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.
Alright Indiana. We made it through the primary. Hopefully you’ve listened to last week’s recap episode so you know the lay of the land going into this, yet again, most important election of our lifetimes. In that episode, I ran down the finalists in this November’s statewide contests, Congressional races, and notable Statehouse showdowns. I also recapped the unusually contentious Democrat-on-Democrat action from Monroe County’s county commissioner matchups. I took a particular interest in Monroe, home to Bloomington - and home to HoosLeft - because most counties in the state suffer one-party Republican rule while here, Democrats hold all of the county’s major offices.
Now that we’ve closed the page on the primary and begin to turn our attention to the 2024 general election, I will begin with one of those Republican-dominated counties, and one Democrat trying to break the stranglehold.
In 2023, the six fastest growing counties in the state were suburban “donut” counties around Indianapolis. One of those is Johnson County. With Franklin as its seat of government, Johnson County is also home to Greenwood, Whiteland, Bargersville, Trafalgar, and Edinburgh.
Just as Democrats hold every major office in Monroe County, Republicans hold every office in Johnson County. And while that may be the case now, areas just like Johnson County are increasingly trending Democratic, and this may be the year for a breakthrough.
Here’s University of Kentucky professor Stephen Voss in a Vox article from Christian Paz after last year’s municipal elections, “These places are places where you used to have Chamber of Commerce Republicans, and now you have their grandkids who are much more progressive. People talk about abortion as a mobilizer for upper-status professionals, and it is, it’s a part of what you’re seeing … a backlash against the culture war conservatism of the Republican Party.”
Voss continues, “suburbs contain large concentrations of high-propensity voters — those most likely to vote in any election — with college degrees and high incomes. They live in economically vibrant and growing regions outside of major cities, as well as in large towns and smaller cities. They were once swing voters, but have moved more solidly Democratic since 2016. And they’re the reason Democrats did so well during the 2018 and 2022 midterms, as well as why they were able to win so many competitive contests in 2020’s presidential-year elections.”
Paz ends the piece thusly, “What the last few special, off-year, and midterm elections have shown is that the trend of Democrats performing well in suburbs and among wealthier and better-educated voters continues. That Democrats can do well in an off-year when these are the kinds of voters most likely to turn out is not a surprise. But it should still serve as a warning to Republicans that their branding problem with these voters isn’t just going to go away. Democrats have a big opportunity to shore up support among these communities and continue to frame Republicans as politically toxic — especially with Trump at the top of the ticket.”
HEY, THAT DESCRIBES NOW! THAT DESCRIBES THIS ELECTION!
So I caught up with someone on the frontlines of the fight to swing the suburbs blue, Johnson County Democrat Blythe Potter. Blythe is one of these former Republicans who left the party because of their socially regressive extremism and threats to our basic freedoms. Potter is proud Army Veteran, Bargersville resident, and a mom to a future Center Grove student! She is co-owner of Bargersville Wellness and has a BAS in Massage Therapy and MBA in conscious capitalism from Siena Heights University. At her salon & studio, she works as an esthetician, massage therapist, and yoga teacher - and this November, she is up for election to the Johnson County Council.
In the upcoming interview, we will talk briefly about Blythe’s time in the army before turning to her political journey. We’ll discuss her core political values, which haven’t changed, even has her former party grew more and more extreme. Zooming in to issues specific to Johnson County, we’ll talk about responsibly managing growth, balancing the demand for more housing, more amenities, and more infrastructure with the need to protect green spaces. We’ll discuss living in a low-tax jurisdiction, and why that isn’t as sweet as it sounds, before turning to the reality of politicking while adorned in piercings and tattoos.
But first, please consider supporting this project with a financial contribution.
In 2022, in the wake of the corrupted Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, I was furious on behalf of the women in my life, in this state, and across the country. The rushed Special Session of the General Assembly that summer was the first time I had participated in a political protest. I had spent my whole adult life squandering the privilege I have in this society as a straight, white man.
I knew I needed to do more, but wasn’t quite sure what that looked like. I didn’t know anybody in political circles. My time was consumed by work and family. So I started writing on Substack in what little spare time I had. I’ve branched into campaign finance research, and I started this podcast - because the world needs more basic white guys with podcasts. Apparently it’s some sort of recessive trait. Who knew?
But seriously, this place has been my way of climbing the nearest hill and shouting, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take it anymore!” And you, as a Hoosier, or a citizen of any captured, gerrymandered “Red State”, should be just as mad. We should be mad together, and turn our righteous fury into action.
