mouth, right?

Like there you go. Sounds like something your mom might have told you. [laughter] That's a granddad thing for sure. That's like a a great He said that and he said, "Uh, yeah, that's why you have a face for radio." [laughter] It's a It's a video podcast, Grandpa. [laughter] Um, but I don't know.

I just always go back to like the people who sign up for this, like you have to find like an intrinsic deep down inside why. And yeah, you talk about coming on the podcast. You think about like the national elections like how important were the the van like like Theo hosting politicians on his like that just seems like a game of um bananagrams. You know what [laughter] I'm saying? Where it's like Donald Trump goes on an interview with Theo Van in Nashville, Tennessee. Like that just doesn't even make sense.

But people are using mediums like this to learn more about people because what you see in a I don't know like a 20inut press conference or whatever is not like being a human being and talking about like sitting down over mic where no matter how well media trained you are if we talk for 37 minutes at some point like the human aspect is going to come out. Yeah. The long form format is so much better for that than, you know, a lot of times people running for office live in like 20 second clips and you have to get your message out in this amount of time. And doing interviews like this is so good cuz you can just be, you [music] know, more thorough in your responses. This episode of Get In is brought to you by Indie Grills, Indiana's go-to team for fireplaces, outdoor kitchens, and entire custom patios. Indie Grills handles everything in-house from design and permitting to construction and installation, making the entire process simple from start to finish.

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and start planning your project with them at indiegrills. com. Now, let's get back to the show. When you guys get excited about the future of Indiana, like what gets you pumped up, it it's so easy to get focused on again while you're campaigning, obviously change and things that are wrong and you know, all the the negative. You see a ton of it in I say political advertising, but when you think about the optimistic side of what Indiana is on track to be, what you're excited about when it comes to the future, what is that? Just look at um how Carmel is the best place to live year after year like in the in the country.

I think we take that for granted. We we do. And so there is this there is a lot of beauty happening and if you go outside like on Saturday we rode our bikes down the Monan and and had dinner and just the families and and just the vibrancy of our community, the diversity of our community that is just it's awesome. Um, and I am hopeful that there, and I've always believed this to probably my dismay, but that more people are intrinsically good than bad. And I I think that because of social media algorithms, um, quick hits, um, we have lost that side. Yeah, those media people, man, they're the worst.

I if we're just looking for clicks. Yes. Um, but there is just this um I also learned recently that churches are seeing more attendance now. [clears throat] Dude, there's like a whole young person revival in in religion, which is super cool to see. Like uh cuz I mean one, there's a whole young person revival around just community, whether it be like run clubs or yoga or walks or whatever it is, but there's also that aspect of like people go to I mean, there's this one guy I follow. He just moved to Fort Lauderdale.

It always comes down to somebody that you follow. He just moved to Fort Lauderdale. didn't have any friends, but he started like a uh from pews to to pizza and they go to like church and then they get pizza afterwards and now like 60 random people showed up and I'm like [clears throat] why am I in Indianapolis watching this thing happening before but I can't take my eyes off it. It's so cool and it seems like there's a hunger for that connection. Folks are craving community um and and however that is and so it is that getting outside and seeing the beauty for for what we have created what we are creating. I mean, downtown Indie is the same thing.

It is just completely thriving. We were at Gamebridge and, you know, watching the Ritz Carlton go up like that. These are big things for our city. Like you talked about Caitlyn Clark. I love I absolutely love going to games and just watching girls in their eyes. I mean, I'm I'm in the girl bids, right?

And so being able to see that like I I get lots of feels um being able because representation matters so much. You know, I mean, I saw the stat since 2024. Steph Curry sold the most jerseys. LeBron James s sold the third amount of jerseys. Caitlyn Clark at number two. All jerseys across the across WNBA and NBA since 2024.

That's electric. Like little boys, little girls, everyone running through have everyone like Gayla Clark transcends everything. Like it's crazy. And that's progress, right? We weren't always that way. That's 10 years ago, all respect to the fever, 10 years ago, they were giving away the tickets.

Yeah. And so that's so going back to your original question, we there is progress can happen. It can we got to elect the right people um that have the right motives, values um to bring this state forward. You know, lots of people are like, "Why do you still live in Indiana?" It's because I I I love Indiana. I was born and raised here and I see the potential.

