A potential primary challenger to Todd Young.

House Democrats property tax proposal.

Plus banning student I.D.s at polling places and more from the television studios at WFYI.

It's Indiana Week in Review, the week ending March 28th, 2025.

Indiana Weekend Review is produced by WFYI in association with Indiana Public Broadcasting stations.

Additional support is provided by the Indy Chamber, working to unite business and community to maintain a strong economy and quality of life.

This week, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported former state Senator Carlin Yoder is considering a primary challenge to two term U.S.

Senator Todd Young in 2028.

Yoder served eight years in the Indiana Senate.

More recently, he's worked as a lobbyist and served as the Indiana state director for President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign.

He's also a close ally of U.S.

Senator Jim Banks, and has been sharply critical of Todd Young, arguing he's not adequately conservative for Indiana.

Young hasn't been shy in the past about criticizing President Trump, and in the statement to the Capital Chronicle, an advisor to young called him one of the most effective conservative leaders in the country.

Should young be worried about a primary challenge?

It's the first question for our Indiana Week in Review panel.

Democrat Ann DeLaney Republican Mike O'Brien Jon Schwantes, host of Indiana Lawmakers.

And Niki Kelly, editor in chief of the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

I'm Indiana Public Broadcasting Statehouse bureau chief Brandon Smith.

Mike, should Todd Young be concerned.

That you're worried or concerned just like the right the right way to characterize it?

I think he'll take it seriously because I think he understands the environment that we're in.

I've known Karl a long time.

He's a, good guide, but that's a big hill to climb.

You know, Young's got 5 million in the bank.

he's right right now.

He's right now.

He's got 5 million.

That's four years or three years out.

He's got a great network from his time as, NRC chair with other Republican, U.S. senators.

So he's got a big base of support to draw from there.

And he's been yes, he's been critical of Trump.

He's also explained why he's not just, like doing drive bys on them, you know, on Fox News or MSNBC.

You know, he's thoughtfully explained why he's opposed to, you know, defunding this or not supporting that.

You know, it's particularly in foreign policy.

and he's delivered for Indiana, right?

He's the the Chips act that was profiled, you know, in the lead in, it was a big deal.

And he's, you know, he's he's focused on being effective, which also opens you up to being criticized for working with Democrats, which is something we can't do right now.

not without taking heat for it.

But it's also led to, like, tangible things that have happened in Indiana that are that are almost universally considered good.

Yes, I think so.

I think he's our job.

Yeah.

So I think he's in a good, good position for reelection if he sees it.

Mike thinks worried or concerned is not the right words.

if you were, Todd Young would be.

Would you be worried or concerned?

I don't think so.

I you know, we first of all, those don't don't study history are doomed to repeat it.

We could ask Murdoch how well it worked to take on an incumbent Republican senator.

And now that's, of course, how we wound up with a Democrat.

Yeah, he got there.

He checked the first box.

Yeah, yeah, but he wasn't able to do the second, which is the same thing that would happen in this situation.

Would the unthinkable happen and young lose in a primary.

You know four years in advance of the election is is kind of ridiculous when you think about it.

Or three years in advance of the election.

It's kind of ridiculous.

He may not even be the program.

It may be Beckwith that runs for the Senate.

I'm hearing rumors in that regard.

So, you know, they could have a nice divisive primary, but not in a in a freefall like that.

Obviously, young has no problem.

2028 feels like it might be a good cycle for Todd Young to be up if he's worried about a challenge from his right.

Would you say that true?

I mean, I will say this, I, I don't think he'd be worried, but I also don't think it's, you know, a given that he would easily win.

Obviously, if Carlin gets the support of the Trump apparatus, he could raise 5 million pretty quick.

You know, obviously, he'll need to raise more.

So the fact that he's even starting to talk about it is significant.

It puts a little bit of added pressure on individual votes.

And you know, and I asked Carlin, you know, hey, you know, he supported all of Trump's nominees and things like that.

And he said he did.

But in his mind, you have to drag him there like he makes you wait until the last minute to know how he's going to vote.

And he's not like the automatic.

Correct.

He's a thinking man.

Yeah.

There's really no room for it.

There's no room for that for the party, that's for sure.

To the point.

And just made about, you know, three years out.

But if you're talking about taking on an a two term incumbent U.S.

Senator, Republican in a Republican state is three years out the right time to be at least starting to explore this?

