This election cycle has seen its share of interesting narratives and challenges to the status quo, from Donald Trump’s role of the political outsider entering the fray to take on the establishment, to Hillary Clinton’s fight to break through barriers to become the first woman president.
While those sagas play out on the national stage, a notable status quo challenge is happening in central Indiana as an African-American lesbian takes on a true lifetime politician.
Rep. Brian Bosma, a Republican who currently serves as the state’s speaker of the house, has represented Indiana House District 88 (which covers some of northeast Marion County, plus parts of Hamilton and Hancock counties) since 1986. In each of his races in the past 10 years, Bosma earned at least 64 percent of his district’s votes and easily defeated his Democratic opponent (with the exception of 2014, when he ran unopposed).
Dana Black, an IT specialist who works for the City of Indianapolis and has never sought office before, took issue with the lack of challenger for Bosma in 2014. She said she used to be a “TV yeller,” shouting her political beliefs at unhearing pundits on cable news networks, but the state’s controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) got her attention.
“When the statehouse passed RFRA, that woke me up,” Black said. “And when I wanted to cast a vote against Brian Bosma (in 2014), there was nobody to vote for, because we had nobody running against him.
“In essence, I felt like my democracy was being taken away from me; I didn’t have a choice or a voice in how I was being governed at that point. I realized I had to do something.”
So Black double-checked that she was eligible to seek her district’s seat, and she got to work learning the ins and outs of launching and running a campaign and began looking at the issues beyond RFRA.
“There are so many areas I’ve been awakened to because of this campaign,” she said. “I see there’s a place for someone who cares about people to not be cynical, but to roll their sleeves up and use whatever skills they have to help out.”
Many of the issues Black brought up — education, the environment, infrastructure — are also issues that Bosma noted on his list of priorities. Above all else, Bosma said, he’s focused on creating a state budget that can address each of those areas.
Black has criticized Bosma for being largely absent from the campaign trail, saying it’s disrespectful to voters to take their support for granted.
“He doesn’t believe he has to earn a vote. He’s been in his seat for over 30 years; he doesn’t feel like he has to do anything,” she said.
But Bosma said voters have the information about him that they need.
“People know who I am. The district knows where I stand, and due to my very public leadership role, they know my record,” he said.
Instead of promoting himself, he’s been throwing his weight behind other House candidates across the state. Meanwhile, Black has been going door-to-door in District 88.
Black says some voters have voiced appreciation for the outreach, and even voters who don’t agree with her political stance have been kind.
“I’ve had people say, ‘I’m voting for you because you’ve never run before.’ Or, ‘I’m voting for you because you came and knocked on my door … I’ve never had a politician knock before,’” she said. “For the most part, almost every door I’ve knocked on and someone has come to the door, people have been polite. Even today, I met a guy, he was like, ‘I appreciate you coming by, but you’re barking up the wrong tree.’”
Black said she has had some “funky” encounters on the campaign trail, but she expected that, since she’s an African-American campaigning in a district that is 87 percent white. In McCordsville, someone called the police on her.
“I’d anticipated it, so when it happened, I was prepared for it,” she said. “Instead of being angry, I turned it into an opportunity to earn votes.”
But Black said she doesn’t think her race will keep her from earning votes.
“I genuinely believe voters in my district couldn’t care less about (me being a minority),” she said. “They want someone who will roll their sleeves up and get the work done.”
And though being a Democrat canvassing in a Republican stronghold could prove difficult, Black said she’s been making it work.
“What I’m finding is that people like knowing there’s a candidate speaking about the issues that matter to them,” she said. “Even Republicans every now and then will go, ‘Hmm.’ And that ‘hmm’ means I’ve captured their attention about what we should be focusing on.”
Bosma said he’s seen Black’s hard work, and though he’s not necessarily concerned about losing his seat, he’s also staying vigilant.
“It’s a solid Republican district,” he said. “I know Ms. Black has done a great job knocking on doors over the summer, and I’m comfortable with where the race is, but I’m also not taking anything for granted.”
Criticism and the often-negative connotations that come with being called a “lifetime politician” don’t faze Bosma, who said his decades of experience, combined with the fact that the vast majority of lawmakers in the Indiana House have served for four years or less, is a big plus.
“I frequently hear from advocates that it’s very critical to have experienced eyes, particularly in a leadership role, to be able to say, ‘We’ve tried this before and it doesn’t work,’ or, ‘We need to try this again,’” he said.
For lifetime politicians who sit on their laurels, he said, it’s time to go. But Bosma says he is still “actively leading in the right direction.”
Black says her fresh perspective and her experience in IT offer an advantage.
“When you see a problem in IT, you have to diagnose that problem. You have to be able to look at all angles of that problem. When somebody brings me a computer that’s not functioning right, I have to look at, what is it doing now, and what do you want it to do later,” she said. “That’s the same way we need to look at our infrastructure. What is our infrastructure doing now, and what do we want it to do later?
“I look at things from a holistic, high-level point of view. Then, you find the experts around you to make it happen.”
Black is confident in her ability to lead at the Statehouse, but regardless of how the race turns out, Black said her appearance on the ballot is significant in itself.
“Being an African-American woman, our opinions on many occasions are simply omitted,” Black said, adding that one of the only times she can remember when this wasn’t the case was during the 2008 Democratic Primary that pitted Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton against one another — people wanted to know if African-American women would vote with their race or with their sex.
With her place on the ballot, Black said, “I’d like to think that, as a woman, people will see that you can still be authentic without having to bow down to a male, and as a Black woman, I don’t have to adhere to what others describe as beauty.
“The significance is that we don’t have to fit into a specific mold to do what’s necessary to move our state forward. We can be ourselves and still serve. You don’t have to change who you are.”
Black has no intention of changing who she is, and she does not plan to return to her previous existence below the radar.
“Win, lose or draw, this isn’t the last time you’re going to hear about Dana Black.”