I know it's there. We're right there. Um we just we we got to get to the point where we are um working together more um and and coming back to the human side of what this is all about. Yeah, there's so many just uh exciting developments all throughout our state. You know, one of your uh guests you had on recently, Chris Jensen in Noblesville, he's done a great job at the city and that's someone who, you know, it doesn't come from our political party, but he's done a fantastic job and some of the great guy and and good I mean it I would I would I wouldn't actually throw hands, but like I love Chris Jensen. good dude.

Just like good. Like again, there's some people like say that in general. Oh yeah, he's a good dude. Like legitimately a good human being. Um and that's cool. Like I think that that leading by example too of believing in a person over a party is is awesome.

Yeah. But something that gives me faith uh is you know I do we go to do a lot of events on college campuses as you can imagine because one of the things I hope to accomplish with this campaign is getting younger people inspired about politics. And every time I uh ask a group of college kids who plan, you know, what are you doing? What are you studying? What do you hope to do? And I see and then I then I ask, are you planning to stay in Indiana?

And when I see hands go up, that gives me a lot of hope because the youngest people, you know, the smartest, hardest working people that our state is educating. Seeing people willing to stay here is a great thing. Now, we do have a problem, Lindsay mentioned, with a lot of folks going out of state. But every anytime I see someone in our state who could do anything with their life they want and they choose to make a home here in Indiana and contribute here in Indiana, that gives me a lot of hope for the future. Yeah, I totally agree. And it's like I don't know when I think of Indiana and I think of Indianapolis, it is a place that rewards those individuals who are driven by impact.

Yes. Like if you want to and again like we started this two years ago or whatever and now people actually listen to what we say. A lot of people listen to [clears throat] what we say. a lot of like crazy and it's awesome and I'm like so grateful for that but you know it just started as like an idea that no one ever said no to like no one ever again like you know it's not always easy whether you want to start you know a main street business I just met someone uh in Monaceel she graduated from Purdue last year and started a bakery on their main street and that's her full-time like her full-time job is running a bakery on Main Street in Monaceel weddings the whole nine yards the community definitely supports her and I'm like that's so cool. Like like again no one's going to pave the path and like you know hand it up to you on a silver platter but if you have this idea and you go and chase it Indiana is a place that says yes a lot a lot of times.

Another cool thing Nate is you know I think back in the past there used to be a mindset of like okay you got to wait your turn and if you're not a certain age you haven't put in put in your time then you're not capable of doing something on your own. I don't think that exists anymore. I think you know young people like you are going out doing their own thing and uh you know delivering a product that obviously people are craving which is a good thing. I don't think people have to wait their turn. If you're inspired by something go out and and take it for yourself you know. Yeah.

I will say at like lots of stages no one has been like oh the young kid or like like no one I'm like thinking back through the memories and it's not it's not really like that. It is like if you're willing to hustle and you're willing to like put in the work. I mean, I I use this analogy far too often, but like Indiana is the greatest uh depiction of this. So, it's like when you drive down the road and you see someone with their thumb up like looking to hitchhike, it's like, yeah, you're probably not going to pull over and help a hitchhiker. But, if you see someone pushing their car trying to get it to a gas station, you're like 90% more likely I'm going to pull over, I'm going to help them push. And like whether it's your career, whether it's your business, whether it's your camp, whatever it might be, if people see you pushing in the state of Indiana, someone is getting on that back bumper with you.

And I think that it's just like it is an awesome place and I love see it's it's like tough when you're born and raised in Indiana and everyone's like I'm born and raised here. I love it here. And it's like when I can get people that did not spend the majority of their time like someone is like oh yeah I came here. Uh and you know 10 years ago or whatever and I love it. It was just like so weird but like the people here are the best. That's what gets me fired up.

People will answer your call which is which is bizarre sometimes. So, like I I um you know, Jim Morris um it w is the most incredible human was the most incredible human. I drove Jim Morris home in my minivan one day because he said yes to lunch and then I drove him home with goldfish on it's like my most mortifying story ever. Okay, wait. Can we hear the story? I I need to hear Jim story.

Yeah, we um I I was in SKL at the time. Um and I This is my advice for anybody in SKL. You're relevant for one year while you go through it, right? And then you were What is SKL? The Stanley K. AC leadership series.

Um it is through leadership Indianapolis. It's it's the greatest thing that's h ever happened to me getting into that. Um we that's a whole another episode that you is this kind of like uh the Mitch Daniels leadership. I did that one too. I'm a big leadership gal. You see if you would have hit or fellowship SKL and MDLF you would have had like the cycle.

Well I I have um Hamilton County Leadership Academy. I'm graduating next week from that. So I do have a trifecta there. Big big leadership fan. Okay. So, SKL I' I've never heard of this before.

Oh my gosh, you have to deep dive into it. Um, so we I asked him if we could have breakfast and we had breakfast and then um Where did you Where was breakfast? Like we need the whole story. It was like off 96. I forget another broken egg. Is that See, I thought you were going to say I feel like all breakfast business gets done at Cafe Pattio 40.

Well, it does. I mean, you if you ever having a bad day or you know, not looking your best, just don't go there cuz [laughter] um every single human you will see. And Um, so we had the most wonderful breakfast and and afterwards he was like, "I need a ride home." And I was like, "Oh my god." I was like internally panicking. I have three kids and they are little kids.

Like I have a four, a seven, and a nine-year-old. And they were even younger during this time. My van was a disaster. Like they're goldfish everywhere. And I was like, "Oh, I was like literally internally panicking about this." Um, and I had to be like, "Mr.

Morris, I'm so sorry, but I I don't have it together in my minivan." And he was like, "Oh, it's fine." and I I drove him home and then I called my best friend. I was like, I just can't even believe what I just just happened. But like that is like the human side. We're getting back to this piece of Jim Worth did not need to take my phone call.

He did not need to have breakfast with me and he did not need to forgive me for my goldfish on the floor. But that is how um this is how that this state works. Um and I mean there are so many stories that are like that um that I would just reach out and be like, can we just sit down and have coffee? even folks that I knew we did not share the same viewpoints on but I wanted to understand like their career path what advice they have for somebody that is you know coming up in their career [snorts] honestly people will answer the phone and that's like this connection too and I try to do that with the paw um with the alumni board is when people reach out I'm like let's get together let's let's let's sit down and talk I think that that is our duty as young professionals is to make sure that we are constantly pouring in to to folks yeah and that's true just you know, the average like when we were door knockocking.

Yes. You know, sometimes when you're going up with campaign literature to someone's door, you you expect to get the door slammed in your face, but in our state, people are willing to have a conversation with you and they say, "Come on in. You know, let's talk." And Oh, yeah. Like I am late to so many things cuz I'll like see someone like, you know, out on the sidewalk like, "Oh, what are you doing? [laughter] Where are you?"

I was supposed to be at lunch 10 minutes ago. My bad. I just got caught yapping. That's like the most Indiana thing. Uhhuh. Yep.

Ever. Yep. Uh, I do have to say I think that running for public office anywhere in Carmel is is wild because it's like when you're on top it's there only [laughter] you're getting on the treadmill there's only one way to like you know you got to keep going and figureing out what's next and it's like that's a that's a lot of pressure versus like you know you go to like bottom of the barrel like Eastern Kentucky or whatever where you know where the bar is not very high and you could like shoot that thing up. It's like going to the number one place to live in America. Like that's a tall drink of water. We we've got to keep it that way though.

Um and so some some recent legislation really um is going to challenge that um as it relates to um funding that's going to public services. And so um folks in these leadership, you know, again, again, I love leadershipmies clearly. Um, but as we sit and we talk through this there, our generation is going to have to have a decision to make is is do we want to keep it going a certain way or do we want to, you know, get in there and make sure that the quality of life um, you know, the Maslo hierarchy of needs. Carmel is like at the top, right? We are we are fulfilling all of the the needs that and some, right? How do we make sure that that continues and we don't get to a space where we were so just kind of again apathetic to things and now all of a sudden it's all changed.

