Indiana Democrat Chair visits Lawrenceburg, Batesville

Spoke about U.S. Congresswoman Erin Houchin's recent vote

(LAWRENCEBURG, Ind.) – Former state senator and current Indiana Democrat Party Chair Karen Tallian was in Southeast Indiana this past weekend.

She visited local Democrats in Lawrenceburg, Batesville and Madison and we caught up with her at Proof 124 in Lawrenceburg. 

“As a new state chair, I feel we definitely need to meet with each other so I’m out in the counties meeting people as I’ve been in this role only since March,” Tallian said. 

Tallian said she hasn’t seen the amount of protests that have happened recently since the 1970’s. 

“You know, mass protests are how we passed the Civil Rights Bill. They're how we stopped the Vietnam War. People are mobilizing all over the country, and we're seeing it in Indiana, from Lawrenceburg to La Grange County in Northeast Indiana,” she said. 

The local visit came on the heels of local U.S. Congresswoman Erin Houchin’s vote to release the Epstein files. 

Rep. Houchin is part of the House Rules Committee, which is a 12-member panel that is largely responsible for which bills get presented to the House of Representatives. 

Last week, a California democratic representative attached an amendment to cryptocurrency legislation that would have forced the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files. 

Houchin and the House Rules Committee voted against the amendment citing that it was not pertinent to the legislation. 

A few days later, Rep. Houchin introduced a resolution calling for the DOJ to release the Epstein files within 30 days.

The measure passed but will not make it to a full House vote before the August recess. 

On Saturday, Tallian said that she felt Houchin’s change of vote was due to public outcry. 

“Why would you vote to cover up these files? This is a horrible crime so now I look at it as a bit of a win. They all backtrack. They all say, we need to be transparent. Why did they change their minds over four days,” Tallian told The 812.

Houchin added that the original amendment did not include protections for victims. The GOP measure passed Thursday has those protections, according to her office. 

“I refused to hand this process over to Democrats trying to exploit it for political gain. Their amendment in the Rules Committee was nothing more than a stunt—reckless and completely lacking the victim protections this issue demands,” Rep. Houchin added.

Tallian added that her goal for visiting Southeast Indiana was to meet people and encourage them to get involved.