Episode 105: Third Time’s A Charm
Guests: Cinde Wirth, Candidate for US House of Representatives (IN-06)
https://www.wirth4congress.com/
Welcome to the HoosLeft Podcast, a show about Indiana politics, history, and culture from an unapologetically leftist perspective. My name is Scott Aaron Rogers and I’m recording from Bloomington.
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So, my guest today is - at the time of publishing currently stranded on a Caribbean island due to US military operations in Venezuela. From the Columbus Repulic, “Cinde Wirth, a former Democratic nominee for Indiana’s 6th Congressional District, was vacationing in Bonaire, a Dutch island about 50 miles off the coast of [the South American country, when she learned Saturday morning that her return flight to the United States had been suspended.” She has family there, and was visiting for the holidays. Fortunately, she has a flight booked and will be returning home soon. Personally, an incovenience; internationally, a giant can of worms. But today’s conversation isn’t about that. Recorded a couple weeks ago — the before-time; the long-long ago — in this conversation we talk to the scientist, teacher, small-business owner, and freshly-minted PhD, who is running for Congress for the third time in Indiana’s 6th District. We’ll talk about her diverse career in science, education and business — as well as her experiences as a staffer on Capitol Hill, where she has already written and shepherded legislation through to passage. And, in this desperate time when we need to swing for the fences, we emphasized the need for bold policies like Medicare for All and public jobs programs to address social entropy and economic inequality.
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Now, here is my conversations with Cinde Wirth.
In the interview:
05:00–08:30 — Welcome Back & Candidate Overview
Topics
Third run for Congress in Indiana’s 6th District
Background: scientist, teacher, small business owner, newly completed PhD
Framing this moment as requiring “swinging for the fences”
08:30–15:30 — Personal Background & Motivation
Topics
Career path through science, education, and business
First-generation college experience
Why lived experience matters in representation
15:30–23:30 — Working Inside Congress
Topics
Placement in Rep. Jared Polis’s office
Writing and shepherding legislation
Mentorship under Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson
23:30–30:30 — Bill Writing, Power, and ALEC
Topics
Learning curve for bill writing
Contrast between Democratic staff-written bills and GOP model legislation
ALEC and state-level policy pipelines (Teen Vogue, ISTA)
Indiana cited as a case study during fellowship exposure
30:30–38:30 — Campaign Lessons from 2022 & 2024
Topics
What two previous runs taught her
Campaigning across a large, mixed district
Increased readiness for a third run
38:30–45:30 — Social Entropy & Big Policy Thinking
Topics
“Social entropy” as democratic decay
New Deal–era parallels
Medicare for All - better outcomes for less
45:30–52:30 — Climate, Infrastructure, and Urgency
Topics
Climate impacts already affecting infrastructure
Deferred maintenance analogy
Cost of delay vs. early action
52:30–57:30 — Community, Democracy, and Dehumanization
Topics
Loss of community connection
Wealth and decision-making distance
Dehumanization in policy
Critique of Christian nationalism
57:30–1:04:30 — Civic Engagement & Closing
Topics
Local meetings and data center proposals
Civic engagement as democratic maintenance
Once again, that was Cinde Wirth — scientist, educator, small business owner, and recently-minted Phd — running for the US House of Representatives in Indiana’s 6th Congressional District. As we speak to more federal candidates throughout the year, I’ll continue to press them to forward big, bold, visionary ideas like some of the concepts we discussed here today. We’re in too deep to dig our way out with a spoon.
That’s all for now. I’ll be back this Sunday — as I am every weekend — with HoosLeft This Week YouTube, Facebook Live, and on ProgressiveIndiana.NET. Indiana’s most thorough weekend Sunday news and politics talk show, it’s a lot of fun - if you can call following the news in this timeline fun. My panel and I go “around the corn” to cover all the week’s top Indiana news stories and look at US and international happenings through a Hoosier lens. I hope to see you there in the comments, but if you can’t make it live, the program will be available for download later Sunday afternoon.
Thanks once again to Cinde for this interview, and thank you for listening. One last reminder to please consider contributing to this project with a paid subscription at HoosLeft.US, where you’ll find my entire archive. I rely solely on the generosity of kind patrons like you to make this information available for free to everybody. In addition to the website, you can find me on Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads at HoosLeft.US and on Facebook, X, TikTok, Mastodon, and YouTube at HoosLeft. Direct message me at any of those sites with feedback, tips, ideas, and concerns or email me at scott@hoosleft.us. While you’ve got the old email machine out, please forward the show to a friend and have them pass it on, too. Let’s keep building this project - and a truly democratic state - one conversation at a time. Until the next one, this has been the HoosLeft podcast. I’m Scott Aaron Rogers. Love each other, Indiana.
