Indiana Sen. Andrea Hunley will run for Indianapolis mayor in 2027, kicking off a campaign that could bring historic change to the city’s top office.
When Hunley said this January that she wouldn’t seek reelection to Senate District 46, the first-term Democratic senator dropped hints that she was considering a run for local office. Hunley told IndyStar on April 20 that she plans to officially launch her campaign for Indianapolis mayor on May 8.
“I’ve been serving in a leadership position for 20 years in our city, and I’ve seen the city from multiple perspectives,” Hunley told IndyStar in a phone interview. “I’ve seen it from inside of a classroom, seen it from inside of the Statehouse. I’ve seen it from partnerships with nonprofits and our big Fortune 500 companies. And I’ve seen it from inside of my neighborhood.
“I think that perspective allows me to see the challenges that the city has differently, but also see the possibilities differently.”
With the May 2027 city primary election about a year away, Hunley is the second big name to launch her candidacy. Vop Osili, the longtime Indianapolis City-County Council Democrat, announced his campaign for mayor in January.
Meanwhile, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett, elected in 2015, has yet to definitively rule out a fourth term. Hogsett’s campaign raised eyebrows by bringing in more than half a million dollars in donations in 2025, outpacing Osili’s campaign by about $150,000.
Hunley to focus on neighborhood development, keeping families in Indy
Hunley, 42, won her first bid for public office in 2022 after spending the bulk of her career as a high school English teacher and an Indianapolis Public Schools principal at a K-8 school.
By 2024, she rose to assistant minority leader, the No. 2 position among Indiana Senate Democrats. In recent months, Hunley has boosted her profile by speaking on hot-button issues of statewide and local significance, including Indianapolis street safety, public education, data centers and the mid-cycle redistricting effort.
Hunley said her mayoral campaign will focus on how Indianapolis can build strong neighborhoods across the entire city. She said she’ll work to address rising housing costs and attract development to neighborhoods replete with vacant lots and underused storefronts.
She would also aim to help make Indianapolis public schools some of the best in the state, she said.
Hunley has defended her 2025 vote in favor of forming the controversial Indianapolis Local Education Alliance, writing that “policy change should always be driven at the local level and informed by community input.” This year, however, Hunley voted against the state law that created a new municipal corporation overseeing all public schools in Indianapolis and stripped some power from IPS school board officials based on ILEA recommendations.
“Right now, we have so many families that are leaving the city because they feel as though there aren’t strong schools inside of the city limits. That’s a problem,” Hunley said. “And so that’s another issue that I’ll be working hard to tackle so that we don’t have parents scrolling school listings in the suburbs out of fear.”
The 2027 mayoral race seems increasingly likely to bring a historic first to Indianapolis. Either of the two early frontrunners, Hunley or Osili, would be the first Black mayor in Indianapolis history. Hunley would also be the first woman elected Indianapolis mayor.
“Breaking barriers is something that — not to sound dismissive — but it’s something that as Black women, we do all the time,” Hunley said. “I don’t think that is the center of my ‘why’ in any way. It’s actually a sad reality. I mean, I might be the first, but I sure as hell better not be the last.”
When Andrea Hunley will officially launch her campaign
Hunley will officially launch her campaign at a May 8 event branded as a “Party for the People,” to be held at Tinker House Events on 16th Street from 5-7 p.m. She wants the free event to bring together many of the folks who she says would inform her decision-making as mayor, including “our neighborhood organizers, our pastors, artists, our business leaders, union folks, and the people who have been shut out from decision-making in the past.”
“What’s so important to me about this campaign is that we’re doing this together,” Hunley told IndyStar. “This is about all of us writing our next chapter for the city.”
Email Indianapolis City Hall Reporter Jordan Smith at JTSmith@indystar.com. Follow him on X @jordantsmith09 and Bluesky @jordanaccidentally.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Sen. Andrea Hunley announces run for Indianapolis mayor
Reporting by Jordan Smith, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
