2026 Voter Guide: Indiana's 5th Congressional District

Zak Cassel: Please introduce yourself to voters: who are you, what's your background, and top, let's say, three policy priorities.

J.D. Ford: Yeah. First of all, thank you for having me, I'm J.D. Ford. I'm currently serving in the State Senate. I've been doing that for the past eight years. But I'm a son of a truck driver. My mom was an administrator at an elderly facility.

And so I have a master's degree in education from Purdue [University], also a bachelor's of science degree from the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio. And my first job out of college was here in Indiana, and so I am a Hoosier by choice.

I ran for office in 2014. I actually lost that first election, but through that loss I learned so much, and decided to throw my hat back in the ring in 2018 and won that race, actually, on my 36th birthday.

So, I have a record in the state Senate that I'm very proud of. My reputation is being one of rolling up my sleeves and being a bipartisan, solving problems in a bipartisan way with bipartisan legislation. I'm known for doing my homework, asking good questions, and having really good constituent services.

And the three issues that I think we really like to talk about on this campaign, obviously, is healthcare, childcare, senior care, mental health care, those are the issues that I think people are talking about as they sit down for dinner every evening.

Cassel: So affordability is top of mind for many voters this year, but there's no single definition of what that means. In Indiana, people have spoken about the rising cost of living, including for housing, electric utility costs, gas, groceries. If you're elected to represent the 5th Congressional District, how would you address the rising costs of living and affordability for residents — and how would you define affordability? 

Ford: Yeah. So, we gotta make housing more affordable for Hoosiers by banning international investors and big corporations from buying up homes and keeping on to that stock.

We gotta control utility costs by standing up to politicians who would rather rubber stamp our utility rate increases, you know, while in the State Senate, I actually voted [for an amendment that failed] to end the 7% sales tax [on utility bills] and also voted in favor of House Bill 1002, which is going to hopefully going to bring down the cost of utilities for people in our state. I don't think that bill went far enough, but it's definitely a great start for Hoosiers.

We gotta take on the president's chaotic and erratic tariff policies that have left our farmers with silos of harvests that they can't sell. And we also have to lower healthcare costs to make sure that every family, no matter where they live, can access affordable, quality healthcare. And then, finally, just stand with working families, organized labor, to ensure that workers are never left behind.

So I think those are the things that, as I travel the 5th District, people talk to me: gas, utility, groceries. These are the things that, you know, people feel is the affordability crisis in our country at the moment.

Cassel: Is there a policy proposal you have to address that? 

Ford: Yeah, so, I think, in terms of affordability, gas in particular, in a couple of days, the holiday for the sales tax is going to expire, and so, the gas tax, and so, you know, we know that the gas is gonna be, you know, the cost of that's going to be driven up.*

My opponent, Victoria Spartz, has voted to keep the war [in Iran] going twice now, which we know Hoosiers are, they're connecting the dots.**

They're seeing that as we continue this war, that gas prices are going to be high. So, I would have voted against that war and listened to the people of the 5th District.

*Editor's note: This interview took place Aug.4. Gov. Mike Braun extended the gas tax suspension a day after this interview and again this month until Oct. 6.

**Editor's note: This interview took place Aug. 4. The U.S. House since voted a third time to pass resolutions directing the president to "remove the United States Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran." Spartz voted no each time.

Cassel: So, the SAVE America Act would change federal election law to institute proof of citizenship and photo ID requirements. Supporters say the legislation would make the country's elections more secure; critics say it would make it harder for eligible voters to participate in elections, and create barriers for women and others. Donald Trump has taken actions to reduce staff at the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency and the federal election commission, the Election Assistance Commission, both agencies which have a role in federal elections. I've reported on election security here in Indiana. Officials say they are confident in our election security. What's your position on the SAVE Act, and do you have any specific election policies you would pursue if elected as representative of this district?

Ford: Yeah, I think, you know, for the SAVE Act, you know, it's a controversial, hot topic issue in our country at the moment, and what I would do and what I would say is that, you know, I believe that people should show their voter ID, you know, when they go vote.

