Derrick Holder: ⁓ 19th Senate District life moves at a different rhythm than one you hear at the State House. It sounds like shift whistles before sunrise Friday night lights. in small town stadiums and families trying to make a living in communities where everyone still knows your name. But across Bluffton, Hartford City, Portland and southwest side of Fort Wayne, people are asking the same question heard all across Indiana. Who is fighting for working families now? Tonight's guest is stepping forward with an answer. A Democrat running in a district long shaped by Republican leadership. bringing a campaign focused on jobs, healthcare, education, and rural investment. Because in places like District 19, politics aren't abstract. It's personal, it's economic, and it's about whether the next generation can build a future without leaving home to find it. Good evening and welcome back to Hold Them Accountable, the show where we cut through the noise, follow the facts, and keep the focus where it belongs on the people of Indiana. Tonight's guest is Timothy Murphy, the Democratic candidate for Indiana State Senate District 19, District 19 reflects much of small town and working class Indiana. with strong agricultural roots, local manufacturing, and families deeply invested in their schools, churches, and community traditions. Murphy is running on issues many Hoosiers here feel every day. Economic opportunity, affordable healthcare, strong public education, and renewed investment in rural and small city communities. Tonight we go beyond campaign messaging to ask what he would actually do in the state Senate. How he'd work across party lines. What real change could look like for district 19. Tim, welcome to Holden County.
Timothy Murphy: Thank you, Derek.
Derrick Holder: District 19 includes rural towns and small cities facing population decline. What's your concrete plan to bring sustainable economic growth without losing community identity?
Timothy Murphy: So I looked at some of the county statistics in terms of the population changes and you're certainly right that two of the counties, ⁓ Blackford and Jay counties, have had ⁓ pretty steady population decline since about 1970. Two ⁓ of the other counties, ⁓ Wells and Adams, are fairly stable with a bit of growth. ⁓ But this is a very difficult challenge in some ways when you're talking about 55 plus years. I'm from Kentucky originally, so I've been ⁓ in Allen County for the past seven and a half years. And so I'm from Paducah, Kentucky, two hours southwest of Evansville. And the counties around Paducah had the exact same problem. Not a lot of economic ⁓ opportunities. ⁓ Folks that graduate from high school almost immediately leave. I mean, I myself am not living in the town I grew up in. So one thing I don't like when I hear from candidates or politicians is someone just saying they've got all the answers and anyone who just says, if only we did this, it'll all be great, vote for me, I'm the only one who can fix it. That for me is just like an immediate red flag of, whoa, if anyone had a clear cut, answer then they would be the most popular consultant or candidate in the country because they would have solved it. mean what maybe half the counties, two-thirds, three-quarters of the counties in the country are losing population just because of the way globalization has worked where places that have resources kind of compound on themselves and those that are a little more marginal in terms of where industry is or roads. just kind of get left behind. And so I don't have an easy answer to that, but I would want to look and see are there places elsewhere in Indiana or around the country that people have ⁓ had policy recommendations that have actually worked and helped stabilize communities and kind of look at those best practices and advocate for that. I will say you did forget Decatur ⁓ when you mentioned the towns and then
Derrick Holder: Mm-hmm.
Timothy Murphy: People in Decatur would go, wait a second, wait a second. But that's kind of my initial thought is that this is decades in the making is complicated. And I'd also, ⁓ I've been connected with the Indiana rural summit. And so there's a lot of other candidates there. And so there's ones who might have other ideas and, cause we can't all be policy experts on every ⁓ little piece. Honestly. ⁓ I was not part of District 19. I've lived where I've lived for seven and a half years since moving here for work, but I wasn't even part of District 19 until the redistricting took place in 2021, before none of Allen County was part of District 19. They had broken up Allen County into three different districts, which already was pretty bad. And they said, hey, let's do a fourth. And so they took this kind of little, little slip, about 10 % of Allen County and added it into District 19. And so, That was my kind of first exposure to kind of the broader district and going, ⁓ my goodness, this is a huge, huge area. ⁓ And so I'm still learning a lot from a lot of the communities there. I've got a full-time job, part-time campaign early in the season. So I need to hear from a lot of people, especially in Blackford and Jay counties, which I hadn't really had a chance to experience much until even, you the last year.
Derrick Holder: Mm-hmm.
Timothy Murphy: I'm just starting to get to know people and so forth because it's a huge district and a lot of the places I spend time where my work is, my grocery store is, are in different districts than even where my district is in because within like two miles, you got two other districts. So it's just, you know, I live in Fort Wayne, but I'm in district 19, which was part of the motivation to even run was to go in 2022.
Derrick Holder: Mm-hmm.
Timothy Murphy: when there was no one running other than the incumbent, not even an option. And I've basically been angry for four years saying, we need options. So I have a lot to learn ⁓ from folks in Adams, Wells, Blackford and Jay counties. But that's what I wanna kind of learn from them. But what are they thinking? What are some of their needs? And so that's also gonna come back on some of the questions I think you're gonna ask tonight is that, I need to hear from them and what are their insights versus me just theoretically saying, we should do this, ⁓ we should do that without ⁓ context on the ground.
Derrick Holder: so in your area, manufacturing and agriculture are economic pillars. How should Indiana support these industries while preparing for future workforce changes?
