Q&A: Senate Democratic candidate Valerie McCray

Valerie McCray is breaking the rules of how to run for the Senate. She’s running as a Democrat in a dominant Republican state, doesn’t have any political experience as a scientist and is the first black woman to be a nominee for the seat she’s running for.
But the facts of her Senate race don’t intimidate her.
The Indiana Democratic candidate for the United States Senate, Valerie McCray, sits down for an interview on Saturday.
Daniel Pike | Photo and Video Editor
McCray sat down with the Exponent before a campaign event in Tippecanoe County to explain her agenda and why she’s running.
Q: Can you introduce yourself?
A: I think the question (everyone) wants to know is, "How did I get into politics?” And everyone knows I'm not the typical candidate ... Let's talk about what I haven't done. I have not been raised up in the political climate. I have been a psychologist for the last 25-30 years, and I haven't taken that path of least resistance ... So when you ask me, “Why am I in politics?” For me, it's more practical, because as a black psychologist ... I felt like I was being pulled in 1,000 different directions, like it's endless. As far as when you're dealing with poverty issues, with drug issues, with a lot of different issues, you feel like you need to go to Washington to affect the policies that are making life difficult (so) we have these crises in the first place.
Q: Why did you choose to run for Senate instead of another race?
A: We have some fantastic people fighting this fight at the lower levels. We're a little gridlocked right now because we have a super majority Republican (state house legislature) that's gridlocking us on a lot of issues. There are great candidates that are already fighting that fight, especially in the area that I live in ... What is happening though is that there's no one at the top that represents those same ideas that are throwing the ropes down to those people that have those ideas. So, for example, if we don't have legislation in place that will stop gerrymandering, our state representatives are locked so we might have to handle this from a federal level. We've been trying to handle that. They've been trying to handle this from a federal level, but we have to keep ticking at it to make sure this gerrymandering stops so that we have real representation ... We need a balance. We've already got two Republican senators. I think that's a mistake anyway. I think that states should have a representative from both sides in the Senate. So I want to correct that. I'm needed in the Senate.
Valerie McCray, the Indiana Democrat running for the United States Senate, talks about her past experiences and vision for the future as she introduces herself to voters during a sit down interview on Saturday.
Daniel Pike | Photo and Video Editor
Q: In the state of Indiana, there have only been white men who have been senators. What are some of the challenges and obstacles you face as a black woman running for this position?
A: The only challenge that I've had being a black woman running for this position is the financial part of it. A lot of it is just the way men have been used to interacting, whether it's on the golf course or whatever, but there's ego involved in writing checks, and a man doesn't want to write a small check to another man, but women, historically get half of what men are able to raise. Black folks get even half of that. They get less and less of that. So on the financial piece, that has been an issue. But on the grassroots, “let's get to work” part of it, I have not had any issues with that. I've had just as much support from people in the rural areas, as I've had from the black communities. I think it's mainly because it's the female issue that's going on now as well. I don't know if they think everyone thinks I’m Oprah Winfrey or what, but that doesn't seem to be a negative right now. And it's so interesting because I actually had a white female from a rural area that was just really in your face point blank with this. She actually said, “You're a female. You're black. We want you.” I'm like, “What the heck was that? Okay?” It was weird. I don't know what those politics are behind the scenes, but I think that there's a voice and I think black women have traditionally had that voice of just speaking up ... It's understandable that they're embracing Kamala Harris in a way that they didn't embrace Hillary Clinton as much as I thought they would or should have. So it's really interesting what those dynamics are. That's work for social psychologists for generations to come to figure out right? As a social scientist, I can't wait to read the dissertations on these transitions, especially with the MAGA movement and AI and Fox News.
Q: At the bottom of your agenda, you list “bi-partisan efforts” as a topic. We live in an incredibly divided time, is “bi-partisan efforts” something that’s marketable?