But I also believe that this administration is putting this proposal in place, it's currently stalled in the Senate, so we'll have to see what happens, but I think it's a way to save his presidency.*

When I'm elected as your member of Congress, yes, I want to make sure that our elections are safe, secure and fair, but I also believe that we need to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. That is something in our Congress right now that we could do, that could help with voting in our state.

*Editor's note: This interview took place Aug. 4. At time of publication the SAVE America Act is still stalled in the U.S. Senate.

Cassel: President Donald Trump has directed the federal government to increase immigration enforcement, and Indiana leaders have passed policies to increase coordination between the state and federal immigration enforcement. Americans are divided on the issue, but a Harvard Kennedy School survey of more than 30,000 Americans in 50 states found 37% approval for Trump's policies overall, with a 67-point gap between Republicans and Democrats, and 33% approval for ICE's enforcement actions. Recent reporting has found issues at the Miami Correctional Facility, which holds immigrants for ICE, and there was a controversy in your district regarding an ICE office in Carmel. What do you think federal immigration policy should be, and what is your vision for how that would play out in Indiana? 

Ford: Yeah, I think for immigration, certainly, I think we can all agree we need the enforcement to get the hardened criminals out of our country, but I think with this administration's efforts, they've gone a little too far.

And, certainly, with ICE, we need to hold them accountable. We need to make sure that they get the proper training. Right now, they only get 47 days of training, which is homage to the 47th president.*

I certainly don't think that is enough time for people to enforce the laws of our country, particular, immigration laws.

We also need to make sure that those ICE agents are enforcing signed warrants, not just pulling people out of their homes simply because of who or what they look like. We are seeing examples of, you know, elderly folks and children being pulled out of their homes to do that.

We need to make sure that there's a path to citizenship, and how we do that is look at the courts. Right now, there's, that docket is backed up for years. There are people who are trying to do what's right, they're trying to go, you know, to the courts, show up for their court hearings to, you know, get processed; however, you know, ICE agents are meeting them there, when they're actually trying to do the right thing. And these are our neighbors, these are our friends.

And unfortunately, I think ICE agents, in this moment, have caused a lot of chaos and terror in our communities. But we need to be focused on, you know, immigration. And I think a lot of people, including my opponent, she's had six years in Washington, D.C., to do something about this immigration.

She would love to use it as a hot button topic, but I think we need members who are going to go there to roll their sleeves up and get something done on immigration. And I plan to do that.

*Editor's note: The Trump Administration has shortened training. The exact number of days is disputed and news organizations and officials report different numbers. You can read more from Poynter's PolitiFact here. 

Cassel: In terms of the recent reporting about Miami Correctional Facility, there was at least one person who died there, and there have been issues with healthcare for immigrants in that facility. Do you have any policy proposals for that detention facility? 

Ford: Yeah, the first thing that I will say to listeners is that, as members of Congress, we have congressional oversight, and we are allowed to go and inspect these facilities. And I would use my oversight capabilities to do that: to go in to see for myself what I'm seeing there.

You know, a recent report says that medication wasn't being given to those folks. We need to figure out why that's the case and ask really good questions. And then, when I'm finished, come out to the community and report out about what I'm seeing. So that's what I'd say in regards to that.

Cassel: So, in the past few years, there have been technological advancements that are reshaping American society, including here in Indiana. I'm of course speaking about artificial intelligence. What role do you think A.I. and data centers should play in American society, and how would that translate into your policies if elected to represent the 5th Congressional District?

Ford: Yeah, so, I'll start with the data centers first. This is something that has garnered a lot of attention from multi-generations, different political stripes, you know, and I've been leading on this issue in the state Senate.

I have filed a bill for the past two years to require transparency and regulations, and to put communities back in the driver's seat. Unfortunately, my opponent, she's been taking money from these companies, and so I don't anticipate her trying to regulate them, by no means.*

And in fact I encouraged her to file the bill that I filed in the state Senate. I encouraged her to file it in the United States Congress, and let's get a jumpstart, you know, on this conversation about data centers.

