This morning, Shelli Yoder addressed the Democratic Women’s Caucus at Village Deli in Bloomington. Here is a transcript of her speech:
I am Shelli Yoder, and I’m running for Congress because working moms in Southern Indiana deserve a seat at the table in Washington.
Middle class families deserve a voice that will address the questions that keep them up at night: How are we going to pay our bills? How are we going to pay for college? What will we do if we get sick?
But these aren’t the issues we hear Todd Young and the Tea Party talking about. What we are hearing about these days is aspirin between the knees, transvaginal ultrasounds, and the radical agenda of girls selling Thin Mints.
It might be funny if it were not so serious. This Republican noise is not only absurd, not only insulting, but it’s a distraction from the issues at the heart of what working families in the 9th District are struggling with.
Todd Young isn’t working for working families, and Hoosiers deserve better.
I was born and raised in rural Indiana. My grandparents and then my parents ran a small gas station. We all pitched in to help keep it running. My grandfather and my grandmother worked on the cars, along with my dad. My mom kept the books. Me and my two sisters kept the peanut dispenser full and pop machine stocked.
My grandmother, in particular, is an inspiration to me and she taught me a lot. I watched her make broken cars run again.
But when the recession of the early 1980s forced my parents to close our little filling station, we had to scramble to find something else.
So I know how hard it is for folks these days who have been thrown out of work.
But one thing about us Hoosiers – when we are knocked down, we help each other, he pull together, and we fight hard to get back up.
And it’s time now that we pull together and get our broken Congress running again.
Today, in addition to raising three children with my husband Josh, I serve as Associate Director of Professional Development at IU’s Kelley School of Business. My job is to help the leaders of tomorrow find jobs today.
Together, we can find new jobs for the 9th District, good jobs, green jobs, sustainable, 21st century jobs, jobs that will help Southern Indiana get linked into the high-tech, global economy.
In Congress, I will work overtime for quality education for our children and affordable health care for our families. And I’ll always protect Medicare and Social Security for our seniors.
And . . . you know . . . when I get to Washington, I’ll be thinking about my grandmother. If one of these radical Republican politicians had told her she had to take a vaginal ultra-sound, she would have probably hit him with her wrench.
I won’t go that far. But I will hit the Republicans with the news that the Democratic women are moving up in Congress and stand proudly for our rights and the future of our families.
I am Shelli Yoder and I hope to win your vote on May 8.
Thank you.
