Progressive Indiana Network: https://progressiveindiana.net HoosLeft: https://hoosleft.us Keil Roark: https://www.keilroark.com/ SUMMARY: With less than a week to go before Indiana’s May 5th primary, Scott Aaron Rogers sits down one-on-one with Keil Roark, one of four Democrats running in Indiana’s 9th Congressional District. Roark — a former UAW assembly line worker, Navy Reserve officer, and Purdue-trained electrical engineer who has worked at Chrysler, Ford, Cummins, and Rolls-Royce — is running as an explicitly moderate candidate, arguing that his working-class background and ability to appeal across party lines makes him the strongest general election contender in this deep-red district. The conversation covers his personal story and motivation for running, the geography and character of the sprawling 9th District, and a look at his economic priorities: increasing wages, congressional stock trading, healthcare (including his skepticism of Medicare for All and his ACA-plus-prevention alternative), wealth inequality and tax reform, trade and reshoring manufacturing, the threat of automation and AI to workers in both blue- and white-collar fields, and the need for federal oversight of AI data centers. Moderate Roark agrees with progressives on this issue: the economic game has been rigged for too long. HoosLeft and PIN rely on your support. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. WHAT’S INSIDE: 00:00:23 Introduction and upcoming PIN coverage - Scott previews PIN’s May 5th primary election night broadcast with Derrick Holder, Brianna Newhart, Carlie Dunn, and Kelly Delong - Announces Sunday PIN Virtual Town Halls with Dr. Tim Peck - Find us on social media @hoosleft on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube; @hoosleft.us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky; PIN is @progressiveindiananetwork on most social media sites, @PINIndiana on TikTok and BlueSky 00:03:29 Meet Keil Roark: background and biography - UAW assembly line worker for 8+ years; Navy Reserve officer for 11 years (3 active, 8 reserve) - Electrical engineer by trade; worked at Chrysler, Ford, Cummins, and Rolls-Royce - Has taught at Ivy Tech, ITT, and Sullivan; father of four - Running to serve, not to build a résumé — motivated by financial stress he sees in the community 00:06:04 The 9th District: geography, culture, and Hoosier unity - The district stretches from Bloomington in the northwest to Clark County near Louisville and Dearborn County near Cincinnati - Vast rural areas in between — Scott County, Jackson County, Jennings County, Monroe County — with stark cultural differences - The unifying moment: IU’s 2025 NCAA football championship 00:09:33 Why run? Service, the tax code, and leaving something better behind - Roark traces a lifelong thread of service: church volunteer work, ESGR work at Camp Atterbury (2007–2010), Navy Reserve - Flags the $7.25 federal minimum wage and the FICA tax cap (~$180K) as examples of a tax code rigged against working people - Wants to leave his kids a world with good-paying jobs and real upward mobility 00:16:22 Affordability as the defining issue: union decline and supply chains - Scott frames the affordability crisis around the concentration of capital; Roark agrees and traces union decline over 50 years - NAFTA and WTO accelerated outsourcing and gutted union labor - The CHIPS Act as a rare bipartisan win — bringing semiconductor manufacturing back from Taiwan - China’s near-monopoly on critical minerals (titanium, etc.) as a parallel supply chain vulnerability 00:22:39 Minimum wage: what we need vs. what we can get - Federal minimum wage stuck at $7.25 since 2009; Roark says actuarial science puts the right number at $25/hour - His realistic political target: $15–$18/hour, citing Virginia’s recent $15 passage - Brief detour into congressional insider trading — Roark supports a No Stock Trade Act and blind trusts for sitting members 00:27:36 Healthcare: ACA reform, prevention, and Medicare for All skepticism - Roark’s near-term priority: reinstate ACA subsidies, which he says he’d push for on day one - Proposes adding a preventive care incentive to the ACA — modeled on Japan’s system — offering premium reductions for annual checkups, blood work, dental, exercise - Not yet sold on Medicare for All: raises concerns about funding, wait times, and specialist access under a universal system - Scott pushes back: those problems exist now; the real waste, fraud, and abuse is systemic and corporate, not individual 00:37:50 Wealth inequality and tax reform - Roark calls Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” — cutting Medicaid and SNAP to fund billionaire tax cuts — un-Christian and un-American - Proposes raising the top income tax rate from ~35% to 45–50% (Scott says that’s not high enough; Roark revises to 55–60%) to account for effective rates billionaires actually pay through borrowing against assets - Trade reform: supports bringing manufacturing back, criticizes how US consumer spending has effectively subsidized China’s military buildup 00:43:18 Automation, AI, and the future of work - Scott challenges the “reshore manufacturing” argument: automation means far fewer jobs even if production returns - Roark’s answer: push workers toward “three-dimensional” skilled trades (electricians, plumbers, millwrights) that robots can’t yet replace, and medical/care jobs (nursing, phlebotomy) - Supports UBI as a contingency once AI unemployment data warrants it - Scott extends to the “pink collar” care economy — nurses, home health aides — and argues government must mandate living wages in those fields or face social unrest 00:48:22 AI, the Great Depression, and congressional inaction - Roark shares his grandfather’s Depression-era stories as a warning about mass unemployment - Argues Congress is dangerously tech-illiterate; as an electrical engineer he’d push for AI hearings and legislation - Scott: tech oligarchs have purchased both parties’ silence on automation’s consequences 00:51:49 AI data centers: regulation, transparency, and community value - Roark calls for AI regulation on labor displacement grounds and on data center siting - Communities deserve transparency: who’s funding the project, what’s the tax revenue, what’s the value proposition — then let communities vote - Scott: if they’re built with renewables and closed-loop water systems and actually pay their taxes, maybe; right now they’re just dumping on communities - Scott mentions Maine’s AI data center moratorium; Roark notes counties are beginning to use moratoriums and state-level abatement controls 00:54:38 Closing: where to find Keil Roark - Website: keilroark.com - Accepting last-minute donations and volunteers for sign deployment - Scott invites Roark back for a general election conversation if he wins the primary Upcoming Programming - Sunday, 10:30 a.m.: HoosLeft This Week with guests Fred Miller (songwriter/artist) and Sharon Wight (HD-81 candidate). - Sunday, 7 p.m.: Final PIN Virtual Town Hall of the primary season with Dr. Tim Peck (IN-9). - Tuesday, May 5, 7 p.m.: PIN Election Night coverage with Scott, Derrick Holder, Brianna Newhart, Kelly DeLong, Carlie Dunn, and guests. 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