Republican Indiana House District 75 State Representative Cindy Ledbetter had been unopposed in her bid for re-election. Now she has a challenger in Democrat Mason Barclay.
House District 75 includes portions of Gibson, Pike and Warrick counties in southwest Indiana.
According to Mason Barclay’s website, his priorities are affordability, keeping local voices in power and supporting schools.
He said he’s running for the families across the district that have spent too much time worrying about rising costs, access to adequate healthcare and the fear their voice has decreased in value.
Barclay argues that Senate Enrolled Act 1 passed by Republicans, actually hurts tax payers by introducing new fees as local governments recoup lost property tax revenue.
For example the new wheel tax which communities have been leveraging, including in Evansville. WNIN has so far been unable to secure an interview with Barclay.
Republican Incumbent Cindy Ledbetter took office in 2020. She has two adult daughters. She’s a business owner and psychiatric nurse practitioner with a doctorate.
Her House Committees include public health and insurance.
“I was recently appointed to the Choice Board, which is a board that works to keep elderly people at home as a Medicaid diversion. So I'm working on that legislation.”
She has legislation to allow advertising on the back of school buses to offset diesel prices and two different laws to aid and protect children.
To her, being a Republican means working to offer a “hand-up not a hand-out.”
“I come from a life of poverty, and I used government programs to help lift me up and lift me out, and I like to be able to see that and give back.”
Ledbetter also voted to redistrict Indiana to benefit Republicans because she says it’s what her constituents wanted.
Cindy Ledbetter interview transcript
AI generated with light editing
Tim Jagielo: Could you please tell me a little bit about yourself and also why you're running?
Cindy Ledbetter: My day job — I am a psychiatric nurse practitioner. I have a doctorate that I earned from the University of Southern Indiana. I've owned a couple of small businesses over the years. I am single. I have two dogs and a cat. I have two daughters, two adult daughters.
Jagielo: So why did you choose to seek re-election?
Ledbetter: For my community. I am so honored to serve. It just is a blessing to me … to give an example — I was in Selvin, Indiana last week, and there was a community gathering there to raise money for a little boy that had leukemia, and then I was on Sunday. I was in Booneville, and they raised $22,000 for a little boy that had pediatric cancer. And to see the community come together like that, it just warms my heart, and I just love serving those people because I have such a wonderful community. See, I'm getting a little teary-eyed thinking about it. So, yes.
Jagielo: If re-elected, what would your first policy priorities be?
Ledbetter: Well, so I serve on public health, family and children, and insurance. I've already working to refile my APRN legislation (for) the collaborative agreement between physicians and nurse practitioners, and then I was recently appointed to the Choice Board, which is a board that works to keep elderly people at home as like a Medicaid diversion.
So I'm working on that legislation. I'm also working on legislation — probably bring back my bill to get advertisements on the back of school buses because I think with the diesel prices we could probably use that. What else am I working on? Then I have another bill I'm working on with the Department of Child Services. I'd like to see children be weighed because we've had some deaths through the Department of Child Services with children that had failure to thrive, and then possibly working to make it a little bit easier for children who are in the system who are possibly being abused to get faster court dates. So that's what I'm currently working on now.
Jagielo: In your time in office, are there anything you'd like to highlight of which you're really proud that you've done?
Ledbetter: I think what I'm most proud of is my community service and helping my constituency and educating the public. My goal is to educate and inform and to empower the people, and I think I've done a really good job of doing that.
Jagielo: So you're running as a Republican — how does being a Republican inform how you would legislate and how you work as a representative?
Ledbetter: I think mostly it's about individual liberty, fiscal responsibility, and it's about giving not a handout but a hand up. You know, I come from a I come from a life of poverty, and I used government programs to help lift me up and lift me out, and I like to be able to see that and give back.
Jagielo: I've been asking the Republicans who voted for redistricting, as I've interviewed them, whether they would still vote for it or if they would vote for it again if it comes in front of them. And I just wanted to give you a chance too. I want to ask you how you would vote on redistricting if you had a chance again.
Ledbetter: The vote on redistricting most definitely initially when that came to me, I was 100-percent against it, and I didn't want to vote for it. But then after speaking to my constituency, my district is about 73-percent Republican, and they wanted redistricting, so I voted what they wanted. So yes, I would vote for what they wanted again, yes.
Jagielo: And I wanted to ask you about accessibility. How have you, and how would you work to be accessible to to your constituents? 73-percent Republican, a smaller percentage Democrat. How would you keep yourself accessible to them?
Ledbetter: The constituents email my office, or they call my office, and then I get a weekly report from my legislative assistant. And then, so that is how I speak with them from my legislative office if they need to reach out to me. But I am very active socially in my community, so I'm seeing people every weekend. I'm out and about, and I stay very active, involved. So I have conversations with you know people just you know out and about in the community and helping him that way, so through phone, email, text, and just personal conversations.
Jagielo: Why should people vote for you in 2026?
Ledbetter: I think I'm a strong candidate for this because I provide the education and the knowledge for the constituents to make the best decision. That's my goal. My goal isn't about what I'm proud of and what I deserve and what I need. It's about my constituency base and what they deserve and empowering them and giving them the tools that they need to make better informed decisions.
Jagielo: How do you feel about data centers?
Ledbetter_IN-75: I think that the issue needs to remain local. But I think that there's a lot of fear out there. You know, there's fear about things about water, which can be managed. There's fear about electricity. If the constituents — if they have the knowledge and they're armed with that knowledge and they go in there, then we can make sure that we don't pay for the power. We can make sure that we have enough water. People are worried about the end of life with these data centers and what we would do with that. Well, we can put a decommissioning bond in place so that at the end of the life, that the money would be there to help with that, and I don't think people are recognizing the benefits of the data centers and the amount of money they would bring to a community to help with new roads, improve schools, all of those things. It would it just would be such a benefit.
So I think people are just so recognized, you know, they're so focused on the fear that they're not looking at both sides of the story, and that has been my goal is to provide you with this is what your concerns are, this is how you alleviate those concerns, and this is how you can come to the best agreement you as a constituent can ask for those things moving forward.