Well, it seems anymore there is no right or wrong.

You just as soon as there's, you know, you're always running anymore.

That seems to be the case, especially because these races are so incredibly expensive now.

Yeah.

I think that when we look at this, we're assuming, or talking as if, the Trump Trump luster will be as pronounced and as shiny and glowing, and that his and premature on a candidate will be as meaningful or as powerful in X number of years as it is now.

I think almost by definition, he's at a high watermark.

you've looked at his polling.

he still has a lot of Republican support, as you would imagine.

But even that is starting to show some signs at its most polls, most legitimate polls show that Donald Trump is now upside down in terms of approval negative rating in this country and maybe not in Indiana, certainly.

But, likely Republican primary.

Yeah, that's that's that's a very distinct.

But but if he'll still be fine.

But but.

If everything goes off the rails and there is that potential keep in mind for.

Corruption.

Well, any number of reasons, if you have farmers get fed up.

If you have, small business people get fed up.

If you have a faction of the party that thought they were getting one thing when they voted for him, and they're not getting what they thought they voted for.

I'm not sure that Lester's there, but.

Also he presumably, unless something changes in the Constitution or we just decide to stop paying attention to the Constitution.

Which which we have.

Yeah.

Flip a coin.

He won't be on the ballot in 2028 either.

And we don't know.

We turn that page to either, like.

Exactly as a party, you know, and I mean, presumably it'll be a Trump endorsed or Trump backed candidate, but will they have the same sort of power to sway voters that Donald Trump clearly has had for the last.

One has yet?

Yeah.

No one has lost so last.

Decade, but no one who.

Who's that going to be in?

Do they have that power and.

History to.

It.

So maybe the biggest unknown of the next few elections.

All right.

Time now for viewer feedback.

Each week we pose an unscientific online poll question.

And this week's question is, is U.S.

Senator Todd Young conservative enough for Indiana voters?

A yes or B no.

Last week we asked you whether labor union voters will shift back to the Democratic Party as new party chair Karen Talian hopes.

75% of you say yes, 25% say no.

If you'd like to take part in the poll, go to wfyi.org/iwir and look for the poll.

While Indiana House Democrats have a property tax reform proposal they say is a happy medium between relief for homeowners and support for local governments and schools.

Representative Greg Porter plans to offer a package of amendments that includes provisions to cap at 1% the amount property tax bills can grow for people age 65 and older, freeze property taxes for disabled veterans.

Create a homestead tax credit for all homeowners.

Increase the tax deduction for renters from $3,000 to 5000, and create a first time homebuyer down payment grant program with awards of up to $25,000.

I don't want to continue to disappoint home homeowners, particularly our seniors and young people in the state of Indiana.

House Democratic Leader Phil Gia Quinta says the Democrats proposal ensures property tax relief is centered on the right place.

Just basically focusing on, homeowners versus corporations is the biggest takeaway.

Debate over property tax reform will continue the rest of session.

Ann DeLaney, would this satisfy some of the people calling loudest for major property tax relief?

Probably not.

I mean, when you have them calling for the abolition of property tax, for example, or the fiscally responsible, irresponsible program, the governor proposed rolling it back to 2021.

No, I mean, that's what the demonstration was for.

This, however, is is a program that as as as Bill is a happy medium.

It emphasizes Hoosiers, both renters and homeowners, gives some access, to first time buyers.

and it is a thoughtful proposal that's practical.

I mean, you can't abolish property taxes when you have 2300 units of government relying on them.

Okay.

And you can't talk about the 2021 rollback without huge firings of police and fire and roads that are already decaying going further under.

It's just not realistic unless, you know, unless you.

Backfill.

You backfill with a huge increase in income tax, which I don't think anybody wants.

They need to think through a proposal that helps homeowners, doesn't choose between manufacturing businesses and office buildings, just does provide some basic relief for the problem that the Republicans have helped create for the last 20 years.

A big way that the House Democrats plan, spreads relief to most, if not all, homeowners.

It's through a homestead tax credit that's paid for from the state level instead of the local hill, because there is an existing homestead credit at the local level that would I think that cost $400 million, out of the state general fund, barring, a miracle in the April, April, revenue forecast.

Is the state capable of doing something like that.

If they cut stamp cutting taxes?

And we have a, you know, nonpartisan redistricting commission, I think we can get done.

Well, just putting the taxes.

So.

Yeah, that's a that's an achievable number.