Timothy Murphy: Well, in some ways in terms of manufacturing, we often associate that with union jobs and a lot of private union jobs are almost outside of some automotive industries, almost non-existent at this point. So in some ways, the past is the future. I would love to see Right to Work. ⁓ laws abolished to make it much easier for unions to be formed for places. As far as agriculture is concerned, it's a huge kind of cultural pillar, I would say. I looked up, and I think it's helpful to have good data, and so I looked at the Hoosiers by the Numbers website just to kind of look at where are jobs, how are they actually divided up in the different counties, and in most of them, ⁓ Blackford, Wells and Adams, only 2 % of the workforce is in agriculture and that includes forestry, fishing, hunting kind of jobs. Now, I think Blackford, something like maybe 70 % of the county is agricultural farmland. So that means that literally 2 % of the population owns 70 % of the county. if we think of like small farmers, my father-in-law was a small farmer. had a main full-time job, but he also loved land and ⁓ on the side, raised cattle on some acres, but I don't know if it made much money, but it was because he loved the animals and he loved the land and the process. And so... There is a whole saying being helpful to agriculture is like, we're talking about big ag, we're talking about small farmers. How many small farmers are there? Are there people who want to be involved in farming and it's just not currently economically viable? I know in some ways, like 80 % of Americans live in metro urbanized areas, but are 80 % of us meant to live in those places? Maybe it's that we actually happier being around forests and trees and greenery, but there's not those ⁓ jobs. And so if there's ways of making it support for smaller farms to be viable, so it's not just big ag. Now we still need big ag in terms of making sure everyone has enough to eat. ⁓ Not everyone's gonna be a micro farmer or something, but I think it's helpful to just be cognizant of. It has a big impact visually and culturally, but in terms of jobs, think probably more people work at the Walmart than in the farms at this point. But most of them don't have very strong labor protections or worker rights at all.
Derrick Holder: Healthcare access is a major concern in rural counties. I know Blackford and Jay have IUs, IU hospitals there. What policies would you pursue to ensure residents don't need to travel long distances for basic or emergency care? What keeps them out of Indianapolis and Fort Wayne and keeps them closer to home?
Timothy Murphy: Well, part of it is a lament of where we are right now. ⁓ So it's not, the quality of care is very limited in some of these counties. So in Blackford, to my understanding, the Blackford Hospital has no ER. It's almost all kind of primary care and preventative. But if you have an emergency, I don't believe they provide treatment there. And the Bluffton ⁓ hospital in Wells County, they closed their entire birth department, their birth unit. cannot, I mean, if you want to give birth in a hospital, you got to go somewhere else. ⁓ And so some of that has been, some of it is hard to ⁓ recruit, it's always been hard to recruit doctors into smaller hospitals. But part of it is there's policies in our state that have made OBGYNs not want to work at all in not just Bluffton ⁓ or Blackford, but Indiana period with a lot of the restrictions that came in place after 2022 on reproductive care and access. And people can have the feelings they have on abortion, but it's the same OBGYNs that are providing ⁓ primary care for people to give birth. And so right now there's... There's so many things that, healthcare is essentially a market failure in our country. it's not profitable in a lot of places and if it's not profitable, it just isn't there. And there's a lot of things that need to be on the federal level. don't know, Kelly Thompson's been saying a lot about that, but on the state level, we're not doing anything to like move things in the right direction. We're only kind of exacerbating those problems. And so we almost need to kind of lament the harm that's been done, staunch the bleeding, and then see what is possible to actually ⁓ re-incentivize hospitals, genuine not-for-profit hospitals, to actually, for care and not, well, we're losing money in this county, so we're not gonna offer them. There's people there, they need healthcare. It doesn't... That's why.
Derrick Holder: I what happens when a farmer gets ran over by a combine?
Timothy Murphy: Yeah, you're right.
Derrick Holder: pretty much ⁓ you're saying is we need an ER for the ERs.
Timothy Murphy: I, the district is at least about 60 miles from end to end. ⁓ And I suppose folks might be able to go to Decatur ⁓ if they were in Bluffton, that might be closer than, but that's still, it's still, know, best case scenario, 25 minutes and emergencies are emergencies. It's not like, you know, I've got, ⁓ I've got a. stye in my eye better to see a doctor in the next few days. No, these are very time sensitive kind of things. Life or death makes a difference there. just part of my hope is that even just by running it, because no one's even run in 16 years in the district. And so maybe it actually would force whoever's on the Republican side to actually talk to people and advocate for them because right now they don't really have to do anything because There's no competition. They don't have to do anything.
Derrick Holder: schools in smaller districts often struggle with funding and teacher retention. What changes do you think about that we can push in the state senate to strengthen rural education? How do we keep teachers where we need
Timothy Murphy: So I've got a small scale idea and a completely unviable idea. I'll do the small scale one first. The small scale one is, you people talk about charter schools and private schools and some of the counties don't have any charter schools. And so there's literally the funding for public schools also gets shared with charter schools. I'm not a huge fan of charter schools, but I almost feel like that ship has sailed in terms of ⁓ that. But at a minimum, having required financial transparency for any school, public private charter that receives public funding. Because right now they can just kind of use the money however they want. And so if they're competing with public schools without public accountability, that seems really ⁓ problematic in terms of public schools. Now on a broader issue, that doesn't really solve teacher retention. Part of the issue is the way we fund schools is largely local property taxes. so wealthy places have more resources, places with less resources have fewer. And so in some ways we don't fund education the way based off need. Like in a world that I don't see happening anytime soon, though my campaign is called, let's make the impossible possible, I would think that teachers should be paid the most. in places where there's the greatest need. And if it's like a of a cushy near retirement kind of position, maybe don't need as much money because it's a real comfortable thing with not a lot of drama or difficulties or challenges. But that's completely the opposite way of schools are funded and it would get in the way, it would start messing with local property tax issue. So I mean, that's, I don't see a way to do that right now, but. But it's a challenge. My sister is a teacher in Kentucky, still in our hometown. And so she does it because she loves teaching and she loves the students. And it's not because of the pay or ⁓ also interference that she gets from state and federal policies.
Derrick Holder: How do we keep people from leaving Portland and Hartford City, young people who just graduate high school? How do we keep them? in the area? How do you create reasons for them to stay, work, and raise families locally?
