What Would Julia Do?

A Final Question Before Indianapolis Votes

Friday, May 1

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Indianapolis, IN — Julia Carson grew up poor.

 

She was raised by a single mother who worked as a domestic to support the family. She waited tables, delivered newspapers, and harvested crops to help make ends meet before she ever held public office. She knew what it meant to need something and have nowhere to turn. That knowledge never left her. It followed her into the Indiana House, into the Center Township Trustee's office, and into the United States Congress where she served until the day she died.

 

She turned a $20 million debt into a $6 million surplus as Trustee because the people depending on that office needed her to. She secured the Congressional Gold Medal for Rosa Parks. She voted against the Iraq War in 2002 when that vote cost something. She kept photos of fallen Indiana service members outside her office door. She never moved from her neighborhood. She stayed because she believed that leadership means being present not just when the cameras arrive, but always.

 

Republican Congressman Dan Burton said at her memorial that the community loved Julia Carson because she was honest, she was direct, she cared, and she worked hard for her people.

 

That’s the standard this seat was built on.

 

This campaign has spent the last four weeks asking a simple question: What Has André Carson Done? We examined his record on roads, on Martin University, on Martindale-Brightwood, on voter turnout, on utility bills, on the 16th Street bridge, on legislative effectiveness, on campaign finance, on housing, on youth violence, on Iran, on the Epstein files, on federal grants, on criminal justice, on food insecurity, on Black-owned businesses, on down-ballot investment, on immigration enforcement.

 

The answer, issue by issue, has been the same. Statements issued after the moment passed. Positions taken after the pressure arrived. Credit claimed for money that flows automatically. Silence where a champion should have been standing.

 

Indianapolis deserves better than that. It always has.

 

On May 5th, Indianapolis gets to answer a different question. Not just what has André done. But what does this city want to become. Whether the seat Julia Carson built into something powerful gets used the way she used it—as a platform for the people, a weapon against complacency, a daily commitment to showing up for this community before anyone asked.

 

What would Julia do?

 

She would show up. She would fight. She would stay in community. She would take the hard vote before it was popular and stand with the people even when it cost her something. She would treat the platform of this office not as a possession to protect but as a responsibility to fulfill every day and for every family in this district who needed someone in Washington to give a damn.

 

That’s what this campaign has tried to be. A year of doors knocked and calls made and conversations had with the people of Indianapolis because that’s what the job is.

 

On May 5th, Indianapolis gets to decide what comes next.

 

The question is simple. The answer is yours.

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This is part of the Hornedo campaign's daily accountability series, What Has André Carson Done?, running through May 1st. Learn more at georgehornedo.com.

 

Indianapolis deserves more than a vote in Washington. It deserves a congressman who uses the full platform of the office to fight for federal resources, to force the conversation at every level of government, and to show up for this community before the cameras arrive. That's the standard. That's what's been missing.

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RECORD CHECK: The Center for Effective Lawmaking ranks Congressman Carson 197th out of 220 House Democrats in legislative effectiveness. Of his claimed 22 bills signed into law, 2 are standalone enacted bills—the Ariel Rios Federal Building naming and the Kennedy-King National Commemorative Site Act. 

 

73% of Congressman Carson's campaign funding comes from PACs, much of it from corporate PACs including AES Indiana, BlackRock, and defense contractors. Only 7% comes from small-dollar donors.

 

When Julia Carson held this seat, Indianapolis was a competitive Democratic stronghold that helped power statewide wins. Under André Carson, the 7th Congressional District has become the worst in Indiana for voter turnout and Democrats haven't won statewide since 2012.