Like the the final kind of question before we get into all things Indiana that I want to talk about is how does a politician measure success? Like how do you actually go from campaigning, talking about things, and like where does work actually start getting done and how does it get done? Yeah. So with with my the office that I'm running for, right, you're in charge of handling the elections in our state. Right now in Indiana, we have one of the lowest participation rates in elections in the country. And so at the end of my term, I that's a pretty binary thing, right?

I'd love to see a market increase in eligible people participating in our elections cuz I think look, I if regardless of the political party that you end up supporting, more people more voices involved in our politics is a good thing. So I'd measure success at least with respect to my office just are more people participating in our democracy. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of a lot of metrics out there, right? Of course, you want to win, but at the end of the day, I want people to say that I showed up for them when when I needed to. Um, and that's for all communities.

I didn't just show up for the ones that like I'm comfortable in, but that I I was there and I was listening. That is not necessarily going to show up on any like political art article about the winds. And of course, you know, getting bills passed is a is a metric that you want to see to make the the state better. But at the end of the day, again, this the the role that I want in the state government is a representative. And so to me, that means that I I showed up where I needed to be. And a lot of the dividends of these great policies that Lindsay is going to work on don't uh pay off immediately, right?

You got to wait some So one of the things that my dad did when he was governor is he instituted the 21st century scholar program. And that's a program that's allowed hundreds of thousands of kids in our state to obtain a great college education debtree. And so the uh results of that pay off over time. you're able to see people, you know, now who are in their 40s that are living great, fulfilling lives, starting businesses, raising families because, you know, in some part because of that program. Talk about delayed gratification. Like that's like something that's like you're Yeah.

you're again if they were born then it's like 18 years plus four years plus probably another like 10 years after that and then maybe we start to reap the some of the benefits there. But it's so impactful like you talk about opportunity for like first generation college students and yeah helping um you know give opportunities to those that you know might have to go into tons and tons of debt the college route which is see this is the piece that always um I think about when it comes to politics is like I can sit and have a conversation with just about anyone and like you can understand why they think the way they think and why they support what they support and that makes it I think like extremely hard to like cuz you have to question your own belief. Well, what do I believe? Like I can see why so and so believes this and I can see sometimes why so and so believes that and like you start to understand and take it all in and then it's like the internal soularching of but you don't don't be influenced by the reals, don't be influenced by the podcast or whatever.

like sit there and marinate on what your core values are and what your character traits are and what you value and then you know make decisions off of that. It's also okay to change your mind, right? I think if you take in new information, it's okay to update your belief system. And I think sometimes there's a lot of pride and ego wound up into just sticking to your guns on things. But I think us as future elected officials should keep an open mind to always update our beliefs. Whether win or lose the actual election, I will have won because I have met so many people in our community that I never would have met before doing this.

And before I decided to to put my name in, I talked to a lot of people that I ran before. And again, I have young kids and this was a really big decision for me to step into this space. I didn't have a minute of time extra in my life to do this, but we made time for it. um is they told me that their kids got more involved in in civics in leading um you know high school clubs and I'm seeing that my my daughter wants to run for um president of summer camp. I was like in shock. I was like I'm sorry what do you want to do?

And she was out there with her megaphone last night. I was like okay so I've done something right. I think that this is going to be okay. So that to me is just as important of um again being meeting new people, making sure that I am setting the right example for my kids and showing them how important it is to just get involved. Yeah. What do you think the first step that Hoosiers can take to get interested in politics, to get informed about politics without like diving, you know, full cannon bar into the deep end, knowing everything about everyone?

What's the first step? So a few things. uh going back even before you're allowed to vote. There's a program that our state has called the Hoosier Hall Pass program which allows uh kids in high school if you get the all the signoffs you need from your teachers to go and work at polling locations throughout our state. And so that's a way that you can see as a young person what this looks like in practice in action. That's something that I would recommend uh for people that are in high school in Indiana.

Another thing, just go volunteer on a campaign, right, Lindsay? I think that's a great way to get involved and it doesn't have to be um you know a campaign for governor, United States Senate. go volunteer on a local uh race, you know, for city council or something like that. That's a great way to get involved, too. We're all looking for volunteers. I can [laughter] promise.