Look, these data centers, they're eating up our electricity. There's no reason to look elsewhere, why we have high utility rates in our state. You know, people are seeing a 17.5% increase in those bills. Well, I think the data centers are a part of that. We've got about 75 data centers in the queue, to come online in Indiana, so, you know, we need to, you know, provide some regulations on those data centers.**

A.I. is the same thing. Just this past weekend, we saw OpenAI and Anthropic, you know, in their testing capabilities, the A.I. busted out of that, tunneled out of it, and hacked another, you know, company. So we need to, you know, get our arms around A.I. You know, we're seeing A.I. used in grocery stores and healthcare, and they do have a purpose, but we've gotta put regulations around it.

*Editor's note: WFYI could not verify this claim. 

**Editor's note: WFYI cannot verify this number because there's no centralized tracking of data centers existing or planned in Indiana. Here is a website with counts of existing data centers, but it may not be complete.

Cassel: We don't have much time left, but for your final question, I want to ask: how does your time serving as Indiana state senator prepare you to represent all residents of the 5th Congressional District in the U.S. Congress, regardless of what side of the political aisle they're on?

Ford: Yeah, so, you know, in my time in the state Senate, I'm so humbled and honored to represent Hoosiers for the past eight years, and when people call my office, they don't, I don't ask them if they are Republican or a Democrat, I simply ask them, How can I help you?

And that's exactly the type of mantra I'm going to take to Washington, D.C., as a member of Congress. I know people will disagree with me. Sometimes I wish people would put the phones down and just, let's have a conversation, and so sometimes, with people who'll leave a telephone number, I will call them back.

And sometimes it's, you know, finding a place of common ground. And then when we can do that, then we can actually have a conversation about solutions and how can we get things done for people. And that's what I'm proud of. I'm proud of my time in the state Senate of serving Hoosiers, and I plan to do that when I go to Washington.

Cassel: Thanks so much for joining us, J.D.

Ford: Thank you.

Zak Cassel: Thank you for being with us, Representative.

Victoria Spartz: Thank you, thank you for having me.

Cassel: Please introduce yourself to voters: who are you, what's your background, and what are your top three policy priorities?

Spartz: Well, I represent 5th Congressional District for the great state of Indiana, Victoria Spartz, and I actually used to do finances accounting as a CPA, working in public accounting, variety of industries. Started my own businesses, including farming, actually drive a combine, a tractor not just for picture op. But I've been involved with a variety of industries.

Actually, you know, my first job was a floating bank teller [laughs] in one of the small banks in Hamilton County, and as most of you probably know, I grew up in Ukraine with Soviet Union, and 26 years ago, crossed the ocean young [laughs], adventurous, inspired by this great republic, and was concerned about things enough to become a politician. But now, I'll have to save the republic, and you guys hopefully help me too.

And the biggest issues probably I been working on, is really fixing our national debt. As a finance person, I understand the challenges and implications, which is makes me work on fixing healthcare, because it's the biggest driver of national debt. And trying to reform Congress.

Our institution is broken and not doing the job. As you can see, Congress has [inaudible]. I would really get depressed. So people understand that institution being abandoned job for decades now, so we have to fix it.

Cassel: Thank you. So, affordability is top of mind for many voters this year, but there is no single definition of what that word means. In Indiana, people have spoken out about the rising cost of living, including for housing, electric utility costs, gas and groceries. If you're elected to represent the 5th Congressional District for another term, how will you address rising costs of living and affordability for residents — and how would you define affordability? 

Spartz: Well, listen. If you have seen, you can look at, you know, our salaries and what you can afford anymore, even 26 years ago, can you afford a house now? You cannot afford a house. Can you afford healthcare? You can't afford healthcare. Look at prices of food. I mean, everything became very unaffordable.

I think we do a lot of dishonest CPI [consumer price index] calculations, right? But in reality, you cannot afford to really live American dream, you cannot afford to own assets, and be part of middle class.

And I think if you look at that, in the last three decades, only 12% of people increase their net worth, and I think that is very alarming for the country, where people are getting on top are richer and richer and a lot more people have not opportunities becoming very destabilizing for the country, so we have to fix this.*

But it goes back to bad policies that didn't happen overnight, but driving a lot of inflations and a lot of, you know, high prices, hyperinflation of price. We have bad healthcare policies, you know, there is a, you know, price of healthcare, it's insane! It's insane. And that's also destroying the fiscal situation in, of, our federal government. That's pretty much most of our debt, it's all healthcare, we're not getting healthier.

