Meet the candidates for IN Congressional District 4: Jim Baird and Joe Mackey

News 18 talked with the incumbent and challenger about what their priorities will be if elected.

In the u-s house of representatives 4th indiana district will get to have a say on who represents them in washington d.c.

For the next two years.

News 18's anna darling talked with the incumbent and challenger about what their priorities will be if elected.

In the race for congressional district 4, democrat joe mackey is challenging republican incumbent jim baird.

Baird says his life experience gives him perspective as a leader in congress.

He's a farmer, a purdue grad, a vietnam veteran, a business owner and a former state representative.

"being able to bring the conservative attitude that we have, that work ethic we have in that district, and bring it to washington" he says he is proud of his work on the committee of agriculture during the pandemic including getting farmers ppp grants and starting the farmers to families prog was able to purchase dairy products, purchase specialty crops or they were able to purchase meat and take those through food banks" he wants to continue to improve stem opportunities as he serves on the committee for science, space and technology.

He also sees a unique bridge between science and agriculture.

"we are concerned about climate change and i think agriculture has a place and has opportunity to do carbon capturing in some regard."

Stand up: the district encompasses the entire wlfi viewing area.

And includes hendricks, putnam and parts of boone, howard and morgan counties.

It's been 25 years since a democrat represented the district.

"we must have candidates who are willing to go to government and say these problems are real problems and we want them fixed" democrat joe mackey is a retired machinist who worked at caterpillar.

He says his motivation to run for office comes from tragedy.

"my wife and i lost two of our three children to cancer in the span of 30 months, two distinctly different cancers, and no one could tell us why.

" so he looked around the state for answers.

"and i started understanding the relationship between the environment and health, if our environment isnt healthy, our families arent healthy" he says he is fighting for non-partisan issues that impact rural communities, including health care cost and accessibility, maternal and infant mortality and equitable public education.

"i believe the 4th congressional district, if we address these problems wisely, we'll be setting an example for rural communities across the country" anna darling news 18 news 18 talked with both candidates at length about their goals and priorities if elected.

Head over to this story on our website, wlfi.com, to learn more.

Three traffic stops led to multiple