Go volunteer for Lindsay at any level. And so, um something that, you know, we're doing on on our campaign side is we know that not everybody wants to go knock on doors like that to people could be like, "No way am I ever doing that." So, we have other things like write postcards or just come out for a couple of hours and talk to other people. There are lots of ways. Um I think you know listening to podcasts like yours um and ones that are um that remain bipartisan I think are really important um so that we're not getting into again the these kind of culture wars, party wars more so of let's talk about this holistically um and so I encourage people to to find more of that um to come down to the substance of of what some um folks are trying to do as elected officials. Yeah.

Uh, one thing I did when I was growing up was the Paige program. Like I was a page at the state house. Yeah. And like you get dropped offered. It's like kind of like job shadowing. Yeah.

Uh, I mean I think I did it maybe when I was like in seventh or eighth grade. Like it's it's kind of dense. Yeah. Like like you show up and you're like in the thick of like whatever they're voting on the day from like traffic to whatever it could be, you know, like. But it was really cool to just get to see what like Yeah. like what a general assembly is like and be a part of that.

Yeah. And again, that's why I chose the non-political route. But [laughter] I had I had every opportunity on the way there. I showed up at McDonald's tied to the city of B. No, I'm just kidding. I didn't do that time.

You know, School of Rock is also a great place to start. You know, there's some great You know, School of Rock, right? Like the movie the like I'm just the Bill sitting on Capitol Hill like starting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So, start there. Like learn how this all works because it is there is a process, right? there there is a job to get done and like so start even if you have no idea just start small I mean I love the schoolhouse rock like it's school I was thinking school of rock that's check [laughter] that was going to be the big like substitute teacher comes in puts out the the big TV for everyone playing [laughter] school school yeah it impacted my life seeing it um amazing all right now we get to talk about all things Indiana and um this question is going to be uh for Beau cuz uh you have been traveling 80 of the 92 counties. What's been the coolest story you've uncovered on the campaign trail across Indiana? I was in Vincens's recently. Uh shout out Vincens's Knox County.

And we went to this great spot there called Vern store. It's a local restaurant. Go I think it was founded sometime uh in the 1800s. It's now operated by a guy named Jake Scott who's a former coal miner from Gibson County nearby. And I think it was, you know, it it had been like a a neighbor localhood uh a local neighborhood store and then it became kind of a dance hall during prohibition and now it's just like a great community diner hangout. They have great tenderloins, great burgers.

The guy running it, Jake, just an amazing person. I think he coaches local sports there. Just a fantastic business owner and and uh I'd recommend everyone if you're in that part of the state, check out Vern store. That is awesome. Yeah. Uh, serving up classic comfort food and proudly keeping the hometown tradition alive in Vern, Indiana.

Yeah. Wow, that's sick. You guys should get together and just talk about counties. I think you guys I uh Well, I was just out See, this is an interesting one. I was just out in Monaceel. That's White County, named after Colonel Isaac White, who died uh on in the Battle of Tip Canoe, like in that area.

But the interesting piece is their county building is like got rebuilt in the like 70s or 80s. So it's like not one of like the beautiful historic county buildings cuz a tornado came through Monaceel. And so even their um their main street square is all like pretty single level because this was in the 80s or again I don't remember when the tornado was 70s 80s. Don't check fact check me please. But like they don't have one of those. you can go to like all the surrounding counties and they have like those old historic like old stone government buildings and I was like dang what happened to your guys' and they're like oh the tornado came through and I just so fascinating to learn about like sometimes whether it's weather or just the fires that happened or floods that happened down in English like when you have to move an entire downtown Crawford County come on like I love tell you this is new this is like you guys got this like if if there's a you know I don't know if there's ever like a position for like the official Indiana historian.

Like that's what I want to run. Like I will campaign for that. Like nobody knows more useless random [laughter] Indiana knowledge except for maybe Samson. Do you guys know Samson Levston? He does the walk and talk indie down. He is like he is like a character.

Uh but he is one that can uh combat with me on useless Indiana knowledge. But I love it. It's not useless to me. So the Vern store. Vern store. Check it out.

I love that. Lindsay, what's your favorite stop on the Monan Trail? Oh, that is hard. Um, I like have a lovehate relationship with the Monan Trail because you know when you're a runner like in your training and those really hot days, you're like, "Oh my god." Um, I so I really love the Midtown um corridor right there. So, um I again there's kids, there's families all the time out there playing.

