Welcome to the HoosLeft podcast, a show about Indiana politics, history, and culture from the unapologetic perspective of the Hoosier left. My name is Scott Aaron Rogers and I’m recording from Bloomington.
After a side quest to speak with Christian nationalism expert Dr. Andrew Whitehead last week, I return this week to Indiana’s Democratic Congressional candidates. If you remember this quirky fact from a few weeks ago I reached out to all nine Indiana Democratic Congressional candidates after the primary, hoping to set up interviews. At this time, I’ve still heard back only from the even-numbered district candidates. I will continue to effort the oddballs - including the only two Hoosier incumbents in Congress. Anyway, after talking with 2nd District candidate Lori Camp several weeks ago and Derrick Holder in the 4th District after that, this week I turn my attention to Erik Hurt in the “Bloody 8th”.
Indiana's 8th congressional district is located in southwest and west central Indiana. It includes Clay, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Greene, Knox, Martin, Orange, Owen, Parke, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Sullivan, Vanderburgh, Vermillion, Vigo, and Warrick Counties, as well as half of Fountain County. Having gained its nickname as a long-time important swing district (including a Congressional election decided by a mere four votes in 1984), the city of Bloomington was cleaved from the district following reapportionment after the 2000 census and the 8th has largely been a safe Republican seat since. The sprawling district, anchored in Evansville, is the largest in the state by land area and also includes the cities of Terre Haute, Vincennes, Jasper, and Washington.
This biography of Hurt from his campaign website,
“Erik Hurt was born in Evansville, Indiana in 1991 to a working class family. His great-grandparents immigrated to America from Poland following World War 2 seeking the American dream, and instilled in him a sense of justice as a young man. He saw his family work tirelessly to provide a good life for himself and his siblings, only to see that work go underappreciated time and again. This background encouraged Erik to become politically active at a young age, studying political science at the University of Evansville before eventually pursuing a degree in history from Indiana University.
He and his wife of eight years Caitlin, moved to Orlando in 2017, but in 2020 decided to leave Florida, and after debating where to go next, they decided to return home to Evansville in order to give everything they had to making their home the best place it could be. This led Erik to jumping into local politics with both feet, and in 2024, running for the 8th district congressional seat.
A passionate lover of the arts, Erik met his wife performing in a production of MASH at Evansville’s Civic Theater, and has written and directed multiple feature films in his spare time. He is an avid baseball fan, archer, and enjoys playing video games, board games, and D&D.
He currently lives in Evansville with his wife and three cats and manages a movie theater.”
Back in May, after the primary, I was super excited to speak with Hurt because here is a guy running an unapologetically progressive campaign in a state where party leadership consistently puts its thumb on the scales to favor more conservative Democrats - he overcame such opposition in that primary. As I thought we might, Erik and I hit it off and had a spirited, nearly-two hour discussion. There’s so much good stuff here, I couldn’t possibly edit it down to a single episode. So, I’m going to break it in two. Today, in part one, Erik will introduce himself and we’ll spend the hour focusing on economic matters, including healthcare and education. I intend to release part two on Thursday, where we’ll pick up our discussion about higher ed before moving on to immigration, abortion rights, and his far-right MAGA opponent’s odd priorities. Finally, we talk strategy - turning out urban and youth voters, working with energetic new mayors in his district, and warning seniors of GOP plans for social security.
Now, before we turn to that conversation, I want to remind you that HoosLeft is a pro-democracy, organizing project. I’m the guy with the microphone, but I want everybody within earshot to think of themselves as participants. What’s going on in your part of the Hoosier State? Are there topics you’d like to see me cover? Folks I should reach out to? I want your input, feedback, and advice.
Remember the 3 P’s of organizing: PEOPLE coming together to exercise POWER - which Dr. MLK defined as “the ability to achieve PURPOSE” - a specific concrete goal.
That’s us, you and I, and everybody we know, doing whatever we can, and then reaching deep to find more, to build a more just, equitable, and compassionate Indiana.
That’s why I invite the guests I do. When we speak with candidates and elected officials, we have a direct line to those who do, or might, exercise the legitimate power of government on our behalf. When we speak with activists, we have opportunities to join with them and/or learn from their activism. When we speak with academics and experts, we broaden our knowledge base so we can better understand the larger forces at work. I’m so excited to bring you this summer lineup already in the works, with multiple Congressional candidates and some big, nationally-renowned authors sprinkled in amongst Hoosiers working at the state and local level to help their neighbors.
I’m constantly working to bring more and more elected officials, activists, organizers, authors, and experts, into our community so we - and OUR PEOPLE, our extended networks - can more effectively come together to exercise our POWER for our PURPOSE of building a better Indiana.
I currently work as an independent craftsman during the day and work on this project on evenings and weekends. There are so many more things I want to do here at HoosLeft if I could do this work full-time, but I need your help to get there. If you can, help me out with a paid subscription at scottaaronrogers.substack.com. For five dollars a month or $50 a year, you can help me push our state in a better direction, and maybe if we reach critical mass, I can put down my tool belt and devote my full time to you, to this project, and to Indiana’s future. So, if you have the means, pause right now, go to scottaaronrogers.substack.com and subscribe at the paid level.