A: There are some areas that are just not negotiable, whether it's one side of the aisle or the other. Most people are for equitable and great education and public education. They want to support public education. There is no dividing line between the fentanyl crisis, it's not a Republican or Democratic issue, but it's one we're going to have to come to the grips with together. We're going to have to find solutions together for these things. Mental health is not a Democratic or Republican issue, it's a human issue ... we're going to have to work across the aisles. The fact that wages are really low and people are complaining on both sides of the aisle, we can't live like this. So we have to find equitable solutions. We have more in common than we have separate. I think that there are certain segments of the Republican side of things and I don't even think they're the main voices, they're just the louder voices that are trying to stop those conversations, but we can start them back up, and maybe that would be the advantage of me being a psychologist, I am used to listening and kind of listening for what the chatter is and trying to find the underlying issues.
We do have a sector of people that just aren't listening to each other, but we have to find the ones that are. I've heard great things about Todd Young, as far as not being tied into the extreme, this side or the other, but willing to listen. And I'm there as well ... I was watching the (the Senate) in Washington, D.C., and I was watching everything as it happened, as they were voting on some judge or something. But literally, they just walk in, thumbs up, thumbs down, walk out. Todd Young did stay on the floor and was talking to several people. If that was just some sort of like snapshot, I think he is a conversationalist.
Q: I think it's interesting that you said Todd Young is a person who's able to come across the political divide when your opponent, Jim Banks, who's in the same party as Young, attacks him. How do you perceive your opponent?
A: I see my opponent is playing to a certain sector. I see my opponents through the eyes of the people that live in his community, that live in that area of Indiana, that district three. They come to me and they say, “He's not paying attention to us.” He went to see (Benjamin) Netanyahu. He gets involved in stuff that has little effect on what's happening on the ground with Indiana voters, Indiana people and that's his job, as a congressman, to make sure that's addressed. But he's from what I understand, a climate denier, election denier. He's playing to that MAGA group. He's helped with that Project 2025 issue (and) he's advised them on policy. He and I are totally at the opposite ends of the spectrum on almost every issue that I've delved into so far. That community he comes from wants him gone. Republicans and Democrats alike are coming up to me, saying, “Yeah, you need to get rid of that guy. You need to help us get rid of that guy.” He's not showing up for them. And I've been out here on this campaign trail, in the various parades and town halls and conversations and he has not been out here. Haven't seen him, you know, in the Republican floats, or any of that.
Q: What is your abortion policy?
A: You know, it's not just about abortion. It's about economic freedom. It's about medical health. It's about access. It's about doctors and the availability of OB-GYN doctors. It's about daycare. It's about all those things that happen after birth to assure that family thrives. It's about the fundamental right of that woman and that doctor and that family to make those decisions in that exam room or in that operation room or whatever that's separate from any political agenda. A lot of people have really been critical of the pro choice movement because nobody wanted to put a cut off data when abortions can or cannot happen, and that's understandable, because it's such a slippery slope, but we do know, and this is what a lot of people don't realize, is that the majority of abortions happen with women and families that already have a family at home ... They already know when they're in a dangerous relationship or dangerous financial situation or a dangerous health time of their life. They already know what the stakes are, and they know what they can handle, what they can't. What right do I have to make those judgments for that family? And then what we realized early on (is) that it's such a slippery slope because then when you manage a woman's birth process and pregnancy process, you're also trying to then start managing her birth control processes, because a lot of those medications overlap ... we know that young people, if they're having children when it's too soon for them, a lot of times that's a recipe for poverty and struggles that they might not want to take on, and it's a lifelong body changing phenomena, and you can't go back from it.
Q: Do you believe in any limitations?
A: There are natural limitations that are already there. There are already limitations already in place. They didn't need to put more. Most abortions happen way early, before the eighth week. The vast majority, it is so rare that someone has a late term abortion, and it's usually involving very, very life (threatening) issues; to the fetus, to the unborn or to the mother ... And for people to find those very, very, very rare cases of issues that make all this propaganda around it? It's cruel, it's mean and it should be illegal to do that because it’s such a rare thing.
