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Andy in the News

Indiana 9th District U.S. House candidate Andy Ruff sits in front of a billboard for his campaign at Billy Herman Park in New Albany. An “anti-establishment Hoosier progressive,” he has sought to define himself against both establishment Democrats and Republicans and push a platform centered on hometown values and directly helping working Hoosiers. - J. Tyler Franklin, wfpl.org

Rep. Trey Hollingsworth Faces Andy Ruff in Indiana District 9 Race

WFPL, (Louisville) 10/23/20, by John Boyle

… To Ruff, this election represents the cultural battle between “ordinary” citizens and big money, and he points to Hollingsworth’s status as one of the wealthiest members of Congress with a net worth exceeding $50 million.

“We’re losing our government as a representative government of ordinary people,” Ruff said. “Big money has so intensified, so strengthened its stranglehold on policy-making and on electoral politics.”

Ruff describes himself as an “anti-establishment Hoosier progressive” …

“Ordinary Hoosier” and IN-09 U.S. House candidate Andy Ruff sits down with Daily Journal reporter Emily Ketterer to discuss his 2020 platform for central and southern Indiana residents. His is a candidacy focused on helping ordinary Hoosiers speak to Washington and finally getting the economic opportunities back they have been missing for a decade.

Andy Ruff: Where They Stand

Daily Journal, (Greenwood) 1020/20, by Emily Ketterer

Andy wrote an editorial for the Louisville Courier Journal published on October 8. In it, he explains how his opponent Trey Hollingsworth’s was dishonest with Hoosiers about his identity and credentials, takes on his record and explains why voter apathy toward the Democratic Party could lead to a third Hollingsworth term. Finally, Andy makes a series of promises to 9th District voters, including the most important, to again provide the essential link from Southern Indiana to Washington that has been missing for four years.

Andy Ruff: Vote as Hoosiers and elect me as your 9th District congressman

Louisville Courier Journal, 10/8/20, by ANDY RUFF

[Hollingsworth] touted his business experience when slashing taxes for the wealthy and removing regulatory brakes on powerful industries as Indiana’s congressman. “Government over-regulation and higher taxes have crushed job creation and stifled wage growth,” he claimed.

But wage growth for IN09 residents has not gone up during his terms, even as the average rose across the nation and incomes for top earners like himself skyrocketed. Job growth was even worse: 46% slower than under his predecessor, even as Indiana’s overall workforce grew larger.

Incredibly, my opponent continues pointing to his business experience and economic credentials as his main selling point. He is so confident of reelection he hasn’t bothered to debate, campaign or make any promises at all in 2020. He thinks Hoosiers care so little about their representation in Congress that he can just continue claiming to be one thing while in reality being another…

WTIU reporter Mitch Legan follows 9th district congressional candidates Andy Ruff for a concert, a round of fishing and a stop on the campaign trail.

A Conversation with Andy Ruff, Democratic Candidate For Indiana's 9th District

WTIU News, 10/8/20, by MITCH LEGAN

Mitch Legan: To kick this off, why did you decide to run for Congress?

Andy Ruff: I’m from Southern Indiana. I've been here my entire life. I know the people and the communities and the land. I decided to run because I was done with the lack of representation that I felt we were getting from our current incumbent representative, a guy who is has no connection to the state and has no connection with ordinary Hoosiers. And constantly votes that way – constantly votes in ways that don't represent our benefit or serve the interests of ordinary Hoosiers, but instead serve the interests of the corporate elite…

WAVE 3 (Louisville) reporter Tori Gessner met Andy as he visited New Albany High School to speak to high school students about the importance of congressional elections and the important political issues facing young Hoosiers in Southern Indiana.

Decision 2020: Meet Andy Ruff, Indiana’s 9th Congressional District Democratic nominee

WAVE 3, (Louisville) 9/30/20, by TORI GESSNER

…Andy Ruff, spoke with WAVE 3 News about his plans if elected.

Ruff calls himself an “ordinary Hoosier.” Born and raised in Bloomington, he served on Bloomington’s City Council for 20 years.

“I developed a very strong public record of fighting for ordinary people, standing up for working folks, standing up for higher wage floors, for protecting our Indiana environment; for being a voice for ordinary people,” Ruff said…

Andy’s election opponent, Trey Hollingsworth, donating plasma on July 13 as a way of ‘announcing’ he had contracted COVID-19. According to Hollingsworth himself, he had symptoms in late-March, which means he waited almost five months to tell Hoosiers he had the disease, depriving those he may have exposed the chance to test themselves or quarantine. While keeping us in the dark, Hollingsworth went on WIBC and told Hoosiers to put on their “big boy” and “big girl pants” and get back to work, even if it meant that more Indiana lives were lost. — Andy’s election opponent, Trey Hollingsworth, donating plasma on July 13 as a way of ‘announcing’ he had contracted COVID-19. According to Hollingsworth himself, he had symptoms in late-March, which means he waited almost *five months* to tell Hoosiers he had the disease, depriving those he may have exposed the chance to test themselves or quarantine. While keeping us in the dark, Hollingsworth went on WIBC and told Hoosiers to put on their “big boy” and “big girl pants” and get back to work, even if it meant that more Indiana lives were lost.

