Indiana: Young v. Bayh

Representative Todd Young (R)

Background: Member of U.S. House of Representatives since 2010

As a member of Congress since 2010, Young has had the opportunity to weigh in on a number of policy issues relevant to the startup community. He has been an ally on IP-related issues, voting “yes” on both the America Invents Act and the Innovation Act and opposing SOPA. He’s also aligned with the tech community on government surveillance issues, supporting the USA Freedom Act. And we gave him extra credit for his support of the JOBS Act. However, Young was docked points for his strong opposition to net neutrality: he supported a resolution disapproving of the FCC’s net neutrality rules and voted “yes” on the No Rate Regulation of Broadband Internet Access Act, which would have curtailed the FCC’s ability to enforce its Open Internet Order. His positions on broadband expansion, encryption, high-skilled immigration reform, and STEM education are unclear.

Senator Evan Bayh (D)

Background: Member of U.S. Senate, 1999-2011; Governor of Indiana, 1989-1997

While Bayh has held the office of Senator before, his time in Congress preceded many of the key votes and issues that we examined for this analysis. And though his campaign website notes that Bayh will “fight to reduce regulations and increase access to capital for small business owners so that they can grow their organization,” his positions on most of the issues evaluated for this scorecard are unclear. He has made some positive efforts around broadband investment: during his time as governor of Indiana, he awarded $3 million in grants to help public schools get better access to the internet.