As a kid, my family had three initial Betamax movies: A Little Romance, Foul Play, and Breaking Away.
We watched them endlessly. Knew every word (still do). All three have a special place in our family lore.
So a visit to Bloomington, Indiana (where Breaking Away was filmed) already had meaning to me.
But it carried even more meaning yesterday because of what’s happened in recent weeks: Trump’s broader assault on the 2026 House election, his attempt to re-gerrymander Indiana to steal two US House seats as part of that plan, and a recent visit by JD Vance to Indiana’s state capitol to push for that heist.
Amid that dark plot, Indiana democracy activists rallied with only a few days notice to greet Vance with large protests.
So traveling to Bloomington yesterday, I was excited to thank them for their activism, and learn more.
And it was so great to meet a number of those protesters, as well as one of the organizers of that last-minute protest:
In the video above, I talk to Michelle Higgs.
I was so impressed to hear how Michelle and a growing network of groups worked to quickly rally folks to stand up to Vance when he showed up to Indianapolis to steal US House seats.
I was equally thrilled to hear her talk about how a number of groups—Indiana Rural Summit, and Organizing Indiana—are organizing rural candidates and communities across Indiana with the goal of recruiting a candidate to run in every single legislative district in the Hoosier States. As she tells me above:
“Our goal is to have every House race contested—but we particularly focus on our red and rural districts, that oftentimes are the invisible ones.”
Why does this matter?
“If you’re running in a really hard, hard place, be the disruptor candidate, be the messenger candidate. You’re going and amplifying and saying what actually happening because nobody’s holding them accountable.”
“We can’t bring the votes if people aren’t running in every race.”
Michelle says that public education and health care have particular resonance in these districts: “public schools are the heartbeat of these communities….We are seeing our hospitals at risk of closure.”
Michelle and others recently took part in a Motorcade for Medicaid tour of Southern Indiana to highlight cuts to Medicaid and how they undermine folks who live in rural Indiana. They will soon do the same up North.
As in Ohio, local property taxes are also spiking because of reckless statehouse decisions. “There are no voices representing the people.”
Michelle herself has already launched her own campaign for one of those districts (HD60)!
She and the others I met with are living up to my credo—that the front line in the battle for democracy isn’t some far away swing state. It’s wherever you live — red state or blue, red district or blue. For exactly the reasons that Michelle explained!
Thank you Marliss Desens, Michelle Robinson, Nancy Nottingham, Frank Hawkins, and many others for tuning into my live video!
And thank you to my new friends in Bloomington—I look forward to my next visit:
