Candidate Interview: Sarah Blessing

The Utility Monopoly Nobody Votes For | Why Your Electric Bill Keeps Rising

You can vote for President. You can vote for Governor. You can vote for Congress. You can even vote for the person deciding whether your county installs another stop sign nobody asked for. But the company deciding whether your electric bill jumps another $40 this summer? That decision was largely made long before you moved in. In this episode of Hold ’em Accountable, we take a deep dive into one of the most powerful systems most Americans rarely think about until the bill arrives: utility monopolies. Most Hoosiers believe electricity works like a market. Choice. Competition. Capitalism. The best company wins. The reality is very different. For most people, electricity is a regulated monopoly. Your provider is determined by where you live. You don't shop for electricity. You inherit it. And that changes everything. Electricity is no longer a luxury. It's not even a convenience. It is survival infrastructure. Heat in the winter. Air conditioning in the summer. Medical devices. Refrigeration. Internet access. Remote work. Modern life itself. That is why utility monopolies were allowed to exist in the first place. The original bargain was simple: utility companies would receive exclusive service territories, and in exchange, government regulators would ensure public accountability, reliable service, and reasonable rates. But what happens when the monopoly remains and accountability becomes harder to see? In this episode, we explore: ⚡ The history of utility monopolies in America ⚡ Why electricity became essential infrastructure ⚡ How monopoly utility territories actually work ⚡ The role of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) ⚡ Why electric bills seem more confusing every year ⚡ Utility lobbying and political influence ⚡ Rate increases, riders, fees, and cost recovery mechanisms ⚡ Data centers, artificial intelligence, and growing energy demand ⚡ Why consumers often feel powerless inside the system ⚡ What reforms could restore accountability and public trust We also examine one of the most important questions facing Indiana and the country: When consumers cannot realistically leave, who protects the public from the monopoly? Because unlike most industries, utility companies don't compete for customers the traditional way. Most already have them. That means accountability depends on regulators, lawmakers, public oversight, and transparency. And when those systems become too complicated for ordinary people to follow, trust starts to erode. This isn't an anti-utility episode. Electric workers matter. Linemen matter. Engineers matter. Reliable infrastructure matters. The question isn't whether utilities should exist. The question is whether the public still has a meaningful voice in the systems they depend on every day. Because this story isn't really about electricity. It's about power. Who has it. Who profits from it. And who gets left out of the conversation. 🎥 Watch now and decide for yourself: Has the original bargain between utilities and the public been broken? ---------------------------------------- 🎙️ About Hold 'em Accountable Hosted by retired Marine Derrick Holder, Hold 'em Accountable takes a deep dive into politics, public policy, history, and the issues affecting everyday Americans. No spin. No talking points. Just receipts. You can also ask Alexa to play Hold 'em Accountable with Derrick Holder. #UtilityMonopoly #ElectricBills #IndianaPolitics #EnergyPolicy #HoldEmAccountable

Democracy Has a Back Room | Why Indiana’s Delegate System Should End

Indiana trusts you to choose the President of the United States. Governor. Congress. State House. State Senate. But apparently, you are too fragile to choose your own Attorney General. In this episode of Hold ’em Accountable, we break down one of the least understood systems in Indiana politics: The convention delegate system. For some of Indiana’s most important statewide offices—including Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Comptroller, and Lieutenant Governor—primary voters do not directly choose the party nominee. Delegates do. That raises a serious question: Why are Hoosiers trusted to choose the President, but not trusted to choose the Attorney General? This episode dives into how Indiana’s convention system actually works, who delegates are, why the system still exists, and why it deserves far more scrutiny than it gets. 📍 We break down: ✔️ Which statewide offices are chosen at convention instead of direct primary ✔️ How Indiana delegates are actually selected ✔️ Why most voters do not understand delegate races ✔️ The difference between representation and political gatekeeping ✔️ Why party insiders defend the current system ✔️ How smaller political rooms create institutional comfort ✔️ Why transparency matters in democracy ✔️ Why statewide offices should be chosen directly by voters This is not an attack on delegates themselves. In fact, Derrick Holder openly discusses being a delegate at the Democratic State Convention while still criticizing the structure of the system. Because the issue is not legitimacy. It is opacity. Most voters have no idea that delegate races can determine who becomes Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Comptroller, or Lieutenant Governor. That matters. Especially when offices overseeing elections and public money are being decided through processes most voters could not explain without a whiteboard and a migraine. This episode also tackles a bigger philosophical question: America is a constitutional republic built on representation—but does every office really require a political middleman? Congress? Sure. Attorney General? That is a very different argument. 🎯 The core argument is simple: If an office affects every Hoosier, every voter should have a direct say in who gets on the ballot. No back rooms. No insider flowcharts. No democracy requiring advanced placement coursework just to understand how nominations happen. Because once the process becomes harder to understand than the office itself, the system stops serving voters and starts serving itself. And that is where trust dies. 🎥 Watch now and decide for yourself: Does Indiana’s delegate system protect democracy—or protect insiders? 🎙️ Hold ’em Accountable Real conversations. No spin. No scripts. Just the questions voters actually care about. You can also ask Alexa to play Hold ’em Accountable with Derrick Holder. #INDIANAPOLITICS #DELEGATESYSTEM #DEMOCRACY #INDIANADEMOCRATS #HOLDEMACCOUNTABLE