I knew as early as 2021 that 2024 was going to be an incredibly difficult year, but not like this. My special character, my 19-year old son passed away in January; we’re all a wreck; but his 16 year-old sister in particular is not coping well and up to 16 year-old shit, and consequently spending some time with family far from here. So, on top of the grief, and that overwhelming sense of being a failure as a parent, there are an uncomfortable number of our neighbors willing to sacrifice our country to the false religion of Christian nationalism? (Like BTW, could it be any more ironic? Trump is literally a golden calf - the veal of people : a pampered son, born of privilege, never knowing real work; tender meat, grazing lazily while the little people labor. AND THEN SPRAY-PAINTED GOLD!)
Anyway, For a couple of months after my son passed, I was simultaneously paralyzed by grief and driven to help ensure other parents would never know that pain, in the only way I know how - because I don’t know how to people. I’m good at seeing things from 30,000 feet, but the closer you zoom in, the more awkward I get- I doubled down on HoosLeft in an effort to shed more light Indiana politics, where our far-right Republican supermajority and their financial benefactors enact policies that literally harm our children - by allowing guns to flood our communities, by bullying queer youth, and by poisoning our environment… or by driving the next generation out of state with their dark ages worldview.
I didn’t take on any work outside of this project for a few months there. So many of you have been so supportive. The subscriber base has grown tremendously; we recently hit 1000 subscribers on Substack. I’m humbled and honored to know I’ve got a small fraction of that thousand, a core group of people who believe enough in me to give financial support. I’ve been able to publish more frequently, learn new skills, and expand beyond audio into video podcasting. But at this time, it is not sustainable full-time. I’ve had to put on the Carhartt (or the generic version cuz that shit’s expensive) once again - scraping & sanding, priming & painting, trimming & mulching, and working on this project whenever I can. I’d much rather devote my working time to this, and to you, but I can only give this project the attention it truly deserves with your help. I hope you’ll consider joining that core group.
I will continue to work to highlight Indiana’s bad actors so we can replace them with more empathetic leadership, and also shine the spotlight on the activists, organizations, and elected officials who are doing the hard work to build a more just, equitable, and compassionate Indiana for the next generation of Hoosiers. And I’ll take on Democrats too: when they put their donors over their voters, when they talk out of both sides of their mouths, and when they fail to push back against GOP authoritarian extremism with the necessary urgency and tenacity. I resisted working within the Democratic Party for a long time, but the more I learn about how our election system works, the more I’ve come to understand how entrenched the two-party system is. We have to use the two-party system in order to rid ourselves of the two-party system. Right now, the Democratic Party is the best vehicle, but remember this - the party is a tool we can use to help achieve our goals - it serves us; we do not serve it.
I will go deep to provide information and analysis you won’t get anywhere else in the Hoosier State. I’m not motivated by the dollars, but everything costs money. Web hosting, editing software, travel to meet with other activists and organizers - with the jump to video, I needed to upgrade my computer. That wasn’t cheap, but even more valuable is time. More support from you, dear listeners, means more time to devote to HoosLeft, more content.
So, 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 help keep me from coming down with a severe case of drywallers elbow.
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. 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. If you want to see my face - or the occasional photobomb by my boxer puppy or one of the other official pets of the pod - I’m posting full video episodes of the pod on YouTube and clips on TikTok: the handle on both of those is @hoosleft. Subscribe to any and all.
But, most importantly, share our message. Forward the articles to friends, family, and colleagues; don’t just like, but share on social media; invite others to this community of Indiana leftists. Nobody is coming to save us - we gotta do it ourselves.
With your investment, a full time HoosLeft could look like new content every day, full coverage of the 2024 election cycle in Indiana and beyond; and zooming out to see how the networks acting in our state function nationally and even globally. Why am I asking you for money? Because, as Sarah Kendzior says (read all her stuff btw) “it’s not cool to paywall political content in a political crisis.” I believe in open access to information, and your support helps make this knowledge freely available to all Hoosiers. But I desperately need your contributions in order to keep bringing you all of that sweet, sweet content. So please, before this interview, pause right now, go to scottaaronrogers.substack.com and subscribe at the paid level. To those who have contributed already, my sincere thanks. And to everybody, thanks for listening.
Last thing - this interview was recorded prior to the primary, April 25 to be precise. There may be elements referring to the “upcoming” primary, but everything here is pertinent to the general election. Blythe was the top Democratic vote-getter on May 7 for one of three at-large seats on the Johnson County Council, moving on to November. Here’s my interview with Blythe Potter.
Once again, that was Democratic candidate for Johnson County Council, Blythe Potter.
You know, one look at Blythe Potter and you know you’re not dealing with your stereotypical idea of an elected official; some of her publicity photos from last year’s city council race show the towering Potter - her icy blue eyes staring out over a studded nose, face framed by a purple bob - baring a tattooed right arm, detailed floral work flowing from shoulder to hand. Good! Yes! More of this! Our elected officials should be more representative of our communities, and that goes for the body art crowd, too.