Letter: Hollingsworth will always choose the latter

Daily Journal, (Greenwood) 8/1/20, by ANDY RUFF

[Commenting on Trey Hollingsworth’s admission of keeping secret from Hoosiers the news he had gotten COVID-19 long before.] Does it matter if a U.S. Congressman had COVID-19? Does it matter if that congressman kept it secret for nearly five months?

Those are the questions that ran through my head last month when Rep. Trey Hollingsworth announced on Facebook that he’d had COVID-19 back in March. And the conclusion I came to was yes, it absolutely matters.

....

Instead he posted on Facebook a picture of himself giving ‘convalescent’ plasma with the caption: ‘America will prevail, and each of us has a role to play.’ As if Mr. Hollingsworth is some sort of American hero. Give me a break.

Andy taking precautions whenever possible at work. His full-time advising job at Indiana University isn’t without risk, including political ones such as taking a middle-class salary while being outspent 1,000/1 by his ultra-rich opponent, Trey Hollingsworth, who not only had COVID-19 and waited 15 weeks to tell the public, but then went on WIBC and told all Hoosiers to ‘get back to work.’

Hollingsworth tests positive for COVID-19 antibodies, donates plasma

Daily Journal, (Greenwood) 7/14/20, by EMILY KETTERER

[Commenting on Rep. Trey Hollingsworth waiting 15 weeks before announcing he had tested positive for COVID-19] Andy Ruff, Hollingsworth’s Democrat opponent from Bloomington, said the Congressman was irresponsible for not announcing he had COVID-19 symptoms sooner.

‘He still had an obligation to announce and let people know that he was in quarantine and he had symptoms … withholding that information from people is outrageous,’ Ruff said. ‘He’s trying — and having some success — by now putting a “smiley face” on this situation.’

Ruff is also disappointed Hollingsworth stands by the comments he made in April after discovering he had the illness.

“He had an opportunity now to share with people that, “Wow, I didn’t take this seriously enough before and I was encouraging an approach that was irresponsible,”’ Ruff said. ‘Instead of sharing that experience in a way that could benefit society, he spins it into something for himself.’

Andy Ruff before his speech at a Black Lives Matter protest in upper-9th-District city Greenwood on June 12, in which he tied racial progress to the promise of the American Flag. The event was not free of counter-protesters, a reminder of the city’s mostly hidden history of racial discrimination. Current 9th District Rep. Trey Hollingsworth, who was invited to speak, did not attend.

Andy speaks at the Black Lives Matter rally in Greenwood on June 12.

Greenwood Black Lives Matter demonstrators met with counter protest

Herald-Times, (Bloomington) 6/12/20, by ERICA IRISH

Quoting from Andy’s speech: ‘Indiana, the state we call home, has its own ugly history of racism, with some of the worst of it in parts that make up the current 9th District,’ Ruff said. ‘This gathering of solidarity and protest here today in Greenwood is a small but important step down the path we must take if we are to ever realize the promise of America — the promise of equal justice, equal treatment and equal protection under the law. We don’t have that now and we never have. But we wouldn’t be gathered here today if we didn’t believe that it is possible.’

In Greenwood, hundreds gather in support of Black lives, police reform

Indianapolis Star, 6/12/20, by EMILY HOPKINS

Hundreds gather for Greenwood Black Lives Matter rally

Daily Journal, (Greenwood) 6/12/20, by EMILY KETTERER

IN-09 U.S. House of Representatives candidate Andy Ruff attends the Freetown Freedom Festival in Jackson County on July 10. In lieu of traditional campaigning, almost impossible during COVID-19, Andy is appearing in parks and other high-traffic, socially distanced areas throughout the district, busking with his guitar and talking politics with 9th District residents.

Andy Ruff: Congressional Campaigning During Pandemic

Bloom Magazine, 5/2/20, by PETER DORFMAN

If it were up to Andy Ruff, he’d be on the road, crisscrossing Indiana’s 9th Congressional District, trolling for votes in the June primary election. ‘My plan was to take my guitar and go to every county fair in the district, set up at the Democratic Party table, talk, play songs, and get to know people,’ he relates. ‘I was going to go to all the high school events and anywhere else I could go in the district, to get with people. Who knows now? All of those events may be canceled this summer.’

A Bloomington City Council member from 2000 to 2020, Ruff announced in December that he is running for the Democratic nomination, hoping to take on Republican representative Trey Hollingsworth.