Indiana District 70 State Representative Candidates and Positions

Who aligns more with your priorities?

In November, residents of Indiana district 70 will go to the polls to select between Scott Fluhr (R) or Sarah Blessing (I/D) to represent them in the Indiana State House. Let’s take a peek at where the candidates stand on some crucial issues. Who aligns more with your priorities?

• Education

  • Fluhr: Scott’s website doesn’t say anything about education. It does say that he is a conservative Republican and his parents were teachers. He has come out in the press as being supportive of private school vouchers and privatization efforts. He has no endorsements from educational groups but is proud of his high AQ rating with the National Rifle Association.

  • Blessing: As a former teacher for 18 years, Sarah strongly supports public schools and opposes privatization, which erodes funding for public schools. She also understands how vital rural schools are to the success of communities and supports providing the needed resources to help both teachers and students thrive. Sarah also supports increasing investment in special education and mental health support throughout the educational system. Finally, Sarah believes that no child should fear for their life while trying to get an education, and strongly supports common-sense gun laws to reduce gun violence in schools.

• Healthcare

  • Blessing: Sarah believes that healthcare decisions are between people and their doctors, not politicians. With three children, she is also acutely aware of how prohibitively expensive it is to get quality healthcare and is focused on expanding affordable healthcare for families.
    
    Sarah believes in protecting the rights of women to make their own health decisions without fear. She understands how important rural hospitals are to remote communities, and will work to expand affordable access to healthcare throughout district 70. Sarah has also spoken publicly about her own dangerous pregnancy experiences and understands personally how critical emergency and specialized healthcare access can be. As a mother, she believes in the sanctity of life but also believes it is not the role of government to criminalize women’s healthcare.

  • Fluhr: Scott Fluhr is endorsed by Indiana Right to Life and aligns himself with conservative Republican leadership that supported Indiana’s near-total abortion ban. He does not believe that women are intelligent enough to make their own healthcare decisions and has voted to reduce or eliminate essential healthcare services for women.

• Listening to the People

  • Fluhr: Scott’s website hits on all of the Republican talking points like “America First”, “Conservative”, “Republican control”, “More guns”, “Less immigrants” and his support for Trump-flavored political discourse. He does a lot of volunteering, but one must wonder if those are merely a means for ensuring Harrison county is a “Republican stronghold”. He has shown no interest in listening to residents with opposing views.

  • Blessing: Sarah is running to represent all of the people of District 70 — not one side or another or specifically as a proxy to national political movements. She is focused on practical solutions, not political talking points and understands that the first step to solving a problem is to listen to the people to better understand the problem. Only then can everyone work together to create a solution.

• Priorities

  • Blessing: Sarah’s focus is on helping people by improving education, healthcare, solving real problems for real people, and improving opportunities for all to succeed.

  • Fluhr: As chairman of the Harrison County Republican Party for almost 18 years, Scott appears to be focused only on expanding the party. His website opens with this screed: “We live in a critical time in the life of our great country. If we don’t stand up and fight to put America first, the freedoms and life we have enjoyed will not be here for future generations. Southern Indiana needs strong conservative voices in Indianapolis, voices who will fight for the conservative values we cherish: faith, family, freedom, and hard work.” Fun fact, the word “people” appears zero times on his website.

• Endorsements

  • Fluhr: Scott’s website shows a number of endorsements including Indiana Congresswoman Erin Houchin - who skips her own town hall meetings and refuses to speak to constituents - and the National Rifle Association.

  • Blessing: Sarah is endorsed by Indivisible Indiana and a whole lot of individuals who are tired of being lied to, led on, and let down by elected officials.

References

Sarah Blessing:

https://www.SarahBlessing.com/

Scott Fluhr: https://www.hoosiersforscott.com/