“Hello, everyone, I am Jackson Franklin, and I’m passionate about serving my community, both in uniform and as your future congressman for meaningful change. I am a Muncie resident and currently serving as a Staff Sergeant in the Indiana Army National Guard, along with my two triplet brothers. I’ve been serving as a combat medic since 2019 and deployed to Kosovo in 2023. I am grateful to the Army for sending me to paramedic school, where I became a nationally registered paramedic. Working in EMS for a time, I have had the great honor and pleasure of protecting the health of those within our community. I have assisted in several local campaigns and have been the policy advisor for a previous congressional campaign. I am originally from Albany, which is a small town just outside Muncie, IN, but have lived in Muncie for most of my adult life, not including my time away from home for the military.

Use of imagery does not imply endorsement by the DOD / US Army

My two triplet brothers and I were born at Ball Hospital in Muncie in 2000, by my amazing mother, who is truly the strongest woman I’ve ever known, and whose love and caring nature is an inspiration to any who comes across her. The great responsibility and work it takes to raise one child is notably monumental. Still, the amount of that multiplied by three, while already caring for my older brother and sister, will forever be applauded and admired by me. We did not have much growing up by any means, but what we always knew we had was a seemingly infinite love from a hard-working mother doing her best with what she had. Her long nights and early mornings weren’t only acts of love; they were the everyday heroism and sacrifice that working people across this country shoulder for the ones they love. She put one foot in front of the other, day after day, and showed me what real strength looks like. That’s the spirit I try to carry to show up for our communities with the same grit, love, and determination that working families live with every single day.

My father (who, as of writing this, has passed away only a couple of months ago in 2025) worked at the General Motors plant in Fort Wayne for 27 years and was a PROUD member of the UAW 2209. He worked our entire lives, as he saw it, to provide for us the best he could. He believed in doing right by others, in putting in an honest day’s work, and in giving his kids a life better than his own. Like many working-class Americans, he worked his whole life for his family and died before ever knowing retirement. When I think about my father’s life, I see the story of millions of workers who give everything and ask for almost nothing in return. People who show up, day after day, or in my dad’s case, night after night, despite long hours, backbreaking shifts, and the wear and tear on their bodies. They’re the backbone of our country, even though they rarely get treated like it and are looked down upon by this nation’s powerful (whether they want to admit it or not). My dad’s life teaches me something simple but incredibly powerful: dignity isn’t measured by wealth or status; it’s measured by the lives we improve, the people we stand beside, and the work we do with integrity. His coworkers, the union hall, and his strong sense of solidarity were more than just workplace entities; they were real examples of how working people can demand justice in a society that doesn't willingly give it when people band together. Remembering my dad makes me believe more strongly that work shouldn’t consume a person’s entire lifespan. People deserve the chance to live, not just labor. They deserve fair wages, tangible benefits, predictable time off, healthcare that doesn’t break them, and retirement plans that let them step back early enough to enjoy their families, hobbies, rest, and the world they helped create. Workers shouldn’t have to wait until their bodies fail to take a breath. They shouldn’t have to hope they’ll “make it” to retirement. They deserve the right to enjoy life while they’re still living it, not at the very end, but all the way through.

Growing up, I was always passionate about history, and naturally, politics soon followed. But the moment that truly lit the spark came in early 2016, when I was sixteen years old, and my older brother took me to my first political rally for a presidential candidate named Bernie Sanders. I had been reading, researching, and trying to make sense of why things felt so unfair for so many people. But hearing Senator Sanders speak in person was something special; it wasn’t just informative, it was truly life-changing. Perhaps unsurprising to many, I have been “feeling the Bern” ever since. 

He laid out (as he is so famous for) the crises affecting our nation: a broken healthcare system, staggering wealth inequality, and a political structure heavily influenced by money and power. He explained how the ultra-wealthy can pour unlimited amounts of money into elections and then expect lawmakers to write legislation that serves their interests. In 2016, he said the line that has stayed with me ever since: "That is not democracy. That is oligarchy." All these years later, those words still ring true.

In that run, many saw him as sparking the political revolution to effect and inspire the changes needed to create a society where working-class people can live with dignity and justice, in a system that represents all Americans, not just the top one percent. A society where healthcare and education are human rights, not privileges for the rich to get even richer at our expense. A future where woman control their own bodies, a livable environment, and workers are paid fair wages. His slogan in his 2016 presidential run was “A Future To Believe In.” Well, that is the future I believe in, and my goal as I move forward with this grassroots campaign is to make that future a reality, not just a slogan. A reality where working people control their future and have representation in Congress, and where the wealthy few do not control our politicians. A reality where we live in a system that places “People Over Profits!”

- Jackson Franklin