Indiana's 9th Congressional District voters have four choices in the Nov. 3 general election.

Republican incumbent Erin Houchin is seeking another term against Democrat Brad Meyer, Libertarian Tonya Hudson and independent write-in candidate Floyd Taylor.

The district covers much of southern Indiana, stretching from Bloomington south to the Ohio River.

WFIU/WTIU News reporter Clayton Baumgarth spoke with each candidate about affordability, health care, immigration, energy, agriculture and other issues facing the district.

See the interview with Brad Meyer here.

See the interview with Tonya Hudson here.

See the interview with Floyd Taylor here.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Clayton Baumgarth: Why are you running for another term, and what does the 9th District still need from you that you haven't accomplished during your time in Congress?

Erin Houchin: I was raised here in southern Indiana. I grew up in Scottsburg. My dad was a dentist. He said I could do anything I wanted to be in the world, just don't be a dentist. So I went into public service. I think because he loved the community that he served in that capacity, and I saw that in him.

I love this community. I love the state. I love the grit and determination that Hoosiers have, and I want to take that same spirit to Washington as we have been doing.

There's still more work to be done. We did deliver the largest tax reform, tax cut in American history. We prevented the largest tax increase in American history. We have delivered more than $10 million back to constituents in our casework. We've also delivered $14 million in community project funding, with another $18 million currently in the pipeline to help southern Indiana.

This is a place that I want to see thrive, and it has been an honor and a pleasure to represent the district in Congress. I want to keep doing the good work that we're doing, both bringing funds back home, but also doing a lot of important work on kids' online safety, stopping insider trading, keeping the border secure and keeping our communities safe.

Baumgarth: What's the biggest affordability problem facing people in southern Indiana, and what specifically can Congress do about it?

Houchin: We definitely have an affordability issue. One of those issues has been housing. When you allow a lot of people to immigrate into the country, as we saw with the open border, when you have millions of people coming into the country, that does put a strain on housing. It puts a strain on the workforce in the sense that it can drive down wages, it can drive up health care costs, and it can also drive up the cost and scarcity of housing.

We did pass the 21st Century Housing Bill, which will increase housing supply and make that more affordable and available. We're also working to reduce government regulations that are raising the cost of owning a home. We passed the Affordable Homes Act, which is a deregulation bill for manufactured housing, which ends up reducing the price of owning a home $10,000 to $15,000 per door.

I think Congress should largely get out of the way of the market and not overregulate in a way that causes things to be more expensive.

Of course, gas prices are a factor, but that is a global economy that is very difficult for the United States to directly reduce those prices. What we are doing is increasing domestic energy supply, getting our oil refineries back online and making the United States energy independent again. We were energy independent under the first Trump administration for the first time in 40 years. We can be energy independent again.

Baumgarth: Rural communities in the district are struggling with hospital access and EMS shortages. What specifically should the federal government do about rural health care?

Houchin: We did pass the Rural Health Care Transformation Fund. $207 million has come to the state of Indiana from the Working Families Tax Cuts Act that we passed.

Rural health care is critically important. I have a health care roundtable. It's about 40 stakeholders, and we meet quarterly. It's people with any touch to the industry, whether it's an AARP patient, citizen, pharmacist, hospital system or independent doctor. We're bringing these people together to talk about health care in America, and specifically in Indiana, where the low-hanging fruit is for making improvements to the system to make it more accessible and affordable.

One of the main things we can do is cut out the pharmacy benefit managers, the middlemen, which are driving up the cost of particularly prescription drugs. Anytime you get a person in the middle, it's going to drive those costs up. We've been intent on trying to increase transparency and also eliminate that middleman issue, so it is definitely just a patient and doctor relationship and getting back to the basics of taking care of people.

Baumgarth: Do you believe the administration's current tariff policy is helping the largely rural 9th District? Is there anything you would change?

Houchin: When I've been out on a route — we visited 36 stops during the month of August throughout the district — I talked to some of our manufacturers. Some of those same manufacturers who were a little bit concerned about tariffs at the start have come back to me and said the policy is working.

If we're trying to get the United States to be a production country again and turn away from just a consumption society, the things they're reporting to me are that the tariff plan is actually working to reshore a lot of the supply chain, making U.S. manufacturing possible.

We represent Guardian Bikes in Jackson County, Indiana, and they are potentially going to be the first in many decades manufacturer of all-made-in-the-USA bicycles. The Trump tariffs make that possible for people to make things in America again, and I think we're seeing some of that benefit come back.

Baumgarth: What should U.S. energy policy look like, particularly as electricity demand from data centers and other large users grows? How do you keep those costs from falling on residential ratepayers?

