Our Story
In 2024, the Committee for Rural Engagement launched the Indiana Rural Summit, a statewide initiative designed to elevate rural voices and create real pathways for collaboration. What began as a tour organizing 12 House candidates across 30 counties in south-central Indiana quickly grew into something bigger: a movement.
The Indiana Rural Summit is committed to supporting candidates, community leaders, and volunteers to give rural and small-town Hoosiers a voice, a choice, and a vote.
The Indiana Rural Summit candidate cohort focused on key community issues like healthcare, housing, education, and jobs—the very issues that determine whether rural Hoosiers can stay, work, and thrive in their hometowns. Along the way, we also confronted how gerrymandering has reshaped Indiana’s political map, creating not only rural districts but also “artificially rural” ones that dilute and isolate voters.
Instead of allowing division to weaken us, we turned it into a source of strength. By connecting across overlapping counties, candidates and community members built a regional coalition—one that reflects the shared challenges and shared hopes of rural communities. Together, we created opportunities for collaborative, regional conversations that go beyond district lines and political divides.
By connecting across overlapping counties, the candidates created opportunities for collaborative, regional conversations that reflect the shared challenges rural communities face. This effort is turning the effects of gerrymandering into a strength by forming a regional coalition to uplift rural voices and address common concerns.
The Political Landscape
Indiana has been under near-total Republican control for nearly two decades, with gerrymandered districts since 2012 effectively ensuring single-party dominance and limiting real constituent representation. This lack of competition, combined with no ballot initiative process, has driven Indiana to the bottom in voter turnout rankings—50th in the nation. Despite this, the legislature continues to pursue further voter suppression efforts, like banning student IDs at the polls, further discouraging participation, especially in rural areas.
The state also suffers from low candidate turnout, with 63% of 2024 races going uncontested, leaving many voters—particularly in Republican-controlled districts—without real choices. This lack of competition distorts voter data and deters national investment in most Indiana races, reinforcing its “flyover state” status. Rural and small-town communities fare even worse, often overlooked and under-resourced, despite the fact that their legislators frequently introduce damaging legislation with national ripple effects. In this cycle of political disengagement, voters lose their voice, while harmful policy quietly gains ground.
Our Vision
The Indiana Rural Summit is about more than a single tour or election cycle—it’s about building long-term political power for rural and small-town Indiana. We are committed to:
- Supporting strong candidates rooted in rural experience and aligned values.
- Strengthening collaboration between communities facing common challenges.
- Expanding civic participation so that rural voices are heard at every level of decision-making.
- Shaping solutions in economic growth, education, healthcare, and housing that meet real community needs.
This work is about people, not just policy. It’s about ensuring that every Hoosier—no matter their zip code or what's in their wallet—has the chance to live, work, and raise a family with dignity and hope.
Why It Matters
The future of Indiana cannot be written by leaving rural communities behind. When we join forces, we prove that rural Indiana is not silent, not forgotten, and not powerless. We are a collective voice with the power to shape a stronger, more inclusive future.
Join us. Stand with us. Let’s build the Indiana our rural communities and small towns deserve.