Q: What is your stance on the LEAP water pipeline?
A: I was talking to Jennifer McCormick and listening to her talk about it as well. The problem is they didn't have everybody at the table when they were making this decision, when you're moving water around, when you're stopping water, when you're diverting water from wetlands, we have to think about the long term consequences, good or bad, and we have to balance that with economic development. But I agree that, “Hey, let's stop and have these conversations. What does this really mean? We're already having, with climate change issues, what's going to happen to the farm water? What's going to happen to this water? Is it going to cause, you know, terrible runoffs, and what happens to our aquifers, you know, that we've been protecting and those sort of things?” ... there's some good things connected with (LEAP), but the communities weren't ready for that. When you're out in the community (and) you talk to the people out in the community, it felt like it was a force thing and it was hidden, and all of a sudden, boom, "We're going to do this,” and we have to bring all these people to the table. We have to bring all the stakeholders to the table ... I want to know the back end of this as well because it's not going to be just this project. This is going to be happening all over Indiana and it's going to be happening all over and it is (already) happening (in) a lot of spaces, but it's also going to be happening nationwide as well, and we're going to have to get ready for that.
Q: Purdue will not be hosting any voting locations on campus this year, which they have done in the past. Do you believe Purdue should host a voting location?
A: Absolutely. I think that not only that, all college campuses should host a voting location. I'm from the University of Michigan. I lived in Michigan. We had voting locations on campus. I think it is necessary and (campuses are) probably one of the first places we should have voting locations. I think that the fact that there used to be voting locations and the fact that there aren’t now and we have a supermajority in the state house, all those things are connected. It's about voter suppression. Remember the young folks brought in Obama in 2008 and we've had problems with voting locations since that. They had voter locations when Obama was elected in 2008 on campuses. We have to look at why now and look at the reality that you voted (sic) the first black president, and now you don't have voting locations. We had issues with our mailing processes as well, taking machines offline. To me, this is all a part of voter suppression. But now we have to ignite the young folks, the college folks, enough to push back against that, because it's important enough. This is what you should be rallying about ... This is worth fighting for to have voting locations on campus as it stands. What are you guys going to do? Go back to your hometowns? Vote absentee? That's requiring other levels of engagement that should be much easier than that to engage with the process.
Q: Who do you plan to vote for in the Presidential election?
A: Kamala Harris ... She's already proven that (she) has the experience, she has a temperament and she has a desire to do it, and her value systems, her values are pretty much aligned with mine. We're not going to have a very perfect candidate, but I think she's the best for the time. Biden gave us a wonderful gift to step aside and push her forward.
Q: Why should Purdue students registered in the State of Indiana vote for you?
A: I think that I clearly understand what it's like to be a young person who has to make it in this world. I've committed myself to not forgetting (that) and I'm working for the environment. I'm working for future generations; what will they have? I'm working for affordable housing. I'm working to protect their rights to choose for their bodies. I'm working for freedom. Those things (that) align, which should work align with everyone, but especially at Purdue University. I'm a scientist. Being a Ph.D. means you're also a scientist. And science matters. Science is real. We need someone in office who understands that, who understands how to read the research, who understands the research, who understands research methodology. That's not going to be pulled into propaganda or all of these things to take people off track. Conspiracy theories and all of that. But I think another thing that might help them to decide is that our campaign is very committed to staying free of those large corporate donations, or those PAC’s that are strictly trying to pull you on one side or the other. I'm committed to making sure that I'm free and clear of obligations to any group that's not aligned with sort of environmental issues, those things are going to predict the future. So it's about being untethered, so that I can really think through the issues and study the issues and see what the people want ... I'm not seeking riches and gold and power. It's overrated. I know that those people have kids that hate them, kids that are on drugs, kids that that are cutting themselves, they have wives that are dissatisfied. I mean, they have all the issues that everybody else has ... After that point, more money doesn't make you happy, (it) just makes you want more and more money. So I think they can count on me to stay on track with the American people.
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