Timothy Murphy: that is a big challenge. will say, I'm here in Fort Wayne, big four job opportunities. I'm not in my hometown. And so I understand, I am emblematic of the challenge. And part of me wishes that at times that I could live in Paducah and that there were jobs, a job that I could do there. So this has been going on for a long time, two, three generations. I think there are some things that maybe could be done that, again, they don't solve the issue per se, but they can be helpful. And I think that part of it relates with there's so few places, whether in small towns or even mid-sized towns, that are not either work or home. And people talk about third places. And so churches are third places, but not everyone's... you know, wants to go to a church ⁓ on a weeknight unless you're doing a Wednesday night Bible study or whatever. But like more third places, like maybe incentivizing communities, maybe providing funding for more third place community centers where people on weeknights can hang out and build community and gain a sense of belonging with others, which a lot of the time people stay somewhere is because they get those connections ⁓ and so forth. And the job is obviously important, but you know, that sense of belonging also really, really helps. Another kind of wild idea, ⁓ it's like, you can call it make rail great again, is I don't know if you're familiar with the Midwest Interurban Rail that was placed for decades. I looked at a map and it just infuriated me of like the rail map in Northeast Indiana, where there used to be connections to Ossian and Bluffton. and Decatur, and maybe even Bern, ⁓ I'm not sure, but lots of ⁓ of the smaller towns all connected together and there were like, someone showed me at my church a postcard that like some teenagers, there were like these like stations at the end of the line and they would like hop on it for fun and fill out a postcard and send it back to the family and be like, hey, we're. doing this thing because it was cool to go to Bluff to be like, if you're, and so the thing that ⁓ my wife and I wanted to take a trip to Scotland, we've been wanting to this for years, and last spring we visited Scotland, and there was this little town called Pitlockery, maybe 3,000 people, and they had a train stopping by every hour, every hour, town of 3,000, because it was just there. And so then the town was close to the rail station and so there were things to do and it was, you know, it's a small modest place. They had, they were more of like a, maybe an art town, but having a center that draws people there and has for other people, not just opportunity while you're working there, but people who don't live there to go there. In terms of before the campaign, in terms of going to Decatur, it was... There were some church meetings to go to and the eclipse in 2024. it's just, you need having those things, those connections so that even if, you can make a life in a place, even if maybe other jobs and so forth are in other places. Those are some of my ideas. I think Indiana has a whole rule about, we can't even get trains between major cities. much less, you know, small towns. But I think I feel that strongly for not just economic reasons, also, you know, reasons of inclusion and mobility for people who can't drive a lot of folks who are older, you know. ⁓ Anyway, I feel really strong about that one, but I recognize that rail advocacy is not going to be like the thing that pushes me over the line on the campaign. I care about it a lot and giving alternatives. ⁓ to driving because lot of can't.
Derrick Holder: Southwest Fort Wayne brings urban adjacent challenges, different from smaller towns. How would you balance policy for both rural and suburban voters in one district?
Timothy Murphy: didn't choose the district. ⁓ district ⁓ kind of progressive ⁓ areas of the O7 and the airport of Allen County and Fort Wayne and then the four ⁓ Wells, Adams, Blackford and Jay. ⁓ for me, it's not so much balancing, it's focusing on whatever helps people live ⁓ lives ⁓ whatever place they happen to be. ⁓ The focus is how do we help people improve their quality of life and be able to live lives of dignity and with opportunities wherever they are. And so that's the same. It just might look different in terms of what it means in terms of Allen County, which has grown, it's grown a lot in the past, you know, 30 years, grown, you know, tens of thousands of people. It's one of the more popular counties people are ⁓ moving to, ⁓ but there's... still tens of thousands of people in each of all those other counties and people want to live there and have a life there. And so ⁓ I don't find that to be a conflict in the same way. And I think a lot of people are connected with different parts of the... lot of would probably go shopping ⁓ in Fort Wayne, though I think that Jay and Blackford are so much further south, it matters to be going to Muncie. ⁓ as far as ⁓ chopping in some works things.
Derrick Holder: Mental health and addiction services remain limited in parts of the district. What investments would you prioritize to address this crisis?
Timothy Murphy: Goodness, I've been advocating for this in Allen County for years. Mental health is critically underfunded. think everyone agrees with that. And it seems to be that our state just can't help but want to cut funding and resources and... Indiana in general likes to say, know, low regulation, low tax state. But the cost of that is you don't have services that actually, from people who need it. And I don't think that mental health is a partisan issue or shouldn't be a partisan issue. I don't think there's statistically significant differences or disparities between Republicans, Democrats and independents on people going through mental health crises. So it's needed. And honestly, it can be even harder in rural counties where like in Allen County, there's some things that they're kind of tailored to certain populations, communities, but there's kind of not a broad base piece. And in other counties, there may not be anything other than maybe like a ⁓ Zoom ⁓ telehealth therapist, but something in crisis. There are so many things that I just, think of as market failures, that if we say, the market will provide this if there's a need, but there's not the capability to make it financially viable. And that's the key place for me where state needs to come in and say, this is a need that, this is clearly a need, but there's no way that the market alone is gonna just cover that. so... And then there's all, you get weird policy things where people find it advantageous to demonize those in addiction, facing addiction, those with mental health crises because maybe they maybe have run-ins with law enforcement and so forth and they're in and out of jail because that's the only place to take them. And so people are like, well, we don't want to give funding to people who are criminals. And so you get all this demonization. garbage, I don't have a lot of patience for. ⁓ It clearly wins votes because people keep doing it. They've been doing it for decades. But ⁓ I'm not going to demonize and I'm going to advocate ⁓ that regardless of people's ability to pay or where they live, they need these resources because everyone should be able to live lives of dignity. And if you're in crisis, ⁓ that's not who I believe we're meant to be and ⁓ that we can do better. But I want to live in a state that treats people with dignity. And I just, that's what I'm trying to do.
Derrick Holder: As a Democrat in a likely Republican controlled Senate, how would you build coalitions strong enough to pass legislation, not just make statements?