Here are some fun statistics from a study published last year by Pew Research Center,
32% of Americans adults, including 38% of women, have at least one tattoo
“Adults under 50 are especially likely to have a tattoo. Some 41% of those under 30 have at least one, as do 46% of those ages 30 to 49.”
I find this particularly neat. Another quote, “There are no major differences by political party or whether Americans live in an urban, suburban or rural community. A third of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have a tattoo, as do 32% of Republicans and Republican leaners. And roughly a third of adults across urban, suburban and rural areas report having a tattoo. There are no differences between veterans and non-veterans, either.”
While there’s been a ton of cultural movement on this just in my life time, about 30% of the ink-free crowd still says seeing a tattoo on someone else leaves a negative impression. That number goes up the older, richer, or whiter the respondent. 40% of those ages 65 and older have a negative impression of people with tattoos.
And, though we didn’t come at it from a body art angle, we certainly noticed that a lot of old, comfortable, white - probably inkless - dudes are doing okay while the rest of us struggle.
In areas just like Johnson County - and all throughout the Hoosier State - older, established property owners - maybe they inherited land or purchased long before the recent building boom - control the levers of government and use that power to lock in their gains, keep taxes low on their now-incredibly-valuable property, and fight the creation and extension of government services. Bonus points if they or their buddies own and operate a business that provides services a government could provide efficiently without some asshole having to take their cut. They’re still operating as if they live in a rural backwater when, in fact, there are now whole ass communities in what used to be cornfields. Many in those communities increasingly want to act like the cities they’ve become, and embrace the shared responsibility that goes with that.
The get-off-my-property ethos might fly when your nearest neighbor is a mile down the road, but it turns out that when communities grow, and people increasingly live closer together, and get to know their neighbors, and realize, deep down, the overwhelming majority of us are good people just trying to do their best, we’re more willing to chip in so we can ALL have nice things - like police and fire protection, sewer hookups and trash pickup, sidewalks and street lights - no matter what we look like.
And the suburbs increasingly look like cool moms with tattoos. This is one of the fault lines I’m looking at as we turn to general election mode. As noted in the introduction, the suburbs are increasingly Democratic. In many metropolitan areas, the shift is complete; suburban Milwaukee, Detroit, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Atlanta just pushing Biden over the wannabe fascist dictator Trump in 2020.
As is tradition, trends get to Indiana a little later than other parts of the country. So just as we’ve all learned about Bucks County, PA; Gwinnett County, GA and Macomb County, MI; this year - Carmel, Fishers, and Noblesville - I’m looking at you. Greenwood, Brownsburg, Bargersvillle - I’m looking at you. Avon, Zionsville, Plainfield - pay attention. Granger, New Carlisle, I see you. Boonville, Newburgh - I didn’t forget about you down there. Munster, Dyer, Schererville - you guy up by Chicago. And you - Sellersburg, Scottsburg, Clarksville - y’all down by Louisville. Your big city might be in a different state, but you are Hoosiers, and this Election Day, you and your tattooed moms need to show up - and not just one Tuesday, but for the all of the organizing and GOTV work leading up to November 5.
Mark my words, the ruling class will tighten the economic screws between now and then. I wouldn’t be surprised to see $6/gal gas come October. They will try to make you choose between your comfort and your conscience, your money over your morality, your valuables over your values.
We’ve got to put our energy, our time, and our money where our “In This House” sign is, if we want to beat back the scourge of authoritarian Christian nationalism and permanently tattoo the mark of loving kindness on our communities and our state. As of this recording, there are 168 days until the 2024 General Election. What are you doing to make your mark?
Thanks for listening. Thank you to my guest today, Blythe Potter. You can find her at blythepotter.com. As for yours truly, 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 as message, slide up in my DMs on social media or email me at scottrog78@gmail.com. If you haven’t yet done so, when you’re finished here, please go to scottaaronrogers.substack.com and subscribe at the paid level. Help me keep this project going. Until next time, this has been the HoosLeft podcast. I’m Scott Aaron Rogers. Love each other, Indiana.
HoosLeft #36: Mrs. Potter, Won’t You Talk To Me?
Guest: Blythe Potter, Candidate for Johnson County Council
https://scottaaronrogers.substack.com/subscribe
https://blythepotter.com
https://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/ibr/2024/spring/article2.html
https://www.vox.com/politics/23955909/election-results-2023-abortion-republicans-suburban-vote
https://directory.runforsomething.net/candidate/3815/potter-blythe/
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/08/15/32-of-americans-have-a-tattoo-including-22-who-have-more-than-one
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/in-2020-the-largest-metro-areas-made-the-difference-for-democrats/
https://thehill.com/business/4442733-gas-price-surge-could-cost-biden-reelection-moodys/
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