As demonstrated by the impassioned fight over the Blue Line this year, the battle for legislative control between the Statehouse and the city of Indianapolis is aflame — and candidates for political office are taking notice. 

Three of the four Republican candidates for House District 90 — Tim McVey, who works for a storage company, former pharmacist David Waters and former deputy attorney general Andrew Ireland — are campaigning on hyperlocal issues such as zoning and crime. Elizabeth Williams, the fourth Republican running in the primary, could not be reached for comment.

“I’m all for local control in Evansville, in Terre Haute, in Fort Wayne,” Ireland told Mirror Indy. “But Indianapolis is our capital city. I don’t think there’s anything wrong, just the same way that our Congress has a broader role over what happens in Washington, D.C., than other cities, for the Statehouse to have a broader footprint on what happens here in our city.”

The four Republicans are facing off in the primary to replace Rep. Mike Speedy, the Republican who’s represented Indianapolis’ southeast side since 2010. Speedy announced in January he’d seek U.S. Rep. Greg Pence’s seat in Indiana’s 6th Congressional District. 

On the Democratic side, Dominique Davie, who lost a City-County Council race to Republican incumbent Mike Dilk last year, is running unopposed. 

While the Republicans who spoke with Mirror Indy overlap on some issues, such as lowering property taxes, each approaches the race with different experience and convictions.

Waters: ‘I do my research’

This race is a bit of a deja vu moment for 59-year-old David Waters. He ran against incumbent Speedy for House District 90 in 2022, though Speedy beat Waters with 82% of the vote. 

Born and raised in Vincennes, Waters is not a career politician. He worked as a pharmacist for many years. Over a decade ago, Waters said he noticed people were getting prescribed opioid addiction treatment drugs like Suboxone for pain management.

Waters advocated for greater regulation of these drugs, leading him to work with former state Sen. Brandt Hershman to get a bill passed in 2016. That legislation prohibited people from using Medicaid to get opiate dependence substances for pain management and established opioid treatment guidelines in Indiana. 

But after the 2020 election and the events of Jan. 6, 2021, Waters was inspired to get more involved, hence his 2022 race. He’s now running again, hoping to capture what he missed out on two years ago. 

“I do my research,” he said. “If I’m unfamiliar with an issue, I will go do the homework to make myself familiar with that issue.” 

He’s focusing on what he refers to as medical liberty — specifically speaking out against any vaccine requirements — and election security. He proposes allowing the state legislature to review the Secretary of State’s handling of the election before it is officially certified by the governor. 

Waters believes the 2020 election exposed cracks in the legal process by which elections are certified across states, especially where he claims the election certification was suspect, in states like Arizona, Pennsylvania and Michigan. (In truth, there is no proof of any widespread voter fraud or election security issues in those or any states in 2020.)

Waters also wants to ban property taxes, which he says are “evil.”

“A lot of seniors right now are living in modest homes,” Waters said. “Now they have this looming threat overhead — yeah, I could lose my home over failure to pay property taxes.”

McVey: ‘Focused on the people I represent’

This race is personal to McVey, 43. He was born and raised in Franklin Township, the area he’s seeking to represent in May’s election. 

McVey’s a graduate of Franklin Central High School, and he’s lived on Indy’s southeast side all his life minus four years at Ball State University. He’s involved in the area: Every weekday morning, he drives his kids’ school bus. 

“I have established relationships with a lot of people in the community,” he said. “I am truly focused on the people that I represent.”

That local knowledge translates to his campaign strategy. McVey said he plans to run a “micro-focused” campaign that hones in on issues challenging House District 90, such as infrastructure, school funding and property tax abatements. 

McVey wants townships like Franklin to be able to control what types of projects are built in their communities through zoning. Currently, zoning is approved by the city of Indianapolis through the Metropolitan Development Commission. 

Should McVey get elected, he plans to introduce legislation that would allow townships to have control of zoning. McVey said there are too many residential neighborhoods popping up on the southeast side — and that there aren’t enough businesses to sustain the residential growth in the area.   

“I think the townships are big enough in Marion County that they should be allowed to make those local decisions themselves,” he said. “I think that’s something that we need to address at the state level, because it’s obviously not something that’s going to happen at the city level.”

Ireland: ‘We need fresh, young leadership’

Ireland, 29, is the youngest candidate running. But, he said, that’s exactly what’s needed these days. 

“We need fresh, young leadership, I think, to really make a difference at the Statehouse,” he said.

Ireland’s from Darmstadt, a small town in southern Indiana just north of Evansville.

He got into politics by volunteering for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign in 2016. After graduating from law school, Ireland joined the Indiana Attorney General’s office, where he would eventually serve as deputy attorney general under Todd Rokita until 2022. He now works as a private practice attorney. 

Ireland touts his experience working in Rokita’s office as a reason voters should elect him. 

“When you talk about conservative causes, like the right to life, defending Second Amendment liberties, election integrity, I mean, frankly, I’m the only one in the race that has had experience in any of those things,” he said.

Ireland’s focusing on causes near and dear to the Republican supermajority at the Statehouse — including school choice and anti-abortion causes. He’s also campaigning on addressing crime, especially in the city of Indianapolis. Should Ireland get elected, he said he’d introduce legislation that would allow the governor to terminate local prosecutors who they feel are not tough enough on crime. 

The office of county prosecutor is enshrined in the Indiana state constitution, though Ireland said he’d explore routes to get around that, including adding a constitutional amendment that would give the governor the power to remove prosecutors from office. 

That legislation is targeted, at least in part, toward Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears, a Democrat who in 2019 said he would not prosecute people arrested for having small amounts of marijuana and in 2022 said he would not prosecute abortion cases. Ireland said Mears is “blatantly refusing to enforce certain laws.”

“Frankly, we’ve got a prosecutor playing public defender. We have a public defender for that,” Ireland said. “It’s sad to see it.”

Williams: ‘Franklin Township is a special place’

Multiple attempts to reach Elizabeth Williams, the final candidate in the race, were unsuccessful. 

According to Williams’ campaign website, she and her husband own two area businesses: Creative World School Franklin Township, a daycare and preschool that opened in February; and Expedient Health Services Solutions. 

“I’m excited to announce that I’m running for House District 90 to serve the community I call home,” Williams wrote in a Feb. 15 Facebook post announcing her candidacy. “My husband Chris and I truly believe Franklin Township is a special place, which is why we chose to raise our children here and open up a pre-school.”

Williams’ campaign website said her top issues are supporting anti-abortion legislation, bolstering Second Amendment rights, economic development and education. 

She’s received an endorsement from Americans for Prosperity, the conservative political advocacy group affiliated with Charles and David Koch. 

Early voting has begun

Early voting for the primary election started this week and will continue until Monday, May 6 at noon. You can find a list of early voting sites near you here. 

[Indiana primary election coverage: Senate District 35.]

Starting April 9, you can vote early at the Indianapolis City-County Council building downtown. Beginning April 27, you can also vote at satellite locations around Indianapolis, including the Franklin Township Government Center. 

You must bring a valid photo ID to vote. The primary election is Tuesday, May 7.

Claire Rafford covers higher education for Mirror Indy in partnership with Open Campus. Contact higher education reporter Claire Rafford at claire.rafford@mirrorindy.org or on social media @clairerafford.

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