Timothy Murphy: Well, that is a challenge. As of this moment, the Senate is, I think, 39 Republicans, 10 Democrats, and one vacancy. And it was 40-10. So let's say I win. It would take a lot. Based off the presidential vote in 2024, you would need a 50-point swing for me to get 50%. Okay, well, that's a lot. But let's say it happens. The impossible becomes possible and I win. Well, that's 39 to 11. Okay, well, that's still a supermajority of Republicans running things if everything else was the same. So I will say if there's any issues, what there is overlapping interest. Maybe we have different reasons for it, but we can get on board it. So let's say parental leave. know, Indiana has no minimum parental paid parental leave. I would like to see at least 13 weeks paid parental leave everywhere. There might be some conservative pro-life folks that also believe in parental leave to make it easier to have kids. Now, they might have a different reason for supporting it, but I can work with someone. If we have a similar ⁓ idea of what needs to happen, even if have different motivations for it, I'll work with them on that. I have no issue with that. I'm fine with coalitions of convenience, coalitions of the moment, and then we can fight about something else. But I will say, It very well could likely be that more of what I would end up doing would be opposing things that the majority, super majority would be doing in the state, trying to tweak things, make some amendments where possible, and then if and when it gets passed over my objection, lament it, have press conferences, raise awareness in the community of what we're trying to do and what the obstacles are for that. I don't, I feel I spend a lot of my time. as a pastor, speaking up for justice and spending a lot of time, maybe apes of the time, losing. So I could just take that skill and apply it at the state senate and I think I'd be well served. But maybe they find those 20 % where we can see improvements and so forth and still keep pushing for a broader vision of what would be healthier and more life-giving in our state.
Derrick Holder: Why you? Why now?
Timothy Murphy: Well, as I said, no one has run at all here since 2010, in terms of even having a choice other than Travis Holdman. And it doesn't have to be me. Someone else could do it. But I wasn't willing to just do nothing. I felt ⁓ it was imperative. stand up to say, ⁓ if it's impossible, even if it takes a 50 point swing, which I'm not predicting, my future life plans are ⁓ on that kind of switch, you need options. And if we're gonna have a healthy representative democracy, you gotta have options. You gotta be able to ⁓ choose between things. And I really think that a lot of the challenges, there's a connection between the policies that we're not able to get through and the weakness frankly in our representative democracy in Indiana, there's a relationship there. And so that's a two-sided piece. So I'm gonna advocate for ⁓ better spaces ⁓ for Hoosier democratic participation, including ballot initiatives. That'd actually be, think, of anything, probably the most important thing, if you could get that through, that would be it. Because then even if you can't get a governing majority for progressive issues, In the state, if you got a majority of people of voters, they could have a ballot initiative and approve it. Minimum wage increase, childcare subsidies. ⁓ opening up reproductive access. That's the most important one. It's just because that actually gives us a space for democratic deliberation and input outside of, well, people voted for the people they had, so they must not have a problem with it. So I don't have a lot of ego in this race. I just want to see healthier policies, healthier systems that are easier for us to have, you know, healthier communities. And so ⁓ I'm very pragmatic in that way. And so what works, what's possible, and then also holding out that vision of what we want to see, even if it is impossible in the short term, because I believe there's a need for like idealism and pragmatism combined. And so I do that in my everyday life. I do that in my ministry as a pastor and doing that as a candidate on this very part-time basis while doing lots of other things and traveling around five different counties. and meeting people as I can.
Derrick Holder: Timothy, we've talked about the future of District 19 jobs, schools, healthcare, and the realities families face every day. But now it's time for the part of the show where the answers get shorter. the choices get clearer. No speeches, no talking points, just instinct. This is Hold'em or Fold'em. I'll give you a statement. If you agree, you hold'em. If you don't, you fold'em. ⁓ One sentence to explain. if you must. Are you ready?
Timothy Murphy: Okay. Hold them as a yes, fold them as a no. I might say yes or no. I'll try to say hold them, fold them as I can.
Derrick Holder: Let's play. Indiana should increase funding for rural hospitals and clinics, even if it requires reallocating state dollars.
Timothy Murphy: Yes, that's a hold'em.
Derrick Holder: Public schools should be fully funded before expanding voucher programs further.
Timothy Murphy: Yes, hold them.
Derrick Holder: Legalizing marijuana in Indiana would bring economic and criminal justice benefits.
Timothy Murphy: Hold them overall, think maybe ⁓ medical marijuana in the short term is probably more likely to pass and I'd be satisfied with that as an
Derrick Holder: The state should do more to protect small family farms from corporate consolidation.
Timothy Murphy: Hold them, absolutely, though I'm not sure how many small family farms there even are at this point. We need more. We need to help grow them.
Derrick Holder: Mental health funding deserves major statewide expansion.
Timothy Murphy: absolutely, critically underfunded.
Derrick Holder: Work... Workforce and apprenticeships should be a top economic priority.
Timothy Murphy: I'm struggling with top. It should be, it's super important and needed. ⁓ I don't know as compared to other things, but overall a hold them, yes.
Derrick Holder: Bipartisanship only matters if it produces real results for constituents.
Timothy Murphy: Working with the other party is good if it produces other results. ⁓ to that.
Derrick Holder: Property tax relief should focus first on homeowners and seniors.
Timothy Murphy: Certainly not businesses. ⁓ The property tax change basically mainly helped businesses and not homeowners and seniors. So hold them.
Derrick Holder: State government should invest more heavily in rural broadband and infrastructure.
Timothy Murphy: hold them not to Elon's satellite's no physical infrastructure, real infrastructure that's beyond the whims of multi-millionaires.
Derrick Holder: Your first responsibility as a Senator should always be to District 19 voters over party leadership.
Timothy Murphy: My first responsibility? Hold them, yes.
Derrick Holder: Yes. Timothy, thank you for being here tonight. Stepping up into the conversation, answering difficult questions and choosing to run for public office in a time when doing so demands real courage. Running for the state Senate means more than campaigning. It means standing in front of your neighbors and saying, I'm willing to be held accountable. In communities like Bluffton, Hartford City, Portland, Southwest Fort Wayne, DeGrader, I got it.
