Sheila Kennedy writes:
I have frequently written about the multiple ways Indiana’s gerrymandering has harmed the state. For one thing, it has empowered rural voters over urban ones. Republicans in our legislature have married slices of urban areas to larger rural ones, confident that their strength lies in the less-populated portions of the state. In the past, that confidence has been bolstered by the failure of Democrats to contest many of those rural districts.

That is changing, thanks to a movement called the Indiana Rural Summit…

Op-ed by Michelle Higgs

Rural Indiana is at a crossroads, and the people who call our small towns home know it.

Although she said “no” the first time she was asked to run for public office, Coumba Kebe changed her mind when, she said, the Indiana General Assembly ignored the pleas of advocates and instead gutted Medicaid.

Kebe, the owner of a home-health-care business, votes and follows politics but never considered herself the right person to run in an election. After seeing how cuts to programs like Medicaid hurt seniors and the aging population, she reconsidered.

Just before the clock hit 8 a.m., seven candidates awaited the opening of the doors to Johnson County Voter Registration on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in downtown Indianapolis, state candidates were filing for their offices.

Nearly 30 members of the Indiana Rural Summit coalition formally filed to be candidates for the Indiana House and Senate on Wednesday, which the organization said in a news release was a “united commitment to represent rural and small-town Hoosiers who are often overlooked at the Statehouse.”

INDIANAPOLIS — In what is being described as the largest coordinated group filing in recent Indiana history, nearly 30 members of the Indiana Rural Summit coalition officially declared their candidacies for the General Assembly on Wednesday.

The mass filing at the Statehouse serves as a high-profile opening for the 2026 election cycle, signaling a unified effort by Democrats to contest seats in small-town and rural districts that have traditionally been Republican strongholds.

In the largest group filing in recent history, nearly 30 members of the Indiana Rural Summit coalition formally filed to be candidates for the Indiana House and Senate on Wednesday, Jan. 7.

The mass filing symbolized a united commitment to represent rural and small-town Hoosiers who are often overlooked at the Statehouse.

Nearly 30 members of the Indiana Rural Summit coalition filed Wednesday to run for seats in the Indiana House and Senate, marking what organizers described as one of the largest coordinated candidate filings in recent memory. The group says its goal is to elevate rural and small-town concerns in a General Assembly often dominated by big-city and suburban priorities.

STATEHOUSE – In the largest group filing in recent history, nearly 30 members of the Indiana Rural Summit coalition formally filed to be candidates for the Indiana House and Senate Wednesday. The mass filing symbolized a united commitment to represent rural and small-town Hoosiers who are often overlooked at the Statehouse.