Yes.

But it's certainly not like where Governor Brauns trying to go now, you know, and I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility.

If you just look at the revenue reports from the actual revenue, not the forecast of what has happened in the last six months.

But I don't think it's inconceivable that you're going to have a pretty, like, modest, like, increased in you know, in certainly.

Not that that's not be like zero new dollars the second year kind of.

It's not gonna be catastrophic.

But there's a lot of open ended questions like there usually are not about what's happening at the federal, at the federal level and what kind of state state support financially is coming from the feds.

Now that maybe not, maybe it won't be coming in.

The future of the Trump administration decides to chart a new course so that that's what's out of lawmakers minds right now.

It's like, okay, well, maybe we get a decent or even revenue forecast, maybe a little bit of extra money in the first year, maybe a little more in the second year.

But I really don't know what's going to happen next.

So it's really hard to forecast one, hard to forecast revenue.

It's hard to write a budget on it.

they are far apart on this.

The governor of the House and the Senate and the Democrats, they are a world apart.

even to the point where, you know, we're in the building every day.

It feels like I was talking to a colleague this morning on our team, and I was and we were like, it feels like end of session.

Like they're like, hey, get that done.

Like, it's like we have two weeks of committee left in the second half.

They're like, no needs to be done by like Monday.

And and so we're doing like end of session things.

I think they're worried about what this fight looks like towards the end.

And they they've had this.

Actual two weeks like the.

Actual two weeks left.

And they had this special session threat hanging out there from, from the governor.

So I don't know how I don't know how they got to where he.

Wants to go.

Right.

Consistent with your point about the federal funds and what the cuts are, we got to remember we're the third most dependent state on federal revenue.

Yeah.

That's right to that point.

Does that make whatever this property tax package look like mean.

It's going to fall almost entirely on the local level without any real state support for whatever changes might come?

I think that has been pretty clear from the outset that that no matter how this chess game unfolds, the locals are going to take a hit.

There's just no other way.

Even if they, if there's a mechanism by which they can raise taxes through which they already have the authority to do, or are given additional authority to raise certain taxes, guess what, then then the, but the the anger will just the anger will still be there.

It's just that the anger will be directed at them, perhaps instead of the limestone at the state House.

So, either in terms of public opinion, in terms of, angry public, in terms of a lack of wherewithal and funding and flexibility to pay for the kinds of things that local government pays for there, there, I think, all but certain to come out on the short end.

We have increasingly from the Republican leaders in the House and Senate unanimity of message anyway, which is there are like three goals with the property tax relief, which is goal number one, the 2026 bills for the now it's the majority of homeowners.

The majority of homeowners will be lower than their 2025 bills.

Number two, long term changes that make the property tax system not the to eliminate the spikes.

And three giving local governments the resources they need, or at least the tools to have the resources they need.

Doesn't that feel like we're close to a solution?

No, apparently not.

Because the governor's just.

Doubled down last week on either elimination, or a sharp drawback of going back has when.

He has the governor now boxed himself into a corner.

I think he has a bit I definitely think the House and Senate can come to something.

they're probably not very far from that at all.

And I don't see any.

I remember when the state had a property tax replacement credit and was spending like $1 billion on it a year.

I don't think lawmakers want to go that route at all.

So, you know, I think we're probably close for the House and Senate.

It's just whether whether the governor would take something of a win or if he wants to, you know, all or nothing, whether he's going to.

And now.

Is demonstration.

And the reiteration of that pledge is so damaging to governor O'Brien.

Two things came up this week.

One was, just like, you know, hearing but behind the scenes that there was a conversation with locals where they're like, we're going to stop zoning residential, because if we're going to create this disparity between, like, what we can go collect on residential property taxes, we're going to zoned commercial areas where we can, yeah, where we might have otherwise been developing housing, which is put more pressure on the other issue.

Yeah, which is a real problem on on housing.

Which is a House Republican priority, is to try to like, address, you know, permitting and inspections and.

Overseeing the corporate and the state.

Well, I mean, that's that's what you do.

You look at realistically what's available, what you want to do, what you need to accomplish, and you stop projecting out for five years.

That's a good match.

How about the hog barn at the pig barn at the barn?

Pig barn?

The swine barn?

Beautifully.

You know.

It is.

It is.

It's a hard it's it is a gorgeous facility to be here.

Those golden.

Oldies.