There's playgrounds, there's Sun King. You there's really something for everybody out there. Um and so I just that's that's my favorite part. There's also a lot of water stops. So like you know when you're running like that is like they do a great job with that dude. That stretch of the world like Midtown Carl I as a proud resident of Marian County.

I hate how much I love it. Like I hate how much it's awesome. Like it it is it really is amazing you know and it's like I mean that is the thing. Carmel gets a ton of hate because it's just like oh this you know the little statues from downtown and they like count all the bikes and the walkers and the moan on but it's like you go there and hang out it's like this is pretty cool pretty good that it is and I I really hate that caramel gets the hate that I mean there's just you know this persona that's been built over over years but that is not if you come to Carmel go to Westfield it is not what you have in your mind right it is there's diversity university. There's young, there's old, there's it's just young kids are graduating college and moving to Carmel. And I like 10 years ago.

Oh gosh, did I No, wait, not 10 years ago. I'm not that old yet. But uh when I graduated college 2019, I would never have dreamed of moving to Carmel, Indiana. I was like, you could have put me anywhere else on the map. Like, no way I'm going to be a suburbanite in Carmel. [laughter] And now it's like there's vibrant night life and like it's a some other there's a line out the door at three up and I'm like what is going on?

Where in the world am I? It's wild. It is. These are the the same questions that we ask every guest who comes on. This question is brought to you by our friend at JC Hart. They're a leader in creating enjoyable living experiences at apartment communities all across Indiana and beyond.

Check them out at homejcart. com. So my question for both of you, why do you call Indiana home? Well, this is the place I was born uh just on the north side at St. Vincent's Hospital. This is a place my family has been from for seventh gener seven generations.

The people I love are here. I love this state with everything in my being. Uh I'm going to call it home for the rest of my life. I just I this is a place that's an amazing place to raise a family. It's an amazing place to take in a football game. The Colts are hopefully do a little bit better next year.

Uh or basketball game or just you know go to a sporting event like the Indy500. It's just such an exciting place to be particularly right now and um I'm just looking forward to spending the rest of my life here. Yeah, I mean same born and raised in Valparezo. Um Valpo the region. Thank you. Um I and I stayed here, right?

Uh there was a time that I wanted to get as far away as I could, but then Dep you know did its thing and and kept me here because I love there's I love DPA so much. We can get into that at some point too. Um but it my people are here too. like uh we have found our community and there was a about four or five years ago I had an opportunity to maybe move to Santa Ana and we were really considering it and it was like are we going to really start all over again with we have just this incredible friend group. Our kids are playing on sports teams now which I feel like I'm like kind of getting into that like middle-aged mom where it's like now my like friends are my son's like team and like I know that happened with my mom and I'm like oh my gosh it's all happening again but here it is. I see it as I feel so grateful for the women um and and the parents that I've met in these communities.

Um and just there's something there that I don't ever want to um I [clears throat] don't want to take for granted and I and I don't want to get away from. So like Indiana is home. My my grandparents came over from Czechoslovakia after World War II. Um my grandmother spoke no English and but she built a life here up in the region um with my grandfather. And so like that's special. Those are those are roots um and they're here.

Yeah, you know, I was I was in the Marine Corps and that, you know, my service in the military took me a lot of places and I always just felt this gravitational pull back here. Um, so I agree with everything you said. Thank you. I'm excited to go explore the region for uh I'm going to the Whiting Perogi Fest where they serve over 1 million perogis in a weekend. Oh, yeah. Very, very excited about that.

I also got invited to the Gary Air Show. I've heard great things as well. The region always gives me a bunch of flack cuz I don't make it up there a ton. Um, so I'm changing that this summer. We're headed up there. We're going to we're going to hang out.

Cool. Okay. We have the same three questions that we ask every guest who comes on the show. Uh, first, this is your opportunity to shed some light on a part of the state that more people need to be talking about. Could be a park, a restaurant, a place. What is a hidden gem in Indiana?

Well, uh, there's a great festival called the Blueberry Festival in in Plymouth, which is in That's Marshall County. I grew up in Bourbon County. I grew up 15 minutes. Okay, there you go. Oh, dude. you.