Timothy Murphy: and decay.
Derrick Holder: That willingness matters because families here aren't asking for politics. They're asking for opportunity, for stability, for the chance to build a future without having to leave the places they love. Whether voters ultimately choose you or someone else, democracy is stronger when people step forward to serve and when communities stay engaged in shaping their future. So Timothy, thank you for bringing your voice. your vision and your commitment to District 19 to this table tonight. We appreciate you being here. And to everyone watching at home, Indiana's future won't be decided by party labels or headlines. It will be decided by informed voters, engaged communities and citizens willing to stay part of the process. Because democracy isn't something we watch, it's something we do. So stay informed, ask questions, And as always, hold them accountable.
Timothy Murphy: Thank you, Derek.
Derrick Holder: District 19 includes rural towns and small cities facing population decline. What's your concrete plan to bring sustainable economic growth without losing community identity?
Timothy Murphy: So I looked at some of the county statistics in terms of the population changes and you're certainly right that two of the counties, ⁓ Blackford and Jay counties, have had ⁓ pretty steady population decline since about 1970. Two ⁓ of the other counties, ⁓ Wells and Adams, are fairly stable with a bit of growth. ⁓ But this is a very difficult challenge in some ways when you're talking about 55 plus years. I'm from Kentucky originally, so I've been ⁓ in Allen County for the past seven and a half years. And so I'm from Paducah, Kentucky, two hours southwest of Evansville. And the counties around Paducah had the exact same problem. Not a lot of economic ⁓ opportunities. ⁓ Folks that graduate from high school almost immediately leave. I mean, I myself am not living in the town I grew up in. So one thing I don't like when I hear from candidates or politicians is someone just saying they've got all the answers and anyone who just says, if only we did this, it'll all be great, vote for me, I'm the only one who can fix it. That for me is just like an immediate red flag of, whoa, if anyone had a clear cut, answer then they would be the most popular consultant or candidate in the country because they would have solved it. mean what maybe half the counties, two-thirds, three-quarters of the counties in the country are losing population just because of the way globalization has worked where places that have resources kind of compound on themselves and those that are a little more marginal in terms of where industry is or roads. just kind of get left behind. And so I don't have an easy answer to that, but I would want to look and see are there places elsewhere in Indiana or around the country that people have ⁓ had policy recommendations that have actually worked and helped stabilize communities and kind of look at those best practices and advocate for that. I will say you did forget Decatur ⁓ when you mentioned the towns and then
Derrick Holder: Mm-hmm.
Timothy Murphy: People in Decatur would go, wait a second, wait a second. But that's kind of my initial thought is that this is decades in the making is complicated. And I'd also, ⁓ I've been connected with the Indiana rural summit. And so there's a lot of other candidates there. And so there's ones who might have other ideas and, cause we can't all be policy experts on every ⁓ little piece. Honestly. ⁓ I was not part of District 19. I've lived where I've lived for seven and a half years since moving here for work, but I wasn't even part of District 19 until the redistricting took place in 2021, before none of Allen County was part of District 19. They had broken up Allen County into three different districts, which already was pretty bad. And they said, hey, let's do a fourth. And so they took this kind of little, little slip, about 10 % of Allen County and added it into District 19. And so, That was my kind of first exposure to kind of the broader district and going, ⁓ my goodness, this is a huge, huge area. ⁓ And so I'm still learning a lot from a lot of the communities there. I've got a full-time job, part-time campaign early in the season. So I need to hear from a lot of people, especially in Blackford and Jay counties, which I hadn't really had a chance to experience much until even, you the last year.
Derrick Holder: Mm-hmm.
Timothy Murphy: I'm just starting to get to know people and so forth because it's a huge district and a lot of the places I spend time where my work is, my grocery store is, are in different districts than even where my district is in because within like two miles, you got two other districts. So it's just, you know, I live in Fort Wayne, but I'm in district 19, which was part of the motivation to even run was to go in 2022.
Derrick Holder: Mm-hmm.
Timothy Murphy: when there was no one running other than the incumbent, not even an option. And I've basically been angry for four years saying, we need options. So I have a lot to learn ⁓ from folks in Adams, Wells, Blackford and Jay counties. But that's what I wanna kind of learn from them. But what are they thinking? What are some of their needs? And so that's also gonna come back on some of the questions I think you're gonna ask tonight is that, I need to hear from them and what are their insights versus me just theoretically saying, we should do this, ⁓ we should do that without ⁓ context on the ground.
Derrick Holder: so in your area, manufacturing and agriculture are economic pillars. How should Indiana support these industries while preparing for future workforce changes?
Timothy Murphy: Well, in some ways in terms of manufacturing, we often associate that with union jobs and a lot of private union jobs are almost outside of some automotive industries, almost non-existent at this point. So in some ways, the past is the future. I would love to see Right to Work. ⁓ laws abolished to make it much easier for unions to be formed for places. As far as agriculture is concerned, it's a huge kind of cultural pillar, I would say. I looked up, and I think it's helpful to have good data, and so I looked at the Hoosiers by the Numbers website just to kind of look at where are jobs, how are they actually divided up in the different counties, and in most of them, ⁓ Blackford, Wells and Adams, only 2 % of the workforce is in agriculture and that includes forestry, fishing, hunting kind of jobs. Now, I think Blackford, something like maybe 70 % of the county is agricultural farmland. So that means that literally 2 % of the population owns 70 % of the county. if we think of like small farmers, my father-in-law was a small farmer. had a main full-time job, but he also loved land and ⁓ on the side, raised cattle on some acres, but I don't know if it made much money, but it was because he loved the animals and he loved the land and the process. And so... There is a whole saying being helpful to agriculture is like, we're talking about big ag, we're talking about small farmers. How many small farmers are there? Are there people who want to be involved in farming and it's just not currently economically viable? I know in some ways, like 80 % of Americans live in metro urbanized areas, but are 80 % of us meant to live in those places? Maybe it's that we actually happier being around forests and trees and greenery, but there's not those ⁓ jobs. And so if there's ways of making it support for smaller farms to be viable, so it's not just big ag. Now we still need big ag in terms of making sure everyone has enough to eat. ⁓ Not everyone's gonna be a micro farmer or something, but I think it's helpful to just be cognizant of. It has a big impact visually and culturally, but in terms of jobs, think probably more people work at the Walmart than in the farms at this point. But most of them don't have very strong labor protections or worker rights at all.
