Two Democratic candidates for Indiana’s House of Representatives District 61, Matt Pierce and Lilliana Young, discussed pro-Palestine protests, school choice, environmental protections and more during a candidate forum Thursday.
The Bloomington Democratic Socialists of America hosted the forum, which took place at First United Church.
Pierce, the incumbent, is facing a Democratic primary challenger, Lilliana Young, in the statehouse District 61 election for the first time in over two decades. Pierce has held his seat in the statehouse since 2002 and has focused on affordability within healthcare, housing, college and childcare in his current campaign.
Lilliana Young serves on the Bloomington/Monroe County Human Rights Commission and is an advocate for gender-affirming healthcare. She is also the founded The Sisterhood, a community for political activism and mutual aid for the transgender women of Bloomington. Her campaign is focused on addressing state Medicaid cuts, addressing state corruption and raising the state minimum wage to $20 per hour.
At the forum, Pierce said he has been fighting against the state’s school choice programs for over a decade. Beginning in the 2026-27 academic year, all Hoosier families, regardless of household income, will have access to state-funded school choice scholarships, which fund children’s private or charter schooling.
Pierce called the program a “very deliberate incremental system to divert money away from our public schools,” and said society benefits from a public school system where people from all social classes learn together.
Young said she wants to dismantle the state’s universal school choice program. Education should be a basic human right, she said, and that means codifying protections for public schooling into law.
The candidates discussed their opinions on the student-led pro-Palestinian encampment demonstrations at Dunn Meadow in 2024. Young said she was not at the protests and that there is little she could do as a state representative to provide legislative support for Palestinians. However, she said she would raise awareness for the cause and focus attention on organizations providing support to local Palestinians.
Pierce said he was “appalled” by the “unconstitutional” nature of IU’s response to the protests. Indiana State Police and IU Police arrested more than 50 protesters on two days in April 2024. That came after IU administrators changed the university’s policy on temporary structures the night before the beginning of the encampment. The Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office dropped criminal trespass charges, citing a “constitutionally dubious process” the university used to change and enforce its policy.
Pierce said continuing to fight for protesters’ rights and electing a governor who will “respect our professors, our faculty, and academic freedom on campus” are important steps in protecting students’ rights.
Recently signed by the governor, Senate Bill 285 will classify a person knowingly sleeping or camping on public land as committing a misdemeanor. Young said she would try to repeal the “heinous and inhumane” bill or lower and limit penalties and fines. Young said she would work municipal services to keep shelters funded and staffed to avoid bill violations.
Pierce said the bill hides the problem of homelessness rather than solving it. He said residential treatment facilities are necessary so all people experiencing homelessness in the state have access to treatment instead of forcing jails to be the “number one health provider in the community.”
Both candidates disapproved of data centers being built in the state and said it is important that they don’t spike electric costs for Hoosiers. When asked about Indiana’s low soil, water and air quality, Young said she would like to write legislation to give the Indiana Department of Environmental Management more support to enforce environmental regulations and make sure that corporations are “cleaning up their own messes.”
Pierce said he is saddened by the lack of imperative within the General Assembly to protect the environment. Senate Bill 277, recently signed by the governor, says that the Indiana Department of Environmental Management cannot implement environmental protections that are stricter or more burdensome than federal law, Pierce said.
The primary election in Monroe County will be held May 5.