So I said, I'm actually trying to do some things, even this Congress. Hopefully. And very difficult in an election year, but I tried to move price transparency on the floor in September. And unfortunately, both parties have not very good legislation, let me tell you. So I'm trying to fix it, and hopefully, we at least bring transparency so people understand what an atrocious situation we have, and let's start fixing healthcare, you know.

And then, what is really driving a lot of prices? If you look at it, it's bad energy policy. Bad energy policies, you know, where we're destroying domestic energy, you know, allow some adversaries to — you know, like Russia or Iran now — to manipulate markets, right?

If they have control of energy, they can have hybrid, asymmetrical warfare, and that's what they do and destabilize markets. So we need to have smart energy policies. We need to have smart manufacturing and mining policy.

When we lost manufacturing, mining to China, let's be honest, they're not our friends, and they can manipulate supply chain. We saw during Covid, when they control 90% of our, you know, drugs, manufacturing of just simple antibiotics, you know, that's a national security issue. They can choke supply chains, they can manipulate price, so we need to de-risk and diversify manufacturing.

Not necessarily maybe everything here, some stuff here, but you know, so we also need to look at, you know, our national debt, what's happening and how we can get it under control, because all of this driving a lot of inflation.

*Editor's note: WFYI could not verify the claim that only 12% of people increased their net worth in the last three decades.

Cassel: The SAVE America Act would change federal election law to institute proof of citizenship and photo ID requirements. Supporters say the legislation would make the country's elections more secure, while critics say it would make it harder for certain eligible voters to participate in elections and create barriers for women and others. President Donald Trump has also taken actions to reduce staff at the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Both agencies have a role in federal elections. I've reported on election security here in Indiana, and officials say that they are confident in our election security. What's your position on the SAVE America Act, and do you have any specific election policies you would pursue if you're re-elected to this position?

Spartz: Well, you now, actually, this is like, at least we could have passed voter ID, it's 80% issue. And it's interesting that it used to be not actually partisan issue. Actually, it's funny, when my appointment was in the Senate, it was me. I had legislation to make sure that we can audit elections, including for citizenship!

And Democrats supported me. And suddenly, we have voter ID laws, and now no one is supporting that. That's become very political issues, but I think, you know, some of this process is we need to make sure people have trust in elections.

We need to make sure that states, you know, doing a good job, and Indiana's doing better job than other state. Unfortunately, some other states don't take it seriously, but ultimately we don't have strong election system with strong control, with strong audits of what happened, and make sure that only legitimate people are voting, and there is, we're minimizing opportunities for fraud, you know, we will lose, you know, people trust, and if you don't have people trust and it comes in elections, that creates instability in the country.

So I think, you know, I'm actually trying to see, because unfortunately I do not know where we're going to land in this. I was hoping the Senate at least we can do ID, OK, you know, but it does, so we put some fiscal, you know, on reconciliation, some fiscal grants potentially for states to improve elections if states want to do.

And I'm thinking, OK, Indiana was actually one of the five states at the time was in the Senate, we have these post-election audits, including to make sure for accuracy of our [voter] rolls, and also the paper trail. And I've heard from some of the election administrators, actually, this year was the first year we were able to implement all of that.*

So I said, OK, let me try to do, maybe draft it at the federal level and maybe, you know, hopefully we can support it as a country.

So the rest of things, I'm actually working on the bill, maybe try to align it similar to what I've done in the state Senate, when I was what passed in the State of Indiana awhile ago.

*Editor's note: Spartz authored legislation to enable voluntary post-election audits in Indiana counties. It came into effect in 2020 with five counties. Not all counties have set up audit procedures, some may have implemented them for the first time this year. The state's program has conducted 45 post-election audits in 41 counties.

Cassel: So, as far as the SAVE America Act is concerned, as it's currently written, you want to see changes to it or do you want to see it passed as-is? 

Spartz: I think, listen, you know, I think, you know, we can look at the implementation. I think we getting now closer to that, you know, I have to look at which deadline now, we like waiting now because implementations might need be a little bit give states more time to implement that, you know, but if Senate wants to do it, because we've been trying to pass it for awhile, so I need to see, it's not going to be implemented before this election, it's just not realistic right now, right, for the states, so we might need to give some a little more time for states to implement it.

