Sabrina Haake, an out lesbian Democrat, is running for Congress in Indiana’s 1st congressional district.
Haake announced her candidacy in December. The lawyer lives with her wife and three rescue dogs in the city of Gary, Indiana. Her district has been Democratic for decades, but the rest of the state is a bastion of Republican politics — it is, after all, Vice President Mike Pence’s home state.
Haake says that, naturally, fighting for LGBTQ rights is important to her. It’s particularly relevant in the era of the trans military ban and the Supreme Court’s debate on LGBTQ workplace rights. “I don’t even know where to begin with the Trump Administration and LGBTQ stuff,” Haake told LGBTQ Nation. “So obviously, [fighting] LGBTQ discrimination is huge to me.”
However, her campaign won’t focus on her sexuality. Instead, her number one issue is the climate crisis. She hopes to push to declare a federal emergency on climate. She’d also like the federal government to invest in industry conversion to renewable energy. “Everyone we know can drive electric cars, but at the end of the day if we don’t get industry to convert, it won’t make any difference,” Haake said. By contrast, Mike Pence has repeatedly refused to declare that climate change is a threat.
Haake is also passionate about the power of education and early trauma interventions, as she herself had a “tough” childhood. “I believe very strongly that the gap in our education scores is because of trauma,” she explained. “If kids grow up in traumatic homes, their cognition is affected. We can help them deal with that, but first we have to recognize it.”
Other key issues on Haake’s campaign website include economic development, healthcare, racial justice, mental health, and Roe v. Wade. Haake is not a career politician, but she did gain previous political experience before becoming a private attorney.
Haake will be up against at least seven other candidates at the primary election on May 5.
