Source: WISH-TV / other
INDIANAPOLIS — Dr. Valerie McCray has been in the race for U.S. Senate since the end of the 2022 election.
A Democrat who is a clinical psychologist by trade, McCray has a big focus on mental health as part of her campaign. She said from gun violence to climate change to abortion, all of it is connected to the nation’s mental health.
“I’m a psychologist by trade. I work with prisons, I work with the military, I work with kids,” she told WISH-TV’s All Indiana Politics. “After a while, you sort of get tired of doing things one person at a time.”
McCray wants to take her expertise to try and help people in bulk by affecting policy in Washington.
“We are all affected by mental health, and we have been ignoring that for generations and generations,” she said. “It’s affecting homelessness. After COVID our anxiety levels and depression levels went off the roof. Even as the climate gets hotter there is more depression and anxiety.”
McCray said that her mental health expertise would also be useful in solving the issue of gun violence throughout the country. She supports extra gun control measures for younger people, mainly teenagers. She suggests a similar licensing structure to acquire guns like there are different levels of driver’s licenses.
She also believes that women should be able to seek out an abortion if they so choose.
“We went backwards with the reversal of Roe v. Wade,” she said. “Women’s health should be at the decision of that woman and her doctor. Without that we are on a very slippery slope.”
McCray joins a crowded field of candidates on both sides of the aisle for Indiana’s Senate seat being left behind by Mike Braun, who intends to run for governor. McCray joins Indianapolis City-County Councilor Keith Potts, Marshall Travis, and Aleem Young in the Democratic primary.
Rep. Jim Banks, Erik Benson, John Rust, and Anthony Tibby make up the GOP primary ticket.
