Indiana is known as one of the most solidly Republican states in the country. But it does not necessarily need to be. Indiana has a long and proud tradition of manufacturing, supported by labor unions who made the state a notable center of steel production, automotive production, pharmaceuticals, and other heavy manufacturing. Indiana is a state with a large working-class population, and in recent years the rights of working-class people have been rolled back by Republican governors and the legislature through weakening of labor unions’ strength (becoming a right-to-work state in 2012), cutting food aid, and cutting access to child care.

Victoria Martz (she/her) is a bisexual millennial criminal defense lawyer who grew up on a farm in rural southeastern Indiana. Her experiences on the farm taught her the value of hard work and the dignity of owning one’s own labor. Victoria’s campaign focuses on workers’ rights, the legalization of marijuana (building tax revenue for the state to expand social programs), and creating public service programs for mental health.

Where are you based?
I live in and work out of Batesville, Indiana, which is on the Westside of the District I am running to represent.

What position are you running for?
I am running for Indiana House of Representatives District 55 which covers the rural cities of Connersville, Brookville, Liberty, and Batesville, Indiana.

How would you briefly summarize your platform?
My main objective if elected is to be the strong, unyielding voice rural Indiana needs in the statehouse to ensure our communities receive the state level funding they truly need to be revitalized to the thriving, self-reliant communities they've been before and I know they can be again.

What inspired you to run?
I grew up here in Milan and Batesville, IN, but I had moved away when I was going to school for my Undergraduate Degree at Purdue University, and then I.U. McKinney School of Law. I moved back here in 2022 when I was expecting my daughter to be closer to family, and when I went to vote in my first primary election since moving back, the ladies at the check-in table asked me "Republican or Democrat?" and I requested a Democrat ballot, they questioned me again and said "Are you sure? There's no one to vote for on it", and I said yes. They were right, there were no Democrats challenging anything other than maybe one or two hyper local elections on my ballot, and there was only one on the ballot for the municipal elections the next year. I knew I wanted to get involved in politics at some point in time, but seeing that no one stepped up as a Democrat to give voters an option instead of just default representatives at every level really pushed me forward in this feeling. In June of 2024 I got an email from the Indiana State Democratic Party saying (essentially) "Hey, fill out this form if you'd be interested in running for office", so I did, and the next day they got in touch with me and started directing me what to do to get caucused onto the ballot for that year's election as a State Representative candidate. I did run for office for the first time that year, but it was a very ineffective campaign due to the short period of time I had to run a campaign in, and it being a Presidential election year. This go around my campaign manager and I started organizing a campaign team last year, and we are giving it our all — I'm very proud of the campaign we are putting on this go around, and full of deep gratitude for every single volunteer that helps move it forward every day.

What change are you hoping to bring to your district and country?
I aim to bring back a society where workers' rights are respected at every job — I believe this would be shown through payment of living wages for every type of work. I plan to build our rural district up to be a place where our community members' can live thriving lives through our public schools being fully funded, our local roads being safe to drive on through receiving proper funding, and our local emergency service providers can rest assured they will receive a living wage for the work they do to keep us all safe. I also will fight to ensure our communities can be self-reliant and not dependent on any major corporations coming in to fully thrive by extending small business loans, and tax rebate incentives to local farmers and small business owners to begin and build lasting careers that will provide jobs for the community.

What do you feel are the most important issues right now, why, and how do you plan to tackle them?
I think the most important issues right now is ensuring our tax money is being spent on our community services — like our public schools, upkeep of our public roads, paying our local emergency service providers, our public libraries, food security programs, state assisted medical insurance coverage funding, etc. — and protecting those funds from being unfairly dealt out to private contractors with connections to those in the highest levels of our government, and to prevent corrupt politicians from using tax payer funds like their personal wallet (see Governor Braun building a helipad at his private residence with taxpayer funds, and Lt. Governor Beckwith and Secretary of State Morales using tax payer funds to buy Escalades for their overall use out of tax payer funds, Governor Braun allowing the SunBucks program to lapse which provided meals for kids who qualify for free school lunches during the school year with two meals a day over the summer, etc.)

America is extremely divided these days. How would you hope to bridge that divide with your constituents to better unite Americans?
I see the way to bridge the seeming political divide these days with my local constituents as seemingly simple, just requiring great devotion and dedication. First, you have to care as much about the things members of your community care about, as they do, and keeping the conversation on what you agree on. For example, it's essential to care about the Veterans' in your community even more than your current representatives do. Your current representative might claim to care about Military Veterans', but when they do nothing to ensure there are more access points for Veterans' to access their services, and they fail to take active duty members willingness to sacrifice their lives for this country as seriously as it should be, and instead let one man determine when and where those willing to sacrifice their lives will be put at great risk of actually dying for their country — You must step up, connect with the Veterans' and active duty members in your community, learn about what the greatest issues are that they experience, and come up with real ideas on how we are going to improve things. I think creating more social worker positions where they are specifically trained on helping Veterans' navigate the process of securing their earned benefits would be an excellent place to start, albeit one small piece of the big pie we need to put together to properly care for our Veterans' and the wives and kids of our active duty service members. Second, you have to figure out how to keep the conversation on what we agree on, and what truly affects us all in our day-to-day lives, over what we don't agree on. Being a candidate to represent people isn't about telling people what you don't agree on and why, it's about listening to what their every day needs are, what is really hurting them on a day-to-day basis, and then carrying that issue up to the Statehouse, and coming up with a law you can write to help address and provide a solution funded by their tax money to address that issue.

How do you see your unique identity and background to be an asset to you in office?
I grew up homeschooled on a small family vegetable farm in this community. I was the second oldest of six kids in my family, and our family was very devoted to our Christian faith. I'm now a criminal defense attorney, and a mom to the best kid I know, and I tell you — this diverse array of life experiences lends knowledge to my ability to communicate with people in my community that I only could have gained from living a life like this. My status as a criminal defense attorney is where I get an incredible skillset at knowing how to and being devoted to continuing to press forward to a new plan of how we're going to get what we need no matter how many new approaches we need to take to get ourselves closer to getting their. It also is where I've gained great experience at devoutly representing the interests of clients, and being driven by the client's needs, never my own personal pursuits. Last, my status as a young mom gives me the stake in our future that drives me to do everything I can to help build the caring and strong communities all our children deserve to grow up in out here in rural Indiana, where they can see a path forward to building a future life of their own, and even right here where they grew up — not having to move to a major city area to feel they have opportunity.

What is your motto in life?
Be brave, fight for change and improvement no matter what the odds are against you, and get outside and soak up some sun when you feel the weight of the world.

Where can we find out more about you?
votevictoriamartz.org
Instagram: @martz4indiana
Facebook: VoteVictoriaMartz
TikTok: @martz4indiana
Reditt: VoteVictoriaMartz

Our Favorite Progressive Candidates in 2026 - Victoria Martz, Indiana House of Representatives District 55