- SD-43 combines the Cincinnati-orbit Dearborn County economy (Hollywood Casino Lawrenceburg as largest employer, BWF Envirotec's new manufacturing HQ in Greendale) with the isolated rural economies of Jefferson, Jennings, and Ohio counties.
- Jennings County (North Vernon, pop. ~6,500): Largest employers are Lowe's Distribution Center and the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center (U.S. Army, largest urban training facility in the country — a significant federal economic anchor). Also: Martinrea (auto parts), Hilex Poly/Novolex. Duke Energy included Jennings County in its 2023 Site Readiness Program to attract manufacturers.
- Jennings County launched a brownfield cleanup grant/loan program in March 2025 (ABC Initiative) to incentivize business startups and remediation — a sign of underlying industrial legacy contamination.
- Jefferson County (Madison) has a declining manufacturing base (Dorman Products, Bob Evans distribution) with slow employment growth (1.85% 2023–2024). The Ohio River waterfront is the focus of redevelopment hopes.
- The Muscatatuck Urban Training Center (MUTC) at North Vernon is one of the largest federal employers in southern Indiana outside IU — its budget is directly vulnerable to federal discretionary spending cuts, adding to rural economic fragility.
The Muscatatuck Urban Training Center brings federal military dollars into Jennings County and supports hundreds of local jobs and businesses. Every vote to slash federal discretionary spending is a vote against North Vernon. Our senator should be fighting for MUTC funding in Washington, not cheering the cuts.
Jennings County is cleaning up brownfields from the last century's industrial decline before it can even attract the next factory. That is what 'business-friendly' Republican governance actually looks like: leave the mess, cut the cleanup funding, and tell the next generation to figure it out.
Dearborn County's biggest private employer is a casino owned by a Philadelphia real estate trust. North Vernon's biggest employer is the federal government. Madison is hoping a riverfront makeover brings tourists. This district has no coherent economic development strategy because it hasn't had a senator who demanded one.
Southern Indiana's opioid crisis has been documented, devastating, and insufficiently addressed. Scott County gained national attention in 2015 for an HIV outbreak driven by needle-sharing. Jackson, Lawrence, and other CD-9 counties continue to see high overdose mortality rates. Rural communities often lack inpatient treatment, recovery housing, and peer support programs.
- The opioid crisis in Southern Indiana is not an abstraction — it's families watching their children, siblings, and neighbors die of preventable overdoses. Indiana's settlement funds are a real opportunity to build recovery infrastructure.
- Naloxone access, peer recovery support, and harm reduction programs save lives between active addiction and recovery. Southern Indiana communities need this infrastructure.
CD-9 encompasses counties where critical access hospital survival is uncertain. Washington, Scott, Lawrence, and Orange counties have hospitals operating on thin financial margins. Obstetric care deserts are expanding — Indiana's maternal mortality rate is highest in rural counties.
- A county without an OB/GYN is a maternal health emergency. Pregnant women in Lawrence and Orange County deserve the same access to prenatal care as women in Indianapolis.
- Rural hospital closures are a policy choice — the result of decades of underfunding and inadequate Medicaid reimbursement rates. They can be reversed.
Agricultural counties of CD-9 — Bartholomew, Decatur, Jennings, Jackson, and Dubois — are major grain and livestock producers. Dubois County is nationally significant for poultry production. Tariff disruptions to export markets affect commodity prices and farm operating margins across the district.
- Southern Indiana farm families are not insulated from trade war disruption. When export markets close and input costs rise simultaneously, operating margins disappear. That's what's happening right now.
CD-9's rural counties — Brown, Orange, Crawford, Switzerland, Ohio, Perry — have some of the worst broadband access in Indiana. Mountainous terrain in Brown and Crawford counties creates physical deployment challenges. Rural households without reliable internet face compounding disadvantages in education, healthcare access, and economic participation.
- Students in Brown County, Crawford County, and Orange County should not have to drive to a McDonald's parking lot for WiFi to do their homework. This is an infrastructure emergency.
SEA 1's homestead deduction restructuring affects CD-9's communities in complex ways. Clark and Floyd counties — part of the Louisville metropolitan area — have seen significant property value appreciation. The more rural Southern Indiana counties have had more modest changes but depend heavily on property tax revenue for schools and local services.
- Southern Indiana families in Clark and Floyd counties are experiencing something very different from families in rural Washington or Crawford County. Property tax policy needs to honestly account for that.
How to Frame This Race
This is a TURNOUT / LONG-SHOT district — the goal is to build Democratic infrastructure, recruit volunteers, and increase the baseline Democratic vote. Every percentage point gained here builds the foundation for future competitive cycles.