Houchin: When we passed the Ratepayer Protection Act in Congress, that was a bill I was proud to support. That says that if a company wants to put a data center in, the extra power generation required to power it should not and cannot be put on other ratepayers.

If a data center does come into an area, that can result in lower electricity rates when those companies pay for the extra power.

We're doing an all-of-the-above strategy. Everything should be in the portfolio to have energy independence for this country, including nuclear — small modular nuclear reactors, micro modular reactors. That's the kind of power generation that's going to power the future.

The fact of whether or not a data center comes to a community should be up to that local community. They should be able to decide whether and how they want that to exist in their community.

AI will be part of the future. It will be particularly important for our military strategy, for the AI warfare of the future. We do need that. I think it makes sense to co-locate data centers on our military bases.

One of the things we have to do is make sure permitting reform is not getting in the way, not making things take longer and cost more when we're talking about deploying energy, because it's so critically important and tied to winning the AI race.

Baumgarth: What is your position on abortion, and what role, if any, should Congress play in setting abortion policy nationally?

Houchin: This decision was made at the federal level, and it is up to the states. I do believe it should be up to the states to determine that. That's what the Supreme Court decided.

I am personally pro-life. I have a strong record of being pro-life, both at the Statehouse and at the federal level. I'm happy to be endorsed by the Susan B. Anthony List, but that decision should be made by the states, and it has been decided by the courts at this point.

Baumgarth: The U.S. conflict with Iran has continued without a congressional declaration of war. Under the Constitution, when do you believe a prolonged military operation requires authorization from Congress, and do you believe Congress should vote on this one?

Houchin: One of the things I don't want to see is another Afghanistan, where we preemptively said a date certain by which we were going to withdraw troops.

When we are in a conflict like we are in Iran, I think the president and the Department of War have to have some flexibility to execute that conflict in a way that makes it successful for the United States without tying their hands.

The conflict in Iran is definitely something that we've been watching, and we've been briefed by our military leaders, including at the Pentagon, on the status of operations. But Iran can never be allowed to get a nuclear weapon.

If you look at the proximity of Venezuela to the United States, we know that Iran, Russia and China were all operating in Venezuela before Maduro was removed and the United States re-exerted influence down in that region. If Iran or one of our adversaries had the capability to transport a nuclear weapon, which we believe was close to happening, that makes the conflict in Iran much closer to home and much more of a danger to the U.S. homeland.

Everyone would love to see this conflict end, but it cannot result in Iran having a nuclear weapon.

Baumgarth: Do you consider what's happening with Iran a war?

Houchin: I wouldn't consider it a war. We don't have boots on the ground. We're not engaged in conflict with Iran every single day. Negotiations for peace are still going on diplomatically, so I don't believe we are at war.

I do believe we have to give the president some flexibility to exercise diplomatic and military strength in a way that puts the United States and our national security first, while not allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. And this war will stop when Iran stops.

Baumgarth: Can you identify a significant issue or vote during the past two years where you've disagreed with President Trump or the White House?

Houchin: I can't say that there are certain things that I have disagreed with the White House on. I think the president is doing the right thing by putting America first and the American worker first. That is what you've seen in every single thing that he's done with the Working Families Tax Cuts Act: no tax on tips, no tax on overtime.

That has benefited American workers making less than $200,000 a year. Our tax relief for seniors on Social Security has resulted in $6,000 back for our seniors on Social Security per retiree.

He is focused on, let's make this country the best it can be. I certainly have been happy to have a seat at the table for some of these discussions at the White House and discussions with the president on the negotiations involving the Working Families Tax Cuts Act and what we could accomplish in that for American citizens.

This president has really put forward a plan that is working to put the American family first, and I'm happy to be part of it.

Baumgarth: Do you think President Trump is a strong role model for young people?

Houchin: I think the president can be a role model in the sense that he says what he thinks and he does not shy away from that. I think that's okay.

I think you have to have a situation where you are willing to stand up for what you believe in. There are a lot of negatives that come out. The media does have a particular slant, and prior to President Trump, we saw that maybe other people might wilt in that environment, but he certainly does not do that.

If anything, it's that he stands up for himself and the things that he believes in, and I would certainly want that for my own kids.

Baumgarth: In previous elections, some constituents have said you've made relatively few appearances at candidate debates or open public town halls, and you've sometimes been difficult for local media to interview. Why is that, and what do you say to constituents who want more direct access to their representative?

Houchin: We made 36 different stops around the district during the month of August. We also regularly host press conferences for the media where everyone's invited and can ask any questions they want.