I got my license that like maybe a month before the blueberry festival. My first date over to Oh, yeah. Exactly. [laughter] Yeah, that was fireworks. Come on. If you If you like fresh blueberries, blueberry pie, blueberry jam, just I mean, they have a lot of other food, too.

Donuts, donuts, ice cream, blueberry. I think there's a 5k. Yes. If you want to work it off, you can do the parade. Blueberry. Oh, they have like back in the day they used to have like a blueberry pie eating contest, arm wrestling, skateboard competition, like over a 100,000 people come to Plymouth, Indiana for the blueberry festival.

When is this? September. Labor Day. Labor Day weekend. It was and fireworks, hot air balloons. This I didn't realize it when I was there cuz it was just like it's just the blueberry festival and then you get away from it and you're like, dang, the blueberry festival is an institution.

It's that's a good pull, Beau. We could go counties day for day. I love [laughter] that. You really can. Okay. What is your hidden gem?

So, I am going to take this back to the region. So, there is a place in Varezo called Valpo Velvet Ice Cream and it is a local mom and pop store. I worked there all through high school. It was, you know, my my job. Um, but it is such a staple of the Valrazo community and every time we drive by, my kids are like, "We got to go to Valpo Velvet cuz it's just so fun. Their ice cream's really good, too."

Um, so when you are doing your region tour of the region, you got to stop in Valpo and go to Valpo Velvet. What I like about it, they make their own ice cream. They do. So some scoop shop, again, we don't we don't disrespect any sort of ice cream on this show, but some scoop shops like you're buying like the same, you know, big box ice cream, but there's certain places like there's one here in Indie called Lick. They make their [clears throat] own ice cream. It is so stinking good.

Family-owned since 1947. Yep. Yep. Wow. Our ice cream is made using the same methods and recipes our grandfather used nearly 75 years ago. Uhhuh.

Yep. It's great. I mean, I would go back and, you know, they'd be making the ice cream and you just go grab another gallon and take it up. And I mean, again, like complete mom and pop store, but it's still it's still over ice cream. Sycamore ice cream in Loganport. That place is legit, too.

Sycamore in Loganport. Oh, we're talking C County. Cass County, baby. Got it. Home of the berries. The first uh the first depiction of a mascot was Felix the Cat for the Berries.

Don't know why Felix the Cat, who is their m their mascot, why they chose Felix to be They're the Logan Sport Berries. Like, I don't know what the connection is there, but it is. Yeah, I need to go do my deep dive. Um, I love it, dude. I could This is great. [laughter] Okay, next you get the opportunity to uh tell us about someone who we need to know about who's making a big impact and more people need to be talking about who is a Hoosier we need to keep on our radar.

Someone who's doing big things. Well, Lindsay obviously, but uh there's Brandon Sackman is the mayor of Terode. I think I think you've had him on your show. He's the chairman of our campaign and he's just a you know amazing person. He as a young guy graduated Kelly at IU had every opportunity available to him in the world and what did he decide to do? commissioned as an army officer, became an Army Ranger, and then tried and ran ran for mayor of his hometown at 27 years old.

And so, like, he embodies everything of what Indiana should be, right? You have all these opportunities open to you as a young person. You choose to stay here and you choose to serve a place where you grew up. I I just love that story of service and I'm proud to call him a friend. Yeah. The only thing wrong with Brandon is that he has an Android.

[laughter] That's the only He does have the green text. The green text, dude. I I I went through it and look, man, this guy's a Kelly grad, army veteran, like the whole night. Mayor at 27. It's like the only thing he's got green text like, no, we love Sackman. He's a great dude.

Uh good good friend of the show. And he came on with Samson and did a whole like terraote uh deep dive into the history. It was awesome. Yeah. Okay, Lindsay. There is a woman called Mara Taylor and she is one of my best friends going back to SKL.

We met then. so you can make friends later in life. Um she um owns her own company called uh uh Taylor Advising and they actually just did the um IMPD strategic plan. Um and so they are doing such great work in the community. Um and she is just she's involved in so many places. Her heart is in the right spot always.

