Veronica Pejril
Veronica Pejril (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Indiana State Senate to represent District 24. She lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Pejril completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Veronica Pejril was born in Chicago, Illinois. She earned a high school diploma from Maine South High School. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1986 and a graduate degree from Princeton University in 1988. Her career experience includes teaching digital music production techniques at DePauw University. As of her 2024 campaign, Pejril held the position of president on the Board of Zoning Appeals for the city of Greencastle, alongside her role as a planning commissioner.[1]
Pejril has been affiliated with the following organizations:[1]
- Putnam County Recovery Coalition (Board President)
- Indiana Youth Group (Board Treasurer)
- Queer Princeton Alumni (Vice President, Board of Trustees)
Elections
2024
See also: Indiana State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Indiana State Senate District 24
Brett A. Clark defeated Veronica Pejril in the general election for Indiana State Senate District 24 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Brett A. Clark (R) | 65.6 | 40,300 |
| Veronica Pejril (D) | 34.4 | 21,171 | ||
| Total votes: 61,471 | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Indiana State Senate District 24
Veronica Pejril advanced from the Democratic primary for Indiana State Senate District 24 on May 7, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Veronica Pejril | 100.0 | 2,159 | |
| Total votes: 2,159 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Indiana State Senate District 24
Brett A. Clark defeated Anne Engelhardt in the Republican primary for Indiana State Senate District 24 on May 7, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brett A. Clark | 75.5 | 9,729 |
| Anne Engelhardt | 24.5 | 3,158 | |
| Total votes: 12,887 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Pejril in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Veronica Pejril completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Pejril's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Veronica Pejril is a candidate for Indiana Senate District 24. She is the daughter of a city water-treatment engineer and a public school math teacher, and the parent of two Purdue graduates.
Pejril was elected to Greencastle’s City Council in 2019, making history as Indiana’s first openly-transgender elected official. In public service, she has worked across the aisle to champion improved efficiencies, new investments in infrastructure, and pay-raises for first responders.
With Greencastle’s Human Relations Commission, Pejril spearheads community sessions to bring together countywide first responders and healthcare providers, working toward improved outcomes for mental-health crisis responses. She is President of Greencastle’s BZA, and serves on the Plan Commission.
Pejril is board President for the Putnam County Recovery Coalition, working to save lives and combat the opioid epidemic for rural families impacted by substance use disorder.
She is Treasurer for Indiana Youth Group, the longest continually operating LGBTQ+ youth center in the country. IYG provides programming and access to healthcare and housing for vulnerable Hoosier youth who have been caught in the crosshairs of toxic legislation.
An alumna of Princeton’s Graduate School, Pejril is an Assistant Professor at DePauw University.
More about her campaign is at http://www.veronicaforindiana.com
- I will advocate to provide a ballot initiative process that empowers Hoosiers with a way to have a direct say on 60/40 issues like reproductive freedom and 80/20 issues like cannabis legalization.
- I will adopt a legislative approach to substance use disorder that treats addiction as a public-health issue, rather than a crime.
- I will work to ensure that our state’s investment in public education is only used for schools that don’t practice discrimination in enrollment and hiring.
I'm the daughter of a public school teacher and a city water engineer, so I was raised in a family that deeply values the public-good of clean water and quality education for all, no matter our zip code.
I lost a family member to overdose a few years ago, and another to a home gun safety accident; I will bring the passionate perspective of my lived experiences about these issues to the table at a time of urgency on these matters.
And as someone who has seen my own lifesaving healthcare be the subject of statehouse debate, I am ready to bring that urgent voice to the table as well.
I admire Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize winner and fellow Princetonian, for her commitment to freedom of expression in hostile times. I also admire Toni Morrison's wisdom; I carry her words as a mantra: "the function of freedom is to free someone else."
How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen, by David Brooks
The ability to listen to constituents' needs, no matter their political leanings, is the most important characteristic for an elected person. As someone who has served in municipal elected office with a diverse constituency, I have lived by this principle.
Empathy, compassion and personal integrity are other essential attributes.
Advocate for, and vote to support, laws that better serve every Hoosier, no matter their zip code or political leaning.
I would like to pave a smoother path for others to live authentically and free from oppression.
I was 4 when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. I remember my father closing the drapes to our home that evening, because he feared riots.
My first job was a summer job at a Howard Johnson Hotel, shuttling dirty linens and towels from guest rooms to the laundry, unclogging toilets and other general maintenance.
Leading Without Authority by Keith Ferrazzi. This book has given me greater insight into the many ways each of us can have agency and create change in our communities.
As an out transgender woman who grew up in the 1960s, I have been first-witness to the flow and ebb of civil rights for LGBTQ+ folks. The struggle continues in our time, to fight for our legitimacy, for our essential healthcare, and for our rights in employment and housing.
Restoring a public education system that provides equal opportunity for every student to succeed and level up.
Overcoming the substance use disorder public-health crisis.
Restoring healthcare freedoms for every Hoosier, keeping the state out of exam rooms where patients, parents and doctors should be able to freely make science-based and evidence-based medical decisions.
I don't think it's necessarily a pre-requisite, but it can be beneficial.
For example, as a municipal elected, I am especially aware of the challenges that our cities and towns face as a consequence of state laws that restrict municipalities from having flexible local-control for infrastructure, housing and workforce development.
Still, prior experience in other sectors can be helpful as well. That's why a diverse legislative body made up of folks like teachers, stay-home parents, doctors and scientists is essential to making up a truly representative legislature.
Demonstrating empathy for, and finding compromise with, those we disagree with is part of the good work of any legislature. Without substantive relationships, that good work cannot be done.
RFK (the 1st)
LPAC, Victory Fund
Health and Provider Services
Education and Career Development
Family and Children Services
Natural Resources
In 2022, Indiana ended the fiscal year with a ridiculous 6.1 billion dollars of reserves, after collecting $1.25 billion more taxes than originally forecast. This enormous stockpile of taxpayer money was the product of unchecked taxes in a cycle of transitory inflation, and is just one example of bad tax policy gone worse.
In December 2023, the state office of Management and Budget reported a shocking $1 billion accounting error shortfall in Indiana Medicaid forecasting, dramatically underfunding a program that one in four Hoosiers rely on. Irresponsible fund mismanagement is what happens when a single party holds power over state government for nearly two decades.
It’s time to end that unchecked power, to place the needs of everyday Hoosiers front and center, and to demand responsible, transparent government.
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Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Indiana State Senate District 24 |
Personal |
Footnotes