Indiana Primary Recap: Who Won, Who Lost, and Why November Just Got Dangerous

The votes are in. The signs are coming down. The consultants are sending invoices. And somewhere in Indiana right now, a candidate who spent six straight months posting pancake breakfast selfies is asking the most painful question in politics: How did I lose? In this episode of Hold ’em Accountable, we break down the May 5 Indiana primary elections and what they actually mean heading into November. No spin. No campaign brochure language. No “we’re excited about the path forward,” which is usually political code for “we are absolutely panicking.” Just reality. This primary was not subtle. Republicans held a loyalty test, and Donald Trump graded it personally. Five Trump-backed challengers defeated incumbent Republican state senators who opposed his redistricting push. Seven GOP Senate incumbents lost overall—the highest number since Ballotpedia began tracking in 2010. That’s not disagreement. That’s enforcement. Meanwhile, Democrats told a more complicated story. In Indiana’s congressional races: 📍 IN-04 – Drew Cox defeated three former congressional candidates, signaling Democratic voters chose the progressive over the familiar name. 📍 IN-05 – State Senator J.D. Ford defeated progressive favorite Jackson Franklin, showing voters prioritized electability against Victoria Spartz over ideological momentum. 📍 IN-06 – Dr. Cinde Wirth stayed the Democratic standard-bearer, proving voters chose conviction over caution. 📍 IN-09 – Brad Meyer defeated former nominee Tim Peck and a competitive field, another progressive win and a rejection of political reruns. That leaves us with the real Democratic story: Three progressive wins. One moderate win. Not confusion. Strategy. In redder districts, voters said: “If we’re climbing uphill anyway, send someone who actually believes in the climb.” In battleground districts, they said: “Winning comes first.” That debate didn’t end on primary night. It got louder. We also break down why your State House and State Senate races matter more than Congress for your actual life: 🏠 Property taxes 🏥 Healthcare access 🏫 School funding ⚡ Utility regulation ⚖️ Reproductive rights 🚔 County offices that can ruin your Tuesday faster than Congress ever will Because while everyone watches Washington… your life gets decided in Indianapolis. This episode covers: ✔️ Trump’s continued control of Indiana Republican primaries ✔️ Democratic turnout and momentum heading into November ✔️ Why moderate Republicans had a very bad night ✔️ Why Democrats still have a messaging problem ✔️ Why local races matter more than most people realize ✔️ What November now looks like for both parties ✔️ Why primaries—not general elections—often decide your future From now until the end of August, we’re going weekly deep dive mode: Utility monopolies Healthcare deserts Why working full-time still feels like financial parkour Why childcare costs more than rent Why poverty somehow comes with a premium subscription fee And then…Interview-Palooza 2: Electric Boogaloo Yes, that is still the official title. No, I will not be taking feedback. That means candidate interviews, congressional races, statehouse races, and local offices that actually affect your daily life. No softballs. No campaign brochure questions. Real conversations. Because democracy does not improve when politicians talk at voters. It improves when voters get loud enough that politicians have to answer. That is the job. That has always been the job. #IndianaPolitics #IndianaPrimary #Election2026 #HoldEmAccountable #PoliticalAnalysis