But ultimately we need to improve integrity of elections, and trust, trust. People need to trust outcomes of elections. It's very important. But for people to trust, we need to mitigate opportunities for fraud and help better control so people understand that only legitimate people are able to vote.

Cassel: President Donald Trump has directed the federal government to increase immigration enforcement, and Indiana leaders have passed policies to increase coordination between the state and federal immigration enforcement. Americans are divided on the issue. A Harvard Kennedy School survey of more than 30,000 Americans in all 50 states found 37% approval for Trump's policies, with a 67-point gap between Republicans and Democrats, and 33% approval for ICE enforcement of immigration laws. Recent reporting has found issues in the Miami Correctional Facility, which holds immigrants for ICE, and there was a controversy in your district regarding an ICE office in Carmel. What do you think federal immigration policy should be, and what is your vision for how that should play out in a place like Indiana?

Spartz: Well listen, I think we need to have border security. I think we cannot have lawlessness on the streets, we cannot have lawlessness on the border, you know — we're a country of law. We need to have better immigration policy. Unfortunately, it's also become politicized.

I mean, we're a country of immigrants. I'm an immigrant myself, you know, but I want to make sure we know who's coming in the country, and make sure that we're not open borders. We have lots of criminals and terrorists around the world that try to harm Americans, and this is actually the federal government's job to try to do it.

It's make it much difficult when some states, for political reasons, do not want to cooperate with the federal government. As you know, we're not really set up to do a lot of on-the-ground law enforcement, so if you have mayors, you know, or states, some, you know, your sheriffs are not, you know, collaborating, with you, they're cooperating, so it makes harder the job for federal law enforcement.

And it seems like we used to be much more agreement, at least we disagree maybe on a lot of issues, but on public safety, at least on national security, we had much more agreement, and it became very political issue, so I think, we need to have some common sense on some of this policy. And maybe, look, what to do, how we can improve that you can have, you know, people that we want to bring country legally, that have a better way to come country legally.

You also need to make sure that you don't have this situation right now where we used, we had immigration opportunities for American dream. You know, now we have immigration to welfare, and we bring, sometimes, people here who come here legally have better benefits than people in our country, and we have some people struggling.

Listen, I have some of the richest and poorest communities in the State of Indiana in my district, so we have our own people struggle. And so we cannot have a situation that we don't have money to help our own people. You know, you cannot have open borders and welfare state, so we need to get our situation under control, but have better immigration policy.

But unfortunately, this issue became so political, no one will even have discussions. So maybe after the election we'll get some common sense, but President Trump at least tried to get border under control and then deal with some criminals, which just makes it very hard when you don't have people cooperating with you.

Cassel: In the past few years, we, there have been technological advancements that are reshaping American society, including here in Indiana. I'm speaking about artificial intelligence, of course. What role do you think A.I. and data centers should play in U.S. society, and how would that translate into your policies if re-elected to represent the 5th Congressional district? 

Spartz: Listen, I think we need to, I think federal government, we never really look at the real framework on this. We tried on the Judiciary committee on a bipartisan basis, we tried to look how we could make sure that we have innovation, but also protect privacy and some of the data, and we have the big debate, I think over 30 hours in the Judiciary committee.

Republicans and Democrats one side, and Republicans — California Republicans and Democrats on the other side — and unfortunately, since Speaker Pelosi was from California, and Kevin McCarthy did prevail.

But I think we need to have a smart policy, you know, but we also need to make sure that we have a data generation. We cannot be adding data centers on the grid and not generate energy. We'll not just have problems, you know, with utility costs; we'll have a blackout.

So I think data centers should be paying, and also be transparent what benefit and value they bring to the people. Get people on board, you know. And if they don't do that, we shouldn't really let them just run wild. We need to push back on that, and I think that's something I haven't seen as much transparency.

That needs to happen way more on these issues. But I think it's also energy generation is a big issue for Indiana.

Cassel: Thank you so much, Representative.

Spartz: Thank you for having me.