Derrick Holder: Healthcare access is a major concern in rural counties. I know Blackford and Jay have IUs, IU hospitals there. What policies would you pursue to ensure residents don't need to travel long distances for basic or emergency care? What keeps them out of Indianapolis and Fort Wayne and keeps them closer to home?
Timothy Murphy: Well, part of it is a lament of where we are right now. ⁓ So it's not, the quality of care is very limited in some of these counties. So in Blackford, to my understanding, the Blackford Hospital has no ER. It's almost all kind of primary care and preventative. But if you have an emergency, I don't believe they provide treatment there. And the Bluffton ⁓ hospital in Wells County, they closed their entire birth department, their birth unit. cannot, I mean, if you want to give birth in a hospital, you got to go somewhere else. ⁓ And so some of that has been, some of it is hard to ⁓ recruit, it's always been hard to recruit doctors into smaller hospitals. But part of it is there's policies in our state that have made OBGYNs not want to work at all in not just Bluffton ⁓ or Blackford, but Indiana period with a lot of the restrictions that came in place after 2022 on reproductive care and access. And people can have the feelings they have on abortion, but it's the same OBGYNs that are providing ⁓ primary care for people to give birth. And so right now there's... There's so many things that, healthcare is essentially a market failure in our country. it's not profitable in a lot of places and if it's not profitable, it just isn't there. And there's a lot of things that need to be on the federal level. don't know, Kelly Thompson's been saying a lot about that, but on the state level, we're not doing anything to like move things in the right direction. We're only kind of exacerbating those problems. And so we almost need to kind of lament the harm that's been done, staunch the bleeding, and then see what is possible to actually ⁓ re-incentivize hospitals, genuine not-for-profit hospitals, to actually, for care and not, well, we're losing money in this county, so we're not gonna offer them. There's people there, they need healthcare. It doesn't... That's why.
Derrick Holder: I what happens when a farmer gets ran over by a combine?
Timothy Murphy: Yeah, you're right.
Derrick Holder: pretty much ⁓ you're saying is we need an ER for the ERs.
Timothy Murphy: I, the district is at least about 60 miles from end to end. ⁓ And I suppose folks might be able to go to Decatur ⁓ if they were in Bluffton, that might be closer than, but that's still, it's still, know, best case scenario, 25 minutes and emergencies are emergencies. It's not like, you know, I've got, ⁓ I've got a. stye in my eye better to see a doctor in the next few days. No, these are very time sensitive kind of things. Life or death makes a difference there. just part of my hope is that even just by running it, because no one's even run in 16 years in the district. And so maybe it actually would force whoever's on the Republican side to actually talk to people and advocate for them because right now they don't really have to do anything because There's no competition. They don't have to do anything.
Derrick Holder: schools in smaller districts often struggle with funding and teacher retention. What changes do you think about that we can push in the state senate to strengthen rural education? How do we keep teachers where we need
Timothy Murphy: So I've got a small scale idea and a completely unviable idea. I'll do the small scale one first. The small scale one is, you people talk about charter schools and private schools and some of the counties don't have any charter schools. And so there's literally the funding for public schools also gets shared with charter schools. I'm not a huge fan of charter schools, but I almost feel like that ship has sailed in terms of ⁓ that. But at a minimum, having required financial transparency for any school, public private charter that receives public funding. Because right now they can just kind of use the money however they want. And so if they're competing with public schools without public accountability, that seems really ⁓ problematic in terms of public schools. Now on a broader issue, that doesn't really solve teacher retention. Part of the issue is the way we fund schools is largely local property taxes. so wealthy places have more resources, places with less resources have fewer. And so in some ways we don't fund education the way based off need. Like in a world that I don't see happening anytime soon, though my campaign is called, let's make the impossible possible, I would think that teachers should be paid the most. in places where there's the greatest need. And if it's like a of a cushy near retirement kind of position, maybe don't need as much money because it's a real comfortable thing with not a lot of drama or difficulties or challenges. But that's completely the opposite way of schools are funded and it would get in the way, it would start messing with local property tax issue. So I mean, that's, I don't see a way to do that right now, but. But it's a challenge. My sister is a teacher in Kentucky, still in our hometown. And so she does it because she loves teaching and she loves the students. And it's not because of the pay or ⁓ also interference that she gets from state and federal policies.
Derrick Holder: How do we keep people from leaving Portland and Hartford City, young people who just graduate high school? How do we keep them? in the area? How do you create reasons for them to stay, work, and raise families locally?
