VIDEO: Candidates for 2nd Congressional District participate in debate
ELKHART, Ind. -- The three democratic candidates for US Representative for Indiana's Second Congressional District participated in a second debate on Tuesday evening at the Lerner Theatre.
The moderated debate included the three democratic candidates - Pat Hackett, Mel Hall and Yatish Joshi.
The debate was sponsored by the American Democracy Project and Political Science Club IU South Bend and the League of Women Voters of Elkhart County and ABC57 News.
Pat Hackett
Click here to visit Pat Hackett's campaign website
- Native of Detroit
- Professor, attorney and civic leader
- Worked in the law firms of Barnes and Thornburg and Baker and Daniels
- Served as in-house counsel for Holy Cross Health System/Trinity Health Corporation.
- Opened Hackett & Associates in 2006
- Current adjunct assistant professor in the Notre Dame Law School
- Former adjunct faculty at St. Mary’s College
- Former teacher at Marian High School
Served on several boards:
- Community Foundation of St. Joseph County
- YWCA of St. Joseph County,
- Past President of Alzheimer’s Services of Northern Indiana
- Past President of the Michiana Estate Planning Council
- Indiana Supreme Court Committee on Character and Fitness
- Robert A. Grant Inn of Court
- Ethics Committee of Memorial Hospital of South Bend
- St. Joseph County Joint Health Care Ethics Advisory Committee
- Bachelor of Arts in Government and Theology from Notre Dame
- Master of Arts in Theology from Notre Dame
- Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Notre Dame
- Working on Ph.D. studies at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
Personal:
- Lives in South Bend with wife Rita
Mel Hall
Click here to visit Mel Hall's campaign website
The 64-year-old has never run for public office. He was born and raised on his family's farm in Indiana.
- Graduated from Taylor University and went to United Methodist seminary.
- Asked the Church to send him to Detroit’s poorest and most densely-populated neighborhood -- known as Cass Corridor
- Earned Ph.D. in Data Science from Notre Dame
- Former CEO of Press Ganey
- 2006 --When the national minimum wage was $5.75 an hour, Mel raised the minimum wage at Press Ganey to $10 an hour.
- 2007 -- Made sure that same-sex couples were on the company’s insurance plan and could receive domestic partner benefits.
- Endorsed by United Steel Workers, the largest industrial labor union in the U.S.
Personal:
- Divorced
- Two sons, Nathan and Matthew
- Two grandsons
- Three sisters
Yatish Joshi
Click here to visit Yatish Joshi's campaign website
Yatish Joshi, 67, is from Bombay, India and moved to northern Indiana 40 years ago.
- Founded a company GTA Containers in South Bend in 1987, which makes large-scale water containers for the military and currently employs 53 Hoosiers.
- Owns Dearborn Crane in Mishawaka (designs, manufactures, and installs cranes)
- Co-founded the Bike the Bend event
- Endorsed by former Indiana Governor & South Bend mayor, Joe Kernan
Personal:
- He and his late wife had three children, Georgina, Tenzing and Avatar
- 2006 -- His 24-year-old daughter, Georgina and four fellow IU music students were killed in a plane crash near Bloomington.
- His family created the Georgina Joshi Graduate Fellowship, a scholarship program for students attending Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Donated $1.2 million toward renovation of IUSB recital hall.
- 2007 -- His wife, Louise Addicott, died when a plane crashed near Traverse City, Michigan. Joshi was the pilot and was critically injured with severe burns.