As your state senator, I believe in passing common sense legislation that promotes Indiana values.

Preserving safety nets for those who need them most

Indiana's taxpayer-funded safety nets should be available for residents who need them most. That's why I supported a measure to ensure illegal immigrants can't get taxpayer-funded welfare, a caucus top priority in 2026. Senate Enrolled Act 1 is designed to root out waste, fraud and abuse in Indiana's welfare programs by increasing eligibility checks for SNAP, preventing illegal immigrants from claiming benefits and updating Indiana's laws to comply with new federal Medicaid reforms, including work requirements for able-bodied, working-age adults. This is Indiana's latest effort to catch bad actors and preserve programs like SNAP and Medicaid for those who need them most.

Protecting girls and women's sports

Over the last several years, instances of biological males competing in girls and women's sports were becoming too common. Recognizing biological realities, I supported legislation to ensure girls and women's sports are preserved for biological girls and women. This includes legislation from 2022, which I co-sponsored, that protected high school athletics, and a law from 2025 that extended the same protections to college athletics.

Protecting children from unproven, life-altering procedures

Gender transition procedures – both hormones and surgery – carry serious physical risks and possible side effects, and they should not be conducted on children. Children suffering from gender dysphoria should receive care, compassion and counseling rather than irreversible surgeries. That's why I supported a law in 2023 to outlaw these life-altering procedures on children.

Maintaining election integrity

For nearly two decades, Indiana has been a leader in ensuring our elections remain secure by requiring voters to have a valid photo ID when they cast their ballot. In 2025, I supported a bill to strengthen Indiana's voter ID law by prohibiting student IDs issued by state colleges or universities from being recognized as an ID to vote, since college IDs are less secure than other forms of identification and standards vary from school to school.

I also supported laws:

• Preventing a state agency or a local government unit from sending an absentee ballot application to an individual unless the application was requested by that individual or a member of their family; and
• Providing county clerks and election offices with more tools to help identify registered voters who may be ineligible, or hold inaccurate records, and helping clerks take steps to update, confirm or repeal voter registrations.

The passage of these and other laws is why Indiana is ranked among the top states in the nation for election integrity.

Promoting merit and equal treatment under the law

Equal treatment under the law is one of the most important principles of American government. It is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Fourteenth Amendment and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech. However, in recent years, some have rejected equal treatment and instead embraced an ideology that encourages stereotypes and discrimination based on demographic traits like race and sex. They believe that all people in certain categories are inherently oppressive or oppressed, so society must discriminate against entire classes of people to end oppression.

To ensure Indiana's taxpayer dollars aren't used to further this discriminatory ideology, I supported a 2025 law that instead promotes merit in our taxpayer-funded institutions.

Specifically, it prohibits state agencies, state universities and public schools from implementing any of the following discriminatory concepts, or requiring their students to implement any of the following concepts:

1. That individuals of a particular race, color, religion, sex, national origin or ancestry are inherently superior or inferior.
2. That an individual's moral character is determined by one of those six traits.
3. That individuals should be blamed for past actions committed by other people who share one of the individual's six traits.

I encourage you to contact me with any questions or comments by filling out a "Contact Me" form online or by phone at 800-382-9467.