Psychologist seeks Indiana US Senate seat

(WNDU) – A political novice is seeking to succeed Sen. Mike Braun as Indiana’s junior senator runs for governor.

Dr. Valerie McCray is a novice, but she is not a complete newcomer. She has run for office before.

McCray introduced herself to much of the political world with an ambitious run for president in 2020. Then — like now — she hit the campaign trail on a part-time basis, continuing to work full-time as a clinical psychologist.

She maintains her background treating everything from PTSD in veterans to the aftereffects of abuse in prison inmates will inform her approach to drafting legislation. She also believes her background will be helpful in dealing with… umm, let’s just leave it at Senate colleagues.

“Sometimes, I can recognize pathology that other people can’t,” she says. “Especially having worked in prisons, you pick up certain personality patterns and like, ‘wait a minute, this person isn’t quite right, let’s talk about this.’ Or if someone’s just not doing well, I can pick those things up because that’s what I do.”

Her psychology background also gives her confidence on the campaign trail. The Democrat recalled a roadside encounter with Republican voters that turned into an impromptu therapy session.

“If you would approach the car from behind like I did, you would never approach that car because they had Confederate flags, they had don’t take our guns, everything that says we’re red, Trump, all of those things, opposite of what our campaign is usually about,” she recalls. “Right there, the mental health issues took precedent over anything else.”

Those people signed McCray’s petition to get on the ballot after a discussion about suicide and addiction.

McCray makes the point that we have more in common than we know. We get scared about different stuff, but we all get scared.

We all want the same things — good schools, relative safety, peace, and prosperity. We have different ideas on how to get those things, but McCray believes we can find some common ground if we are willing to listen.

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