Student campaigns for state representative seat

Patrick Lockhart is like many students at IU. As a 20-year-old sophomore majoring in political science, he goes to class, has homework, hangs out with friends and works.
But he’s also running his own campaign.

Come 2014, Lockhart could be entering the Indiana Statehouse as the youngest person ever elected to the House of Representatives.

“One day I realized after we graduate we are going to inherit a government that is in complete disrepair,” Lockhart said. “Enough is enough.”

Although he’s always had an interest in politics, Lockhart said his path to the statehouse started this past summer when he wasn’t getting the responses he desired from his own district representative.

Lockhart said he tried to discuss the issues and what he could do as a citizen to help. He wanted to know how his representative thought they could fix problems, he said, and although he opened up the discussion, he got nothing back.

“It’s pretty discouraging for an elected official to behave like that,” Lockhart said. “It’s called a representative for a reason, and we need accessibility so they know what we think and how they can help us.”

Now Lockhart is taking the issues into his own hands and is working to get on the Democratic primary ticket for Indiana District 91, which includes the southwestern corner of Marion County, the southeastern corner of Hendricks County and a portion of Indianapolis.

Lockhart can officially file in January, he said, so until then, he is working with his campaign committee, which includes his father as treasurer, to get his name and stances out to the public.

There are three big issues he cares about the most, Lockhart said. Being a college student, education is important to him, he said, because he’s seeing firsthand the financial burden paying for school can cause.

Besides college costs, he said, there is a lot of education reform affecting all ages of students that he doesn’t agree with.

Besides student welfare, he also cares about human rights and strongly opposes the bans on gay marriage and benefits to same-sex couples Indiana is pursuing, Lockhart said. Then a concern of many people, the economy is something he said he hopes he can take steps toward improving by bringing more jobs to the state.

Although he’s running as a Democrat, what he said is most important is representing the people in his district and serving Indiana. As he experienced with his own district representative, he said, there isn’t always accessibility between constituents and their elected officials. And he said he wants to change that.

“Just because I’m running as a Democrat doesn’t mean I have a party agenda,” Lockhart said. “I really want to go into the statehouse and show people that, regardless of party, there is always a middle ground. There is always some positive progress we can make to help people.”

In the party over people system at both the federal and state levels, decisions aren’t always being made to benefit people, he said. It is his message of progress for people that has won him support from both parties, Lockhart said.

“Bringing that sense of compromise in this era of partisanship and using that to make changes that really help people is what I hope to do,” Lockhart said. “People have been very responsive.”

Even with gaining support, running a campaign at 20 and having the course load of a full-time student takes work, he said. Lockhart drives back and forth between Bloomington and Indianapolis three to four times a week to attend events, network and raise money for his campaign. Even though he’s busy and tired, he said it’s all worth it.

“When you’re a full-time student, it gets tough,” he said. “But the sacrifices are so worth it if I could get into office and be a voice.”

If elected, he would take online courses or classes at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis while the general assembly was in session, Lockhart said. He wouldn’t put his education on hold, but he would do what he had to, even take longer to graduate, to be able to do the job well, he said.

Lockhart is not alone in his attempt at running for office, though. He said his political science professors have been a great support system.

Specifically, Professor Marjorie Hershey has been an asset by helping him meet people, giving advice as well as showing her support in his endeavor, Lockhart said.

Hershey said she has never had one of her current students run for office, but she thinks it’s a great idea. So often people learn about what they are studying in school from a distance, she said.

Lockhart is going to get a close and personal understanding of all the aspects of working on a campaign and working in politics. She said she believes Lockhart has the passion that is needed to succeed.

“I think he has a great strength in his energy,” Hershey said. “He is very committed to the race, and he’s done a lot of the right things and without having to be told.”

What she thinks his biggest challenge is will be appealing to his own generation to get them to the polls, she said.

So many of her students don’t find politics interesting because they think the system tends to dwell on issues they don’t care about yet, like social security, she said.

And there is some truth behind that because the participation rates for young people are fairly low, she said.

“You expect candidates will speak about the issues that likely voters are interested in,” Hershey said. “So when young people don’t take part in politics, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The issues they are concerned with don’t get discussed so they stay out even more.”


Being young is one of his biggest strengths, Lockhart said. He said he hopes it will connect with students if they know they have a friend and a voice in the statehouse. There’s a lot going on, he said, and students need to care and be informed.

“I really want to drive my youth,” Lockhart said. “I think it’s necessary that our generation gets involved now because of all the things we are going to face as we get older.”

Although he has met a lot of people who are excited about the thought of a new perspective and young energy in the statehouse, he knows his age could also be an obstacle, he said.

He said he understands some people may see his age as a hindrance because they don’t take him seriously and may want a candidate with more life experience.

“The biggest challenge I have is people think it’s a joke or that I wouldn’t be a viable candidate because, you know, I don’t even have a college degree yet,” Lockhart said. “But I think that’s my biggest strength that I am young and that I have this drive to get things done.”

­— Follow reporter Jake Wright on twitter @fljwright.