Aaron Freeman (politician)

Freeman grew up in Brookville, Indiana. After graduating from high school, he became an emergency medical technician, reserve deputy sheriff, and 9-1-1 dispatcher.[2] He graduated from Bradley University and the University of Dayton School of Law.[3]

Freeman was a Marion County deputy prosecutor before entering the private practice of law[4] as the owner of his own firm, Aaron Freeman Law Office, LLC,[2] which he opened in 2010 in Franklin Township.[3]

Freeman joined the Indianapolis City-County Council in March 2010,[3] after being selected by Republican precinct committee members to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Lincoln Plowman.[1] Freeman was a member of the council for six years,[2] representing a district in the southeast side of the city.[1]

He was elected to the Indiana State Senate in 2016 from District 32,[4][5] Freeman received 31,173 votes (58.2%), defeating Democratic nominee Sara Wiley, who received 20,184 votes (37.7%).[6] Freeman succeeded longtime Senator Patricia L. Miller, who chose to retire after 34 years in the General Assembly.[4][2][7]

Freeman describes himself as a "solid Republican"[7] and a conservative.[3] In 2016, weeks after the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, Freeman dismissed the Black Lives Matter movement, saying on a segment on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, "I just don't think it's helpful to the country. I don't know what their purpose is."[4] The comments were raised in 2020 by Democratic state Senator Eddie Melton, who asked Freeman to drop his reelection bid over the comments, a request that Freeman rebuffed.[4]

After Republican Senator Ron Alting sponsored a hate crimes bill in the state Senate in 2019, seeking to allow judges to increase sentences for bias-motivated crimes (Indiana is one of just five states without such a law), Freeman introduced an amendment that gutted the bill, removing the specified protection categories—race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability—and replacing them with a generic definition of "bias."[8] After the amendment passed on a 33–16 vote, Alting voted against the bill as amended, honoring a pledge not to support any hate-crimes bill that omitted protections based on sexual orientation or gender identity.[8]

In the state Senate, Freeman has been a prominent and avowed opponent of plans for an expansion of Indianapolis's IndyGo bus rapid transit system.[9] In 2018, in response to mass shootings at schools, Freeman called for the stationing of police officers at every school, saying, "We need to harden these targets and we'll put a stop to this."[10] For three consecutive years, Freeman sponsored legislation to criminalize "revenge porn"; the measure was enacted in 2019.[11] Along with other Republican lawmakers, he supported a bill in 2020 to ban local governments in Indiana from enacting tenant protection regulations; the bill was backed by landlords and opposed by tenant advocates.[12]

Freeman defeated Democratic nominee Belinda Drake in 2020 to retain his seat in the Indiana General Assembly.[4]

Freeman is married and has two sons. He lives in Franklin Township.[3]