Timothy Murphy: that is a big challenge. will say, I'm here in Fort Wayne, big four job opportunities. I'm not in my hometown. And so I understand, I am emblematic of the challenge. And part of me wishes that at times that I could live in Paducah and that there were jobs, a job that I could do there. So this has been going on for a long time, two, three generations. I think there are some things that maybe could be done that, again, they don't solve the issue per se, but they can be helpful. And I think that part of it relates with there's so few places, whether in small towns or even mid-sized towns, that are not either work or home. And people talk about third places. And so churches are third places, but not everyone's... you know, wants to go to a church ⁓ on a weeknight unless you're doing a Wednesday night Bible study or whatever. But like more third places, like maybe incentivizing communities, maybe providing funding for more third place community centers where people on weeknights can hang out and build community and gain a sense of belonging with others, which a lot of the time people stay somewhere is because they get those connections ⁓ and so forth. And the job is obviously important, but you know, that sense of belonging also really, really helps. Another kind of wild idea, ⁓ it's like, you can call it make rail great again, is I don't know if you're familiar with the Midwest Interurban Rail that was placed for decades. I looked at a map and it just infuriated me of like the rail map in Northeast Indiana, where there used to be connections to Ossian and Bluffton. and Decatur, and maybe even Bern, ⁓ I'm not sure, but lots of ⁓ of the smaller towns all connected together and there were like, someone showed me at my church a postcard that like some teenagers, there were like these like stations at the end of the line and they would like hop on it for fun and fill out a postcard and send it back to the family and be like, hey, we're. doing this thing because it was cool to go to Bluff to be like, if you're, and so the thing that ⁓ my wife and I wanted to take a trip to Scotland, we've been wanting to this for years, and last spring we visited Scotland, and there was this little town called Pitlockery, maybe 3,000 people, and they had a train stopping by every hour, every hour, town of 3,000, because it was just there. And so then the town was close to the rail station and so there were things to do and it was, you know, it's a small modest place. They had, they were more of like a, maybe an art town, but having a center that draws people there and has for other people, not just opportunity while you're working there, but people who don't live there to go there. In terms of before the campaign, in terms of going to Decatur, it was... There were some church meetings to go to and the eclipse in 2024. it's just, you need having those things, those connections so that even if, you can make a life in a place, even if maybe other jobs and so forth are in other places. Those are some of my ideas. I think Indiana has a whole rule about, we can't even get trains between major cities. much less, you know, small towns. But I think I feel that strongly for not just economic reasons, also, you know, reasons of inclusion and mobility for people who can't drive a lot of folks who are older, you know. ⁓ Anyway, I feel really strong about that one, but I recognize that rail advocacy is not going to be like the thing that pushes me over the line on the campaign. I care about it a lot and giving alternatives. ⁓ to driving because lot of can't.
Derrick Holder: Southwest Fort Wayne brings urban adjacent challenges, different from smaller towns. How would you balance policy for both rural and suburban voters in one district?
Timothy Murphy: didn't choose the district. ⁓ district ⁓ kind of progressive ⁓ areas of the O7 and the airport of Allen County and Fort Wayne and then the four ⁓ Wells, Adams, Blackford and Jay. ⁓ for me, it's not so much balancing, it's focusing on whatever helps people live ⁓ lives ⁓ whatever place they happen to be. ⁓ The focus is how do we help people improve their quality of life and be able to live lives of dignity and with opportunities wherever they are. And so that's the same. It just might look different in terms of what it means in terms of Allen County, which has grown, it's grown a lot in the past, you know, 30 years, grown, you know, tens of thousands of people. It's one of the more popular counties people are ⁓ moving to, ⁓ but there's... still tens of thousands of people in each of all those other counties and people want to live there and have a life there. And so ⁓ I don't find that to be a conflict in the same way. And I think a lot of people are connected with different parts of the... lot of would probably go shopping ⁓ in Fort Wayne, though I think that Jay and Blackford are so much further south, it matters to be going to Muncie. ⁓ as far as ⁓ chopping in some works things.
Derrick Holder: Mental health and addiction services remain limited in parts of the district. What investments would you prioritize to address this crisis?
Timothy Murphy: Goodness, I've been advocating for this in Allen County for years. Mental health is critically underfunded. think everyone agrees with that. And it seems to be that our state just can't help but want to cut funding and resources and... Indiana in general likes to say, know, low regulation, low tax state. But the cost of that is you don't have services that actually, from people who need it. And I don't think that mental health is a partisan issue or shouldn't be a partisan issue. I don't think there's statistically significant differences or disparities between Republicans, Democrats and independents on people going through mental health crises. So it's needed. And honestly, it can be even harder in rural counties where like in Allen County, there's some things that they're kind of tailored to certain populations, communities, but there's kind of not a broad base piece. And in other counties, there may not be anything other than maybe like a ⁓ Zoom ⁓ telehealth therapist, but something in crisis. There are so many things that I just, think of as market failures, that if we say, the market will provide this if there's a need, but there's not the capability to make it financially viable. And that's the key place for me where state needs to come in and say, this is a need that, this is clearly a need, but there's no way that the market alone is gonna just cover that. so... And then there's all, you get weird policy things where people find it advantageous to demonize those in addiction, facing addiction, those with mental health crises because maybe they maybe have run-ins with law enforcement and so forth and they're in and out of jail because that's the only place to take them. And so people are like, well, we don't want to give funding to people who are criminals. And so you get all this demonization. garbage, I don't have a lot of patience for. ⁓ It clearly wins votes because people keep doing it. They've been doing it for decades. But ⁓ I'm not going to demonize and I'm going to advocate ⁓ that regardless of people's ability to pay or where they live, they need these resources because everyone should be able to live lives of dignity. And if you're in crisis, ⁓ that's not who I believe we're meant to be and ⁓ that we can do better. But I want to live in a state that treats people with dignity. And I just, that's what I'm trying to do.
Derrick Holder: As a Democrat in a likely Republican controlled Senate, how would you build coalitions strong enough to pass legislation, not just make statements?
Timothy Murphy: Well, that is a challenge. As of this moment, the Senate is, I think, 39 Republicans, 10 Democrats, and one vacancy. And it was 40-10. So let's say I win. It would take a lot. Based off the presidential vote in 2024, you would need a 50-point swing for me to get 50%. Okay, well, that's a lot. But let's say it happens. The impossible becomes possible and I win. Well, that's 39 to 11. Okay, well, that's still a supermajority of Republicans running things if everything else was the same. So I will say if there's any issues, what there is overlapping interest. Maybe we have different reasons for it, but we can get on board it. So let's say parental leave. know, Indiana has no minimum parental paid parental leave. I would like to see at least 13 weeks paid parental leave everywhere. There might be some conservative pro-life folks that also believe in parental leave to make it easier to have kids. Now, they might have a different reason for supporting it, but I can work with someone. If we have a similar ⁓ idea of what needs to happen, even if have different motivations for it, I'll work with them on that. I have no issue with that. I'm fine with coalitions of convenience, coalitions of the moment, and then we can fight about something else. But I will say, It very well could likely be that more of what I would end up doing would be opposing things that the majority, super majority would be doing in the state, trying to tweak things, make some amendments where possible, and then if and when it gets passed over my objection, lament it, have press conferences, raise awareness in the community of what we're trying to do and what the obstacles are for that. I don't, I feel I spend a lot of my time. as a pastor, speaking up for justice and spending a lot of time, maybe apes of the time, losing. So I could just take that skill and apply it at the state senate and I think I'd be well served. But maybe they find those 20 % where we can see improvements and so forth and still keep pushing for a broader vision of what would be healthier and more life-giving in our state.