We try to sit down for as many of these interviews as we can, but we are accessible. Our district office is always available to help constituents, and we have in-person meetings with constituent groups and me during the course of the month of August and other times throughout the year.

My focus is on getting out into the community and talking to the people who are working, living and trying to make it here in this state and make a better future for their families.

We're going to continue doing that. We work very hard on behalf of the district, and when we're home, we are always around. Eighteen counties is a big constituency, but we are getting every single place that we can, visiting with people and hearing directly from them.

Baumgarth: If you're reelected, what's the single thing you want to accomplish in the next Congress that you haven't been able to accomplish yet?

Houchin: One of the things that concerns me most is kids' online safety. The Kids Online Privacy Protection Act sets 13 as the age of adulthood on the internet. It says tech companies can collect data from a 13-year-old child and that they can have access to any type of social media account they want.

We know social media influence has negative impacts on teens between the ages of 13 and 15. With a bipartisan effort with Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts, we formed the Kids Online Safety Caucus and are continuously working on trying to up that standard, whether it is 18 with parental consent or 16 with parental consent.

My main focus is upping that age from 13, having age assurance and age verification so kids can't lie about their age to access the accounts, and putting parents back in the driver's seat by allowing them to consent to a kid owning one of these accounts and interacting with these platforms.

There are three pieces that are missing from the bills we're working on. One is age verification. One is raising the age to 16 at least. And the third is making sure parents are consenting and can have revocable consent over access to those platforms.

There is still a lot of work to be done to protect our kids from social media and online harms, and I'm intent on continuing that work through the next Congress.

Baumgarth: Congress has repeatedly struggled with deficits, shutdown threats and passing budgets on time. What would you change about how Congress operates, or what would you be willing to compromise on?

Houchin: I am part of the bipartisan fiscal forum, which is a group of Republicans and Democrats that care about the deficit and want to see us fix something. We've put forth a proposal that the deficit, the debt, can't be more than 3 percent of GDP, switching that more from a number to something that could be more manageable and what we think is reasonable.

The White House has also adopted that proposal. Again, it was put together by Republicans and Democrats, and it has also been embraced by a Republican White House.

We're always working on this problem to reduce the deficit, trying to get to neutrality in everything that we do, making sure that what we're doing is paid for, and if we add a regulation, we take two away in its place.

But the biggest drivers of the deficit are Medicare, Social Security and the Highway Trust Fund. Those are the three things that are the drivers. It's not our discretionary spending.

We're working on things like these Trump accounts that might be more widely available to more Americans to seed those accounts for the future, changing our Social Security structure in the next generation to something that is sustainable for the future.

Baumgarth: The 9th District is largely rural. What should Congress be doing specifically for farmers and rural communities?

Houchin: We passed the farm bill. It has a lot of good protections and provisions in that. The House of Representatives passed the farm bill under leadership from the Midwestern delegation, me included, meeting Farm Bureau's priorities for our rural communities.

The farm bill had not passed out of the House of Representatives since 2018. We passed it. It's now in the Senate. We're waiting on the Senate to act on it, but that would be a huge help to our farmers to give them certainty moving forward.

We also passed out of the House year-round E15. Currently farmers can sell corn for an ethanol blend of E10 year-round, and certain times of the year they can increase that blend to 15 percent. We're pushing for them to have a 15 percent blend year-round, which gives our farmers some certainty that they have a market for the corn they grow for fuel production.

I fought for and got a vote on a bill to make year-round E15. I'm proud to do that for our farmers and ethanol producers here in Indiana, and we'll continue fighting to get that through the Senate.

Baumgarth: What federal gun laws would you support or oppose?

Houchin: I proudly support the Second Amendment. I think we have to be able to defend ourselves not just in our homes, but also against a government that we might have grievances with. It's why it's the Second Amendment, one of the most important ones.

I have supported legislation recently that would take a tax off of firearm suppressors, and I am a proud supporter of our Second Amendment.

Baumgarth: Why should someone who normally votes for the other party, or doesn't identify as Republican, consider voting for you?

Houchin: We are known for working really hard on the things that we work for on behalf of the people we represent. I'm not any one kind of legislator. I think I approach this job as solving problems.

If you come to me with a problem, no matter what side of the aisle you're on — whether you're a Republican, Democrat or independent — I'm going to want to try to solve it for you. I'll gather as much information as I can to make the best decision I can on behalf of the most people and really try to understand the issue and come to a solution that works.

I think anyone who knows me knows that I do work that hard. We'll continue to work that hard and do a good job, a better job of listening. But more importantly, once we listen, we get into action and we get things done.