At a pancake and sausage breakfast Saturday morning in Warsaw, Lori Camp, Democrat candidate for Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District, spent about two hours engaging with the public.
It was her first of four stops in three different counties in the district to let the people know why they should vote for her instead of incumbent and Republican Rudy Yakym.
A lifelong resident of St. Joe County, Camp said she’s still working full-time at her job, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. She campaigns on weeknights and weekends.
“But, basically, I’m running because I don’t feel like regular working people have been represented in Washington in many years,” she said. “As we know, my opponent doesn’t show up to events. If he does, they’re scripted, you don’t get to ask questions. His predecessor was the same way, wouldn’t do debates, wouldn’t do anything. So these people aren’t really representing us. They’re representing what special interests, big money, whoever is paying for them to run.”
Camp said being a regular person herself, she thought who would be better to represent regular people than someone who is actually really working and doing stuff like volunteering.
“I’ve been volunteering my whole life. Volunteered for the South Bend Community School Corporation, volunteered at a nonprofit where I was the treasurer and so, again, this is just another step in volunteering kind of to be a public servant and to serve the people instead of big money and special interests - people that don’t have the interests of the working people at heart,” she said.
While she never really had political aspirations, she said she’s had aspirations to better the lives of the people in the Second Congressional District.
“If you’re not aware, the current Congress is the least productive in history. Our representative is one of the least productive in that Congress, and so basically we’re paying people to not work for us. If I showed up at my job and did not work, I’d be let go, so it’s time we let these non-working Congress people go and put in people who are going to work for the people,” Camp stated.
She said it’s almost ridiculous at how many good bills are waiting to get passed that the current Congress is just sitting on.
“Let’s start with the immigration bill,” she said. “While they worked bipartisan ... it was a good bill, I don’t know if I’d go as far as great, but it was a good bill, but then because Trump wanted it as an election issue, he said don’t pass it. That is sickening. So he’s playing politics with people’s lives and livelihoods in order to keep something as an election issue. So the bill is ready to go, let’s get it passed. Again, is it great? No. But it’s a starting point and that’s what we lost in Congress these past few years as we’ve had a Republican majority. They just refuse to do anything.”
Another two bills Camp wants to work on to pass is the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. Camp said the Freedom to Vote Act will stop gerrymandering and big money in politics. The John Lewis Act will stop people from being able to go into areas that are typically disenfranchised and removing ballot boxes and taking away voting centers, making it harder for people to vote.
“So both of those together can kind of help strengthen and protect our democracy, which no matter who you talk to, everyone is like this is the most important election of our lifetime. We are literally fighting to keep our democracy. And democracy is hard, it is ... and, again, the current Congress doesn’t seem to want to work for that,” Camp said.
Admittedly, she has voted for Republicans in the past, but she said they were real statesmen like Richard Lugar.
“It was always you give a little, you take a little, you give a little, you take a little. And you ended up with a kind of solid middle ground that did the most good for the most people, which is what I’m hoping to restore,” Camp said. “Bipartisanship. Working together. Making sure that every single bill that is passed will do the most good - for not only the people in the Second District, but also the country. We’ve gotten away from that.”
Another bill is the Farm Bill, which Congress has been kicking down the road.
“Some of the plans they have - if MAGA Republicans are elected - will decimate Indiana family farmers. It’s all geared toward corporate farming,” she said. “One issue is that crop insurance will be more expensive, but pay out less. And if you have a certain kind of crop insurance, you won’t be able to file for this if your crops are bad. We’ll literally be doing Farm Aid again, and nobody wants that.”
She said Congress needs to make sure that the bills they pass are going to help family farmers, not corporations.
On women’s rights, Camp said she wants to codify Roe v. Wade.
“What state you live in should not determine whether or not you’re treated like a human being,” she said. As she’s traveled through the 11 counties of the Second District, she said she has yet to meet even Republicans who think a complete ban on abortion is good.
“Most people want to make sure that in cases of rape or incest, that it’s available. I’ve had Republicans come up to me and say, ‘My party’s gone crazy with the religious overreach,’” she said.
Roe v. Wade needs to be codified so that any women’s health decision is made between a woman and her doctor, a woman and her spouse, a woman and her clergy if she so chooses, but not by a government official that has no idea what the woman is going through, Camp stated.
Continuing on, she said they also need to protect things like Social Security and veterans benefits that people rely on.
“We have an aging population in Indiana. One of the best things that I’ve heard come out of Vice President Kamala Harris’s plans is to allow Medicaid to pay for in-home care for the elderly,” Camp said. “We all know that staying in your home is beneficial, but cost-prohibitive usually. So if we could have Medicare pay for that, we would be able to keep people in their homes, have their families help and have outside help come in.”
After a good 20-minute discussion, Camp concluded that she’s just hoping to earn people’s votes.
“I am a regular person and we are the reason that the country is great. We are a great country right now. We are one of the best places to live in the world. Do we have some shortcomings? Of course, but every place does, but every since I was little, we’re the beacon on the hill where people want to come,” she stated.
To learn more about Camp and her campaign, visit the website at www.campforcongress.com.