It is a gorgeous facility that we don't have any debt on.

I don't know what that student, student identification could no longer be used to prove someone's identity at polling places under a bill approved along party lines by a House committee.

Critics say the bill is a Republican attempt to suppress the youth vote.

IDs from Indiana's public colleges and universities cannot be used to register to vote, but for decades, they have been one of the few allowable forms of voter ID at polling places.

A bill authored by Republican Senator Blake Doriot would end that policy, banning the use of student I.D.s to vote.

I don't believe we're disenfranchizing them.

We're requiring.

Them to do.

The very same thing that other residents in the.

State of Indiana do.

But Indiana University student Anoushka Pandey says there's no problem to be solved here.

No evidence of voter fraud via student IDs.

This bill shuts us out of a political system that is not only guaranteed to us by the Constitution, but that we will inherit sooner rather than later.

If you think that suppressing us will help you, you were wrong.

The bill heads to the House floor.

Niki Kelly I feel like this question could be asked on several election bills we've seen, but what problem are we trying to solve here?

I don't know, I mean, they've got they haven't given any actual concrete examples.

I think the refrain is just we're making it more secure.

We're making it more secure.

yeah.

I mean, these people who are voting these students are allowed to vote under Indiana law.

They already have to meet various rules to register.

This is literally just when you walk up to vote, they look at it and go, yep, that's you.

You know, that's all it is.

And so, you know, I guess I'll have to make another trip to the BMV.

because some of them have, you know, from their home states and they don't get a new license here.

And so it just seems to be another step.

I don't exactly get why where it's coming from.

And obviously the youth vote isn't really impacting current races in Indiana.

I mean, Republicans control pretty much everything.

So I mean, this is this is kind of my question, I suppose, without being able to identify any action.

Well, I'll put it this way.

Representative Kendall Culp, who's the House sponsor of this bill, said in committee.

And this is the first time I've heard this argument.

It was, well, we don't know if the student is voting in this state and their home state, and that's what we're concerned about with it, that there's no way to know if that's happening.

This bill, as far as I'm aware, would have no impact on your ability to know whether the student has voted here and there, because the states don't talk to each other nearly enough, which is another actually part of this bill is trying to get them to do that, which is a laudable goal.

Again, what problem are we trying to solve?

Well, I'll detour slightly.

There was a system I can't remember the acronym now that was set up within the past decade.

Eric.

Yes.

Thank you.

I know it was a name, but I didn't want to go out on a limb and get the wrong name.

that set up a mechanism by which states could very easily compare this data.

It was done, with bipartisan support.

In fact, I think there were a lot of Republican, secretaries of state and other election officials who promoted this, the creation of this.

But then it got the boogeyman was assigned to it became, you know, there was.

A question about whether or not the organization could direct states to spend money in a certain way.

And there were some.

States I'll go with my understanding.

It was this.

Understandably balked at that idea.

It to me, it took the same path as Common Core, which was a Republican, education accountability plan.

that where states could compare notes and collaborate until it was seen as, as the worst thing ever.

And this now took on the same baggage.

That's that's my shorthand for it.

So then you have states and mass pulling out of it, mostly where Republicans control the election apparatus.

So that's a nonstarter in my mind.

You had a solution.

You took it off the table, maybe there.

And maybe young people have they haven't voted for, let's say that's a shame.

They don't.

But with what we're seeing now, there seems to be some frustration on the part of what we've seen on the East Coast and ice.

And I mean, now, granted, it's harder to, and there might be more barriers to to protests now.

you could be you could be you end up in prison or out of the country.

If you don't have your papers in order.

It doesn't matter if you do have your paper ballot.

But be that as it may, I think there is going to be a backlash against.

I'm already seeing the backlash.

And so maybe this is to head off any kind of I don't think it's anybody thought that far, but I think it's the it's continuing to clamp down.

yes.

But Bill would have that benefit for people who say, let's, let's this insurance policy if the, if, if students do get upset.

Well, I want to I want to ask this though, because one of the I mean, the Chamber of Commerce talks about this problem all the time.

You hear that the state has to we aren't keeping enough young people in the state of Indiana, whether it's people who were already born and raised here and leave after college or people that we attract to these universities, and then they go back out somewhere else after they've graduated.

And the argument was made in the committee that, like one of the ways you can keep kids here is you foster a sense of commitment to their community.

Is this making that harder?

That's way too big of a goal to try to accomplish with this.