Derrick Holder: Why you? Why now?
Timothy Murphy: Well, as I said, no one has run at all here since 2010, in terms of even having a choice other than Travis Holdman. And it doesn't have to be me. Someone else could do it. But I wasn't willing to just do nothing. I felt ⁓ it was imperative. stand up to say, ⁓ if it's impossible, even if it takes a 50 point swing, which I'm not predicting, my future life plans are ⁓ on that kind of switch, you need options. And if we're gonna have a healthy representative democracy, you gotta have options. You gotta be able to ⁓ choose between things. And I really think that a lot of the challenges, there's a connection between the policies that we're not able to get through and the weakness frankly in our representative democracy in Indiana, there's a relationship there. And so that's a two-sided piece. So I'm gonna advocate for ⁓ better spaces ⁓ for Hoosier democratic participation, including ballot initiatives. That'd actually be, think, of anything, probably the most important thing, if you could get that through, that would be it. Because then even if you can't get a governing majority for progressive issues, In the state, if you got a majority of people of voters, they could have a ballot initiative and approve it. Minimum wage increase, childcare subsidies. ⁓ opening up reproductive access. That's the most important one. It's just because that actually gives us a space for democratic deliberation and input outside of, well, people voted for the people they had, so they must not have a problem with it. So I don't have a lot of ego in this race. I just want to see healthier policies, healthier systems that are easier for us to have, you know, healthier communities. And so ⁓ I'm very pragmatic in that way. And so what works, what's possible, and then also holding out that vision of what we want to see, even if it is impossible in the short term, because I believe there's a need for like idealism and pragmatism combined. And so I do that in my everyday life. I do that in my ministry as a pastor and doing that as a candidate on this very part-time basis while doing lots of other things and traveling around five different counties. and meeting people as I can.
Derrick Holder: Timothy, we've talked about the future of District 19 jobs, schools, healthcare, and the realities families face every day. But now it's time for the part of the show where the answers get shorter. the choices get clearer. No speeches, no talking points, just instinct. This is Hold'em or Fold'em. I'll give you a statement. If you agree, you hold'em. If you don't, you fold'em. ⁓ One sentence to explain. if you must. Are you ready?
Timothy Murphy: Okay. Hold them as a yes, fold them as a no. I might say yes or no. I'll try to say hold them, fold them as I can.
Derrick Holder: Let's play. Indiana should increase funding for rural hospitals and clinics, even if it requires reallocating state dollars.
Timothy Murphy: Yes, that's a hold'em.
Derrick Holder: Public schools should be fully funded before expanding voucher programs further.
Timothy Murphy: Yes, hold them.
Derrick Holder: Legalizing marijuana in Indiana would bring economic and criminal justice benefits.
Timothy Murphy: Hold them overall, think maybe ⁓ medical marijuana in the short term is probably more likely to pass and I'd be satisfied with that as an
Derrick Holder: The state should do more to protect small family farms from corporate consolidation.
Timothy Murphy: Hold them, absolutely, though I'm not sure how many small family farms there even are at this point. We need more. We need to help grow them.
Derrick Holder: Mental health funding deserves major statewide expansion.
Timothy Murphy: absolutely, critically underfunded.
Derrick Holder: Work... Workforce and apprenticeships should be a top economic priority.
Timothy Murphy: I'm struggling with top. It should be, it's super important and needed. ⁓ I don't know as compared to other things, but overall a hold them, yes.
Derrick Holder: Bipartisanship only matters if it produces real results for constituents.
Timothy Murphy: Working with the other party is good if it produces other results. ⁓ to that.
Derrick Holder: Property tax relief should focus first on homeowners and seniors.
Timothy Murphy: Certainly not businesses. ⁓ The property tax change basically mainly helped businesses and not homeowners and seniors. So hold them.
Derrick Holder: State government should invest more heavily in rural broadband and infrastructure.
Timothy Murphy: hold them not to Elon's satellite's no physical infrastructure, real infrastructure that's beyond the whims of multi-millionaires.
Derrick Holder: Your first responsibility as a Senator should always be to District 19 voters over party leadership.
Timothy Murphy: My first responsibility? Hold them, yes.
Derrick Holder: Yes. Timothy, thank you for being here tonight. Stepping up into the conversation, answering difficult questions and choosing to run for public office in a time when doing so demands real courage. Running for the state Senate means more than campaigning. It means standing in front of your neighbors and saying, I'm willing to be held accountable. In communities like Bluffton, Hartford City, Portland, Southwest Fort Wayne, DeGrader, I got it.
Timothy Murphy: and decay.
Derrick Holder: That willingness matters because families here aren't asking for politics. They're asking for opportunity, for stability, for the chance to build a future without having to leave the places they love. Whether voters ultimately choose you or someone else, democracy is stronger when people step forward to serve and when communities stay engaged in shaping their future. So Timothy, thank you for bringing your voice. your vision and your commitment to District 19 to this table tonight. We appreciate you being here. And to everyone watching at home, Indiana's future won't be decided by party labels or headlines. It will be decided by informed voters, engaged communities and citizens willing to stay part of the process. Because democracy isn't something we watch, it's something we do. So stay informed, ask questions, And as always, hold them accountable.