Advocate Interview: Eva Posner

Most people see politics on election day. The signs. The speeches. The victory parties. The concession speeches. But the real work? That happens long before the cameras show up. It happens in donor spreadsheets. In field plans. In fundraising call time. In the quiet panic of first-time candidates wondering if they’re about to lose everything. In this episode of Hold ’em Accountable, we sit down with Eva Posner, founder and CEO of Evinco Strategies, a fully remote, women-led political consulting firm helping progressive candidates, campaigns, and organizations win. She’s worked everything from no-budget school board races to million-dollar campaigns with national attention—and she’s here to pull back the curtain on how campaigns actually work. 📍 This is not a candidate interview. This is the beginning of our transition into advocate interviews and our upcoming special series on Sci-Fi and Politics. Candidate interviews will return in August—but before we get there, we’re talking to the people behind the machinery of democracy. And few people understand that machinery better than Eva. 🔎 In this interview, we break down: 🔥 Why politics has a burnout problem 📞 Why candidates hate fundraising and why it matters anyway 🏛️ Why local races matter more than Congress for daily life 💰 Consultant culture and the political industrial complex 🧠 The myth that campaigns are about charisma instead of discipline 📊 Why candidates need infrastructure, not just inspiration 🌾 Why rural voters often feel abandoned by Democrats 🏫 Why school boards, county councils, and state legislatures matter most ⚖️ How movements are built after losing—not just after winning 🗳️ Why democracy depends on organizers, not just elected officials Eva makes one thing clear: Politics rewards exhaustion. Young staffers are expected to burn themselves out. First-time candidates are sold fantasy instead of reality. And too often, democracy is being held together by over-caffeinated people on laptops at midnight trying to stop the whole thing from catching fire. She also drops one of the strongest truths of the interview: “Democracy isn’t self-cleaning.” It requires organizers. Strategists. Advocates. People willing to learn the rules well enough to change them. We also talk about Indiana, red states, Democratic infrastructure, local organizing, consultant failures, and why so many campaigns are built to shout at voters instead of listening to them. 🎯 Whether you’re a first-time candidate, campaign volunteer, activist, or just someone wondering why politics feels broken—this conversation matters. Because candidates may be the face of the fight. But the operatives, organizers, and people dragging democracy uphill with both hands? They’re the spine. And they deserve to be seen. 👉 Watch the full interview and decide for yourself: Are we building campaigns… or just renting moments? ---------------------------------------- 🎙️ Coming Next on Hold ’em Accountable: We’re shifting into advocate interviews and launching a special Sci-Fi & Politics series—where we explore how fiction helps us understand power, democracy, collapse, and survival. Candidate interviews return in August. Until then—we go deeper. ---------------------------------------- #EvaPosner #PoliticalConsulting #CampaignStrategy #Democracy #HoldEmAccountable

Candidate Interview: Timothy Murphy

Indiana’s 19th Senate District covers the kind of places that built this state. Bluffton. Hartford City. Portland. Decatur. Southwest Fort Wayne. Factory towns. Family farms. Friday night football. Church parking lots. Working families trying to hold the line while costs keep rising and opportunities keep shrinking. In this episode of Hold ’em Accountable, we sit down with Timothy Murphy, Democratic candidate for Indiana State Senate District 19, to talk about jobs, healthcare, education, rural investment—and why he says democracy itself is part of the problem. His reason for running? Simple. For years, no one ran. No challenger. No real debate. No accountability. And Murphy believes voters deserve better than that. 📍 He’s a pastor, advocate, and community organizer stepping into one of Indiana’s toughest races with a focus on working families, healthcare access, public schools, labor rights, and restoring real democratic participation. 🔎 In this interview, we break down the biggest issues facing District 19: 🏥 Rural hospitals closing services and long drives for emergency care 👶 Lost maternity care and disappearing local birth units 🏫 Public school funding and private/charter school transparency 🌾 Family farms vs. corporate agricultural consolidation 🏭 Manufacturing jobs, unions, and worker protections 📡 Rural broadband and infrastructure investment 🚆 Rail access and regional economic development 🧠 Mental health and addiction treatment gaps 🏠 Population decline and keeping young people in small towns 🗳️ Ballot initiatives and expanding democratic participation in Indiana Murphy makes a strong case for: ✔️ Increasing funding for rural hospitals and emergency services ✔️ Fully funding public schools before expanding vouchers ✔️ Repealing Right-to-Work laws and strengthening unions ✔️ Protecting small family farms from corporate consolidation ✔️ Expanding mental health services statewide ✔️ Real investment in rural broadband and transportation ✔️ Creating “third places” and stronger local communities ✔️ Giving Hoosiers ballot initiative power to directly shape policy He also says something that hits hard: Democracy without choices isn’t much of a democracy. That’s why he’s running. Not because it’s easy. Not because it’s likely. Because someone has to. 🎯 Then we put it all on the line in Hold ’em or Fold ’em—our rapid-fire segment where candidates take direct positions: Rural hospitals? Hold. Public schools before vouchers? Hold. Medical marijuana? Hold. Protecting family farms? Hold. Mental health funding? Absolutely hold. Property tax relief for homeowners and seniors? Hold. No scripts. No dodging. Just answers. 📍 Whether you live in Adams County, Wells County, Jay County, Blackford County, or anywhere across Indiana, this conversation asks a bigger question: Who is actually fighting for working families now? 👉 Watch the full interview and decide for yourself: Is Timothy Murphy the kind of leadership District 19 needs? ---------------------------------------- 🎙️ About Hold ’em Accountable: Real conversations. No spin. No scripts. Just the questions voters actually care about. ---------------------------------------- #IndianaPolitics #TimothyMurphy #District19 #WorkingFamilies #RuralHealthcare