HAMMOND, Ind.–The Democratic mayor of Hammond says the U.S. Senate is broken and both of Indiana’s Republican senators have lost their way. Tom McDermott says he wants to replace Sen. Todd Young and bring his own style to the Senate.
“I don’t think Todd Young’s a bad guy. I don’t. I don’t think Mike Braun’s a bad guy. I Don’t. But, I think they’ve sort of become too DC,” said McDermott, in an interview on WISH TV’s “All INdiana Politics”.
McDermott challenged Young to a celebrity wrestling match last year.
The U.S. Navy Veteran and licensed attorney said he believes Young is out of touch, and cited Young’s voting against the American Rescue Plan as an example.
“When you’re not bringing money back to our schools and you’re not bringing money back to our governments and you don’t think $8 billion is a good idea for our state to help broadband and help our infrastructure, I think you’ve lost touch with Hoosiers.”
McDermott, who describes himself as “very conservative” said he believes Pres. Biden did good by getting America out of Afghanistan. But, he said that he would not be in lock-step with the president, promising that his conservative values would be part of his own style.
McDermott said he is “not comfortable” with vaccine mandates, though he was prepared to implement them among City of Hammond employees, if the mandate had been upheld.
“This is a hard subject for my immediate family. There are people in my family who are afraid of this shot.”
McDermott said he is vaccinated, boosted and wears a mask in public. He also credited Biden with making sure more people got the shot.
“I just don’t think we’re at the point right now where you should say everybody has to because we are free Americans and everybody has the right to choose,” he said.
He also said he is in favor of getting rid of the Senate filibuster, which would make way for the passage of federal election laws meant to supersede state rules.
