LAFAYETTE, IN — The Journal & Courier asked candidates in contested primary races to answer questions to help voters learn about them.
A complete list of Tippecanoe County candidates on the May 5 Primary Election ballot can be found online.
13th House District
Brenna Geswein and Ed Moyer Jr. are running against each other to be the Democratic Party’s candidate for the 13th House District in the fall election. The winner will face Republican Matt Commons in November.
Moyer chose not to participate in this report.
Tell us about yourself
Geswein: Age: 45. Current occupation and any previous political experience: Engineer at Caterpillar, and no previous political experience. The city you live in: West Lafayette.
What are the three biggest issues you’re hearing from constituents in this election cycle?
While knocking on doors and talking with residents, the issue I hear most often is affordability, which can cover a broad range of things. Utility costs and property taxes are two key items commonly mentioned.
Adequate funding for public schools and concern over rapid data center development are two other key issues commonly brought up.
As an engineer, I dig into the data and details behind issues.
The school voucher program is diverting almost half a billion dollars of taxpayer funds to private schools in the 2025-2026 school year and continues to expand.
Data centers, like the $12 billion-dollar Amazon development in northern Indiana, are getting up to 50 years’ sales tax exemptions and paying an effective property tax rate that is approximately 1/5 of what homeowners pay.
Hardworking Hoosiers should not be paying a property tax rate five times higher than trillion-dollar corporations.
How do you plan to address those issues if elected?
The school voucher program needs to be eliminated. Public dollars should support public schools, especially when private schools can selectively admit students.
Indiana also needs a statewide moratorium on new data center development until our regulations and tax incentives are fully reviewed and updated. Hyperscale data centers are a recent phenomenon, and our laws and environmental protections have not kept pace.
We need a comprehensive review of how the state generates revenue and how to reduce the burden on working families and retirees who are stretched thin. Indiana still needs stable tax revenue to fund essential services like public education, infrastructure and health care. That means improving efficiency across state agencies, exploring new revenue options, and ensuring corporations contribute their fair share.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Candidate wants to eliminate school vouchers, regulate data centers
Reporting by Ron Wilkins and Jillian Ellison, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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