Indiana's sixth congressional district encompasses a huge portion of eastern Indiana. A seat is up for grabs in the midterm election just under three weeks away.
Stretching across 19 counties, it's a lot of ground for candidates to cover with a lot of issues that matter to a wide range of voters.
District 6 has made some national news because of Greg Pence. While he has never before run for political office, the Columbus businessman and veteran has one of the most well-recognized names in politics today.
Pence, the Republican nominee, is the older brother of Vice President Mike Pence. He's trying to win the seat his brother held for nearly a dozen years. Republican voters in the May primary punched their ticket for Pence in big numbers.
Pence declined a sit-down interview. A spokesperson said, "Greg Pence is not available. He will continue to focus on canvassing the sixth district, attending events in all 19 counties and talking directly with District 6 voters."
His two competitors agreed to meet with a reporter and discuss some issues facing Hoosier voters in District 6.
Libertarian Tom Ferkinoff is an accountant with years of experience working with the tax code. He said he can see how the actions and laws passed by Congress impact regular Hoosiers on a daily basis.
As he has talked to voters in the district, Ferkinoff said one issue has really stuck out to him: the opioid epidemic. As a member of Congress, Ferkinoff said he would look to some real-life Hoosier solutions.
"Belden Industries in Richmond, a couple months ago, announced that for people that they want to hire that can't pass the drug test, they are now paying for their outpatient treatment," he said. "As long as they continue treatments, the program, and they pass the drug test in the future, they will hire them and continue their employment."
Ferkinoff also discussed immigration with a reporter.
"I think that there's two areas in our country where we've suffered because we've not enforced the laws on the books, immigration and, like I said, the marijuana issues we've got where it's illegal federally and some states have made it legal," he said. "And in both of those areas, it's just put a lot of people in an uncertain position."
But one major issue Ferkinoff sees in Congress is that it's broken.
His challenger on the Democratic ticket, Jeannine Lee Lake, also hit hard on the issue of partisan politics.
Lake is a Muncie mother and a journalist for more than 30 years. She grew up in Crawfordsville before coming to Muncie for college, and still makes Delaware County home today.
Winning the nod from the Democrats in the spring, and taking on a well-known opponent like Pence, gained her some attention and support from another well-known Hoosier: David Letterman.
One issue facing her constituents is the tariffs.
"All this whole summer we heard that, time and time again," she said. "There's farmers out in the heartland that are saying these tariffs are killing us. From season to season and harvest to harvest, these are issues that they really and truly care about."
Lake also touched on safety in schools.
"You know, I've sent my own kids to school and I sent them with a prayer," she said. "And that's not enough. We need policy. I guess there's not really another way to say it: we need to make it a hell of a lot harder for these people to kill our kids."
