Q&A: Destiny Wells on her bid for congress

Originally published in the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper

Date: April 30, 2026

By: Chloe McGowan

Democratic candidate Destiny Wells is running for a seat in Indiana’s 7^th Congressional district, which covers most of Indianapolis. Rep. Andre Carson currently holds this seat.

As a part of a Q&A series with District 7 candidates, Wells shared her background, priorities and perspective on Indianapolis ahead of the May 5 primary. Candidates were asked the same questions. 

Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity. 

Share with our readers why you are running for Congress this year. 

Destiny Wells: I am on a mission, and I’ve been on a mission for some years, and that is to improve the political landscape in Indiana and in Indianapolis. We have so much more that we can do with congressional districts.  

It is a safe seat. It should be a loud seat. Then, unfortunately, what we’ve seen is that it’s become quite quiet and very complacent, and it is affecting our everyday outcomes — so, in the projects we’re seeing funded in Indianapolis, whether it be voting turnout, which is just one of the worst in the nation.  

I’m looking at it from a systems and reform perspective, and it’s gotten us to have some really great conversations with voters on why Indianapolis looks the way it does, and how do we make it better? I’m running for the seat to make life in Indianapolis better. 

Which past experiences will help you in this role? 

Wells: I have a couple of hats that I wear in life, and so one of those is that I’ve actually been in the government now for 23 years. I’ve been a member of the military, and I am a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve. … I’ve been in the intelligence community for over 20 of those years, and so that is a significant part of my experience.  

I currently teach at the Army Command General Staff College. I’m an instructor. I’ve done that off and on for some years, where I teach leadership, where I teach organizational management, and I’ve taken us to the political space for the last four or five years, and that’s where I’ve been able to say, ‘Hey, guys, what are we doing? We’re missing basic building blocks when it comes to running a party.’  

When I see a Congressman, I see that he is the highest Democratic official in the state of Indiana, because we have no statewide elected officials left. We haven’t won one of those seats since 2012, obviously, we’re not doing things right, or we’d be having better outcomes.  

In the military, when things aren’t working out, it’s a top-ranking officer who takes responsibility of the situation. We have a lot of top-ranking officials in the Indiana Democratic Party who do not want to take responsibility of the situation, and they’re choosing instead to look the other way. So, there’s that federal experience I have.  

I’m also an attorney. I was a deputy attorney general for the state of Indiana. At one time, my client was the Department of Corrections, so I did litigation. I am used to having to go into rooms and come out with a solution through means of negotiation.  

When it comes to going to Congress, I know that I have the bills that will be of benefit. I like to highlight that I, unlike the other candidates, have a young family here. I have a six-year-old who’s going to be going into the second grade. We have our 14-year-old is going to be starting high school, and I want to be in the community.  

I’m not going to be spending my time out in D.C. at my leisure. I’m going to be there tied to the Congressional calendar, and then I’m going to be on a plane getting right back home. Being deeply embedded in the community, I think, brings a fresh perspective because that has been lost over having an 18-year Congress we don’t really see in town often. 

If you are elected, what will be your biggest priorities? 

Wells: There are some great pieces of legislation in D.C. There are huge reform pieces of legislation that I want to jump on (and) support right away. One of those that we’ve seen plague our community is actually in my neighborhood, so in Martindale Brightwood. We saw the data center come in, and the community was completely cut out of the picture.  

When you really look at what was going on there, that decision was already made by people who were in the room; the voters aren’t in the room. We have to re-center the voters, so they are the ones who we’re doing business for, and so I want to jump on the AI data center moratorium act. We have to pump the brakes, especially in the pursuit of AI. 

We are being overrun by the interests that are already in the room, whether that be court interests, whether those be succumbing to the talking points of the administration. I alarmingly saw Congressman Carson parroting dysregulation of AI talking points just this past week that came from the AI czar, David Sachs. I want to have that at the forefront, because I think AI is already affecting our lives, but it’s going to continue to affect them even greater when we see jobs skills leave the market because of AI taking those job skills over, and having to counter that with unemployment, having to counter that with just the discernment that our citizenry needs right now when they’re dealing with that.  

Another one is breaking up big medicine. We have a huge trust issue in the Indiana Democratic Party with our voters. They don’t trust Republicans. I talk to young people who, all the time, they don’t go vote, and they’re just like, ‘I hate all of it,’ and I can’t blame them.

How do we re-establish trust? We’re losing trust when we say ‘hey, we really care about medical bills and health insurance,’ and some people are basically medically bankrupt at this point. But we can’t say those things and then take money from insurance companies. That’s what’s going on in Indianapolis. Anthem is in the room, really.  

It’s the same thing when it comes to Big Pharma. Eli Lilly. Yes, they employ a lot of people, and we have to be mindful of our economy, too and (recognize) that those are jobs. Tons of people work at Eli Lilly. My stepson’s mother works at Eli Lilly. We’re so happy that they have that in their family. But again, you can’t be saying ‘we’re gonna be concerned about prescription costs’ when we take a meeting with E Lily and cash in the check. Eli Lilly is really expanding their footprint and having some environmental impacts. I haven’t heard the Congressman say a single word about Eagle Creek Reservoir and water grab by LEAP; a tenant there is Eli Lilly.  

