I live in IN. I was born here. I grew up less than an hour away from Mishawaka which is in St. Joseph County and trends Democratic. It has voted for Democratic in four of the last 5 elections including 2016. and has voted Democratic. It's only 10 miles from Elkhart where Mayor Pete is from. My mother used to work up in that area in the 70s while I was growing up.
My best friend lives in Mishawaka. She's a hospice nurse and has worked since the beginning of this pandemic. She has treated COVID patients and there hasn't been a day since March that I haven't worried about her. In fact, there have been more than a few days where I've had to listen to her fears and frustrations.
My Dad is a 76-year-old blue-collar retiree and is NOT a Trumper. He can't stand Trump and hasn't really had much respect for the GOP since Kerry. He cast his absentee ballot weeks ago to make sure it got in on time. Early on in the pandemic, he could not find a mask anywhere so I went to Amazon and bought him several.
Yes, IN is a red state, but that's not the whole story. We are not all right-wingers. I live in a very blue part of the state where the electorate fights very hard to get the state to move to the left.
However, politics aside, there are good people who believe in science and they deserve to be written off because of politicians' indifference anymore than they deserve to get sick because their neighbors won't wear a mask.
There are those here who are doing their very best to fight the spread of this virus despite the lack of leadership at the state and national levels. I'm lucky enough to have an employer who has is mandating me to work from home since March and is committed that will be the way until the experts say it safe to do so otherwise. Currently, that may not be well into next year.
I won't be seeing my Dad, my family, or friends for the holidays unless it's by Facetime or Zoom.
Anyway...IN, like so many states, is getting hit hard and its sad politics has to come into play.
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