That's just.

But isn't that like a piece of the puzzle?

The amount of time we have spent to make sure that some of us have their driver's license, so they got to show in a million other examples in life to get through the world.

But we don't want to do it here.

It's exhausting.

It's like.

You had you needed.

Your license to get the.

School ID.

You need to prove your identification to apply.

You didn't need an Indiana like you.

Could do a license, or you can.

Do.

A state ID, you can go get a state.

I don't get it for free.

You get.

A state.

49th in turnout.

And the goal in this bill is because it's worked well.

This is going to touch that.

Yeah.

It's it's just like can you just.

Bring your driver's license.

And if you're going to register to vote.

And if you just not find a solution when you don't have a problem, how about.

That?

Just bring your driver's license.

Some factions in the state of Indiana want to keep all the students who come here for an education.

Sometimes I would say if you agree with us, you can stay.

If you don't hightail it back to your your state of origin.

Perhaps leads us nicely into our next topic.

The Congressional Committee on China issued a letter to Purdue University last week claiming a national security interest in Chinese students and staff.

Indiana Public Broadcasting's Zak Cassel reports.

This comes as the Trump administration slashed the work force of the Civil Rights Division and the Education Department, earlier this month.

Republican Representative John Moolenaar are from Michigan, is the chair of the US Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

In his letter, one of six sent to universities around the country, Moolenaar says Purdue has become financially dependent on foreign students, including Chinese citizens, and accuses the school of giving them unrestricted access to sensitive research and technology.

He then asks Purdue President Mung Chiang for detailed information on students, faculty, research and partnerships with Chinese universities.

Purdue has not yet released a statement and wasn't immediately available for comment.

A Chinese official on Thursday called the action discriminatory, the Associated Press reported.

The official urged the US to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese students.

Jon, how concerning is this?

I kind of feel the way Mike did a minute ago.

There's so many.

This can unfold on so many levels.

Do you talk about the whole notion of looking to being a player in the on the global stage, or do you just want to turn inward in there?

That's the bigger question for the state of Indiana.

this notion of, you know.

Isolationism, I it's isolationism.

It is a way to xenophobia is another, way to put it.

Purdue is done quite well.

It's built a tremendous reputation because of its STEM programs at being, a destination for students from around the world.

And it has benefited students.

The bottom line of Purdue.

Now, maybe I don't know to what extent there are additional fees.

I think, assessed for certainly out-of-state students and international students, which has a name.

It goes, you pay the most.

If you're a foreign student, you pay a little less than that.

If you're an out-of-state student, you pay way less than that if you're in in states.

I thought I was most of you were from Bloomington, but that they double it then.

But the, you know, that has enabled, I think, to a certain extent, Purdue to keep in place what now for 12 or 13 years, the tuition for the tuition freeze on in-state students.

Yeah.

And that would probably be at risk.

I don't know where I mean, but we've seen this with so much legislation, you know, about foreign investment into agricultural lands or even other types of lands that may initially be close to some sensitive areas or might just be general anything.

Yeah.

So this is just an ongoing discussion.

I think we have to have as a state about whether we're looking inward or outward.

Does this make life leaving Purdue harder?

Yeah, absolutely.

you know, we there's two things at play here.

One, we have we've got this issue we're fighting at the state House about kind of Homer ism and NIMBYism.

And, you know, they don't want the chip manufacturer in their backyard.

They want the battery plant.

They don't want the data center.

Okay.

Well, you can either create the opportunities in your state for a well-educated research scientist engineer to then walk out the back door or go work in West Lafayette or you can't.

And so we'll yeah, that's that is that is what happens when we train them and send them home.

Yeah.

Right.

That they take that expertise that we've invested in as a public university and leave it, leave and leave with it.

Yeah, yeah.

All right.

That's Indiana Week In Review for this week.

Our panel is Democrat Ann DeLaney, Republican Mike O'Brien, Jon Schwantes of Indiana lawmakers and Niki Kelly of the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

You can find Indiana Week In Reviews podcast and episodes at wfyi.org/twitter or on the PBS app.

I'm Brandon Smith of Indiana Public Broadcasting.

Join us next time because a lot can happen in an Indiana week.

The views expressed are solely those of the panelists.

Indiana Week in Review is produced by WFYI in association with Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations.

Additional support is provided by the Indy Chamber, working to unite business and community to maintain a strong economy and quality of life.