And so that all amounts to — and I should have kind of opened up with this — is that I’m not taking any corporate PAC money because I’ve ran a couple times. I’m a better candidate for it. I think those losses were probably a blessing; they didn’t feel like them in the moment, but they allowed me to get in the room and see what was going on.  

What I see is that corporate money is going into campaigners, and it is putting those interests first. We see it in Indianapolis all the time. We see it with Mayor Hogsett, and I’m trying to tell people, ‘you guys, there’s no daylight between the mayor and the congressman.’ This is a system that we need to start kind of unwinding, because we have law firms who are giving money to candidates, and then candidates get elected, and then they have to look the other way.  

When you look at who’s getting what outcomes, the voters are the last in line. They’re the ones who are getting the short end of the stick. And that’s why I’m always pounding the point that we have to re-center the Hoosier. We have to re-center the voter.  

Lastly, because I get this question, ‘You’re going to be the younger, junior, the minority,’ which I’m not truly in the minority after November, things are looking good. If you look, we’re doing such a good job of getting earned media, of making sure that they are present when there are hearings on the hill, and they’re asking the right questions, and most things go viral, right? And they get a lot of attention from voters, but also those people that we talked about before, who are younger, and they’re participating in the process; I want to be part of that movement.  

… The congressman is not the only incumbent being challenged this cycle. There are three incumbents in Congress right now being challenged, and it’s a movement of people saying, ‘Hey, you guys got us here, and you’re not going to get us out of this mess. Can you please pass the baton and let people start trying it a different way?’  

And that’s what I’m saying for Indianapolis. We’ve been doing this for 30 years. If you want to stand up and you want to say, ‘No kings, no nepotism,’ and you give me push back for challenging an 18-year candidate who got the seat from his grandmother, who was in it for 11 years, you can’t square those things, guys. We have to live our values. Actions speak louder than words. 

As you listen to members of this community talk about what matters to them, what are they asking for from their representative? 

Wells: I think a lot of our marginalized communities, or communities who have seen our rights scale back over the last two Trump administrations, I have heard from them that they are feeling forgotten. For example, our LGBTQ community. Or women saying we just don’t even talk about reproductive health anymore. Those things were so loud. They were the top billing item in ‘22 and some of ‘24 and they feel like they’ve just kind of been pushed off to the side.  

Another one is immigration. Look, immigration code has to be reformed by Congress. I like to tell people when I went to law school, the heaviest book in my backpack was my immigration book, because the code is that confusing. Lawyers are confused. It’s very hard to find an immigration attorney because you have to specialize in it. If it’s so complicated for attorneys, how are we ever setting up our immigrant community for success?  

So, we need immigration reform. I get questions on ICE a lot from voters. They’re very concerned. They say, ‘Look, we’ve abolished many agencies in our history. There’s no reason that we should not abolish ICE,’ because it’s just a stain. It’s going to forever be a stain on our history, our kids, my grandkids, will be reading about it in the history books. So, reform DHS, abolish ICE.  

Then the last thing that I get a lot is very near and dear to me — because I’m still deployable. I could be deployed — is Iran, and then also the special interests that are playing a part in how our policy decisions are being made.  

So, whether it’s the congressman taking seven or eight kicks from defense contractors religiously, and all these people are making a lot of money off the war, or if it’s a lot of people (who) don’t even want to entertain a discussion until you tell them, ‘I don’t take PAC money.’ That’s been hard for some of our Jewish community, a conversation to have, but I think is a relevant one, especially watching the War Powers Resolution play out.  

What do you love most about Indianapolis? 

Wells: I’m a Hoosier. I’ve never talked about this way, but this is where, as a Hoosier, I’ve thrown down my roots, and I can rise and still be able to live my values. I think that’s what Indy offers. Indy offers a melting pot to community where everybody can find their place in it, and I want us just to be rowing in the same direction when it comes to our public outcomes. That’s what makes it beautiful, right?  

I love the army. I love serving in NATO. I like that everybody’s a little different, and they get it. That’s what Indy is able to offer in the state of Indiana. 

Contact Indianapolis Recorder Arts & Culture Reporter Chloe McGowan at 317-762-7848. Follow her on X @chloe_mcgowanxx.  

Contact: press@wellsforindiana.com

Note to press: High-resolution headshot available here.

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Destiny Wells is a candidate for Indiana’s 7th Congressional District. She is an attorney, U.S. Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel, and combat veteran with more than two decades of service at the local, state, federal, and multinational levels.

Wells previously served as a Deputy Attorney General for the State of Indiana and as Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Indianapolis. She grew up in a blue-collar Indiana family, built her career in public service, and is raising her children in Center Township.

She is running for Congress because she believes working families deserve representation that is independent, reform-minded, and accountable — not financed by corporate PACs or written by special interests. Wells has pledged to accept no corporate PAC money and to prioritize transparency, consumer protection, and national security in Congress.