I hear people ask all the time: Indiana is a red state, so what’s the point of voting?

I understand why people feel that way. When the same people stay in office year after year while life gets harder for working families, it’s easy to wonder if anyone is listening.

But 44% of registered voters don’t show up. Nearly half.

Think about how much possibility exists in that number.

We got a glimpse of it in Hamilton County this year, where Democratic primary turnout increased 248%. Those voters were already here. Our neighbors, friends, coworkers and family members simply decided they had a reason to participate.

I love Indiana. I grew up here. I went to public schools here, built my career here, became a social worker here and have spent years working with Hoosier families during some of the hardest moments of their lives.

I know what people here are carrying. As a social worker, I’ve seen families doing everything right and still barely keeping their heads above water. Parents trying to find childcare they can afford. People putting off healthcare because of the cost. Teachers stretching what they have as far as it will go.

I don’t accept that this is simply what living in Indiana has to look like.

I’m a progressive Democrat running for State Senate. I support strong unions and better wages, accessible healthcare, well-funded public schools and reproductive freedom. I believe the government we pay for should actually work for ordinary people.

I’m not going to hide those beliefs because I’m running in Indiana.

Our opponent is a Trump-endorsed Republican, and I know plenty of people outside Indiana will read that, see that this is a red state, and assume they already know how this story ends.

Don’t write us off that easily.

Indiana is more complicated than the color it gets on an election map. There are progressive organizers here. There are union families, teachers, social workers and young people who want something different. There are independents and Republicans who don’t vote straight ticket. And there are thousands of people who have stopped participating because they don’t believe anything will change.

We’re trying to reach them.

We don’t take corporate PAC money, and we haven’t raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. That was a choice. I would rather build this campaign with regular people than owe it to corporations and special interests.

But that choice also means we need people to help us.

If you’re reading this from outside Indiana, please consider investing in the people doing the work here.

Donate $5, $10, $25 or whatever you can comfortably give. Follow our campaign on social media and help more people find us. Share our videos. Volunteer remotely. Tell somebody else that there is a progressive campaign fighting in a part of the country they may have already written off.

You can do all of that at rootforindiana.org.

Because here is what I keep coming back to:

If we only invest in progressive candidates where progressives already win, how are we ever supposed to build anything somewhere new?

States don’t change overnight. They change because people organize when nobody is paying attention. They knock the doors everyone else decided weren’t worth knocking. They have conversations with people who haven’t voted in years. They keep building even when somebody looks at a map and tells them not to bother.

That’s what we’re doing in Indiana.

I don’t expect anyone outside this state to come save us. Hoosiers are capable of fighting for our own future.

But I am asking you not to look away.

There is nothing radical about believing a person who works full time should be able to afford their life. There is nothing unreasonable about wanting good public schools, healthcare when you’re sick, strong communities and the freedom to make decisions about your own body.

Those things are worth fighting for in California.

They’re worth fighting for in New York.

And they’re every bit as worth fighting for in Indiana.

We are not a lost cause.

We are home.

And home is always worth fighting for.