Um and I just want to give her a shout out um because again they do great work um across the nonprofit sector um and beyond. and she has really grown her business um to great heights. I love that. Yeah. Okay, final question. When you think about it and you look back through your memories and think about what makes what one stands out as uniquely Indiana?

What is your favorite Indiana memory? I got I got one. So, we used to go to I'm a huge Colts fan. My brother used to work for the team for the past three years and we we used to go to Colts training camp every year. And so I remember one Payton was on the team and I remember one year we we got to eat for some reason in the dining hall with the players which is really cool. And so I'm sitting there with my brother.

I'm eating our lunch and Pton Manning walks by our table and he just looked at me and my brother and he said you better clean your plate. And I was like this is a pretty cool I said yes sir. [laughter] Yes. And so you know we just uh that's an interesting sports memory growing up. Obviously sports is just a huge part of our culture here in Indiana. Um with IU being so successful this past year that was great to see too.

That's just a memory that sticks out in my head is, you know, I mean, you probably like resonated for like decades. You know, I was like finishing my Yeah. Anything my mom put in front of me, I was like, let's go. Payton said I had to. [laughter] Oh, that's a great one. Um, so, you know, staying within the sports uh theme, you know, Indiana basketball um at the high school level is like a huge deal, too.

And, um, going back to, you know, Valareerezo, my dad um brought Bryce Drew as my special guest in third grade. Do you guys know who Bryce Drew is? He played for Valres University. He was like the three-point shot. Couple good teams. They got into like the Sweet 16.

Yeah. He was a really big How did your dad know him? Well, cuz my dad was a principal of the high school, remember? So, like I got a special guest with Mr. B. Who's your basketball?

Something. It was a special title. Yeah. He won Mr. Basketball. Yes.

Yes. And so I had this picture and it's one of my favorite pictures of like my dad and me and Bryce Drew like playing as like our third grade show and tell like that is the most Indiana thing. Quintessential. Um because again it is bringing it back to like small town communities like you know Valparezo is is is big but at the same time like we cannot go anywhere now probably similar to you guys is in in our little community of Varezo people know my parents right we can't go anywhere without that and so that is um it's just a core memory that is just very Indiana to me. So it was it was bring a guest to school and and your dad walks in the 1994 Mr. basketball and Gatorade Indiana player of the year as pretty cool picture.

So I [laughter] love it. I just love hearing people's memories. It's like like today, you know, 10 years from now someone's is going to be like I was a senior at IU when they won the national title and I was on Kirkwood and you know someone was hanging from the stop lightss or whatever and it just like you know there are just so many cool core memories whether it be Indy500 or any sort of Super Bowl was another one. Exactly. I love it. Well, hey y'all.

It's been a pleasure to talk all things Indiana public service and just like why younger people, just people in general should not be apathetic towards what's going on in local government and help make Indiana a great place. If people want to learn more about you guys, if they want to connect with you, if they want to learn more about what y'all are up to, how can they do that? So, our campaign website is just bobby. com. Bauyh. com.

We're on every social media platform. Just bow by. Um, shoot me an email, sign up, volunteer. Would love to talk to you. Thank you. Same thing.

It's lindsygram. com. We're really original with these uh websites. Um, so ls a y g r a m l i. com. Um, lindsy gramlick for state rep.

Um, just follow all the um, social media stuff. You know, we try to be really informative on social media and just show where we are. We're not trying to get into anything that is divisive or anything. So, and at the end of the day, what I'll say is win, lose, the whole nine yards there. Uh the state of Indiana is better because people are willing to go out there and, you know, campaign, put themselves out there for what they believe in and for the state that they want to create. And I hope listeners take that away.

If you take one thing away from this podcast, whether it be start a business, run for office, volunteer, do go out there and do something to make Indiana better. It's so easy to sit there and get into the local Facebook chatter group [laughter] and and complain about what's not right. And if we just all did one thing, doesn't have to be huge. You don't have to run for governor, but one thing to make Indiana better, the place would be even better than it already is. Sure. All right.

We'll talk soon, y'all. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater. Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations at [music] Sweetwater. If you want a behind-the-scenes look at everything we're doing across the state, make sure you follow me on Instagram and [music] Tik Tok, Nate Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of what makes the Hooer State great. We'll see you next time here on Get