And while the best way to help this project is a financial contribution, if you can’t afford it at this time, you can still help. Subscribe at the free level over on Substack. Set your favorite podcast player to auto-download new episodes of the show. Rate and review the show on whatever platform you use - this is the most important thing you can do to help new listeners find us. Follow me on social media at facebook.com/hoosleft (spell); I’m also on Bluesky at the same handle. On Instagram, Threads, and Twitter, I’m at scottrog78 (spell) and on Mastodon at scottrog78@hoosier.social. Full video episodes of the pod are now available on YouTube, with clips on TikTok: the handle on both of those is @hoosleft. Please subscribe on whichever platforms you use, and make judicious use of the comment function. The DM’s are always open to discuss ideas for the project.
But, most importantly, share our message. Forward the articles to friends, family, and colleagues; don’t just like, but share, share, share on social media; invite others to this community of Indiana leftists. Nobody is coming to save us - we’ve gotta do it ourselves. To those who have joined this community already, especially those paid subscribers, thank you SO much - I truly am honored and humbled. And to everybody, thanks for listening.
Here’s part one of my interview with Indiana’s 8th Congressional District Democratic candidate Erik Hurt.
Once again, that was Erik Hurt, Democratic candidate to represent southwestern Indiana’s 8th district in the next Congress.
Come back later this week for part two, where we will pick up our discussion about higher education before moving on to immigration, abortion rights, and his Trumpy opponent Mark Messmer. We’ll also talk strategy - turning out the base, working with the dynamic new mayors in his district, and flipping pro-democracy Republicans.
That will drop Thursday. Until then, thank you for listening and thanks again to my guest Erik Hurt. Find him at www.erikhurtforcongress.com. That’s Erik with a ‘K’. Please help his candidacy however you can - with a contribution, by volunteering, by mobilizing everyone YOU know in Southwestern Indiana. If you can afford to help both of us, I kindly ask you to consider a paid subscription at scottaaronrogers.substack.com. A membership over there is the best way to help HoosLeft keep growing, but in addition to Substack, you can find me on Facebook, Bluesky, YouTube and TikTok at hoosleft and on most other social media sites at scottrog78. If you want send me a message, my DMs are open on social media or email me at scottrog78@gmail.com. Forward the show to a friend and have them to forward it to another friend. Let’s keep this project growing. Until next time, this has been the HoosLeft podcast. I’m Scott Aaron Rogers. Love each other, Indiana.
Episode 42: Bringing the Hurt to Washington - Part I
Guest: Erik Hurt (D) - Candidate for Indiana’s 8th Congressional District
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https://www.erikhurtforcongress.com/
Indiana uncontested Statehouse seats: https://ballotpedia.org/Indiana_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2024
Indiana uncontested State Senate seats: https://ballotpedia.org/Indiana_State_Senate_elections,_2024
Indiana 50th in voter turnout: https://fox59.com/news/politics/in-focus-indiana-ranks-50th-in-voter-turnout/
Moneyball: https://bookshop.org/p/books/moneyball-the-art-of-winning-an-unfair-game-michael-lewis/8746488
Government should not be run like a business: https://hbr.org/2017/03/the-u-s-cannot-be-run-like-a-business
The American Dream is dead: https://www.newsweek.com/american-dream-dead-opinion-1917153
Meritocracy is a myth: https://www.vox.com/videos/2021/4/2/22349990/education-inequality-meritocracy-myth
Collectivism a necessary virtue: https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/09/1047042
The peril of rugged individualism: https://www.thehastingscenter.org/rugged-american-individualism-is-a-myth-and-its-killing-us/
The radicalism of public libraries: https://depauliaonline.com/57226/opinions/opinion-are-libraries-radical/
The stigma of public transportation: https://ui.charlotte.edu/story/overcoming-stigma-riding-bus/
The privatization of everything: https://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/05/04/five-step-process-privatize-everything
Schools as community hubs: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/schools-as-community-hubs-integrating-support-services-to-drive-educational-outcomes/
Vouchers hurt rural schools: https://www.ncpecoalition.org/ruralvouchers
Stocks a poor measure of the full economy: https://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2023/03/17/myth-busting-the-economy-drives-the-stock-market/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/12/occupy-wall-street-10-years-on
Fight for $15 not enough: https://thehill.com/lobbying/4170972-15-an-hour-isnt-enough-u-s-workers-need-to-earn-a-living-wage/
USA medical wait times are long NOW: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/truth-wait-times-universal-coverage-systems/
Medicare for All is actually cheaper: https://www.citizen.org/news/fact-check-medicare-for-all-would-save-the-u-s-trillions-public-option-would-leave-millions-uninsured-not-garner-savings/
COVID as an argument FOR universal health care: https://ysph.yale.edu/news-article/yale-study-more-than-335000-lives-could-have-been-saved-during-pandemic-if-us-had-universal-health-care/
History of attempts at universal health care in US: https://pnhp.org/a-brief-history-universal-health-care-efforts-in-the-us/
Boomers pulled up the ladder on future generations: https://fortune.com/2023/10/28/great-wealth-transfer-baby-boomers-bank-of-america-millennials-government-policy/
CEO pay growth since Reagan: https://www.progressivecaucuscenter.org/the-ceo-pay-problem-and-what-we-can-do-about-it
Education a matter of national defense: https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-Defense-Education-Act
Interstate highway system ALSO a defense project: https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/national-interstate-and-defense-highways-act
Student loan scandal: https://revealnews.org/article/who-got-rich-off-the-student-debt-crisis/
Cost to attend IU: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/indiana-university-bloomington-1809/paying
The government can’t run out of money: https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/4/16/18251646/modern-monetary-theory-new-moment-explained
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Episode 42: Bringing the Hurt to Washington - Part I