After 35 years in the psychology field, 25 as a licensed psychologist, and years of seeing the issues firsthand, McCray had the idea to solve the questions she had growing up on her own.

Sixty-five-year-old McCray is running as a Democratic for U.S. Senate this November. She is the first Black woman to be a nominee for the seat in Indiana history.

For years, she felt she was being pulled in every direction—helping clients, writing reports for veterans, attending sessions for hours to help people suffering with PTSD. She felt, especially as a Black psychologist, there was always something left unfinished in her work.

“It was a matter of, do I continue to keep feeling as if I am just not enough to go around, or do I go to Washington, D.C.,” McCray said. “Keep pushing, trying to get to Washington, D.C., to change the gun laws, to change the policies, to try to get health care, to try to get wages and policies that make sense, so that we have less of these issues coming down the line.”

A native Hoosier, she got her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Michigan. McCray believes that having somebody like herself in the nation’s capital that has studied how politics and rules affect people day to day is a must.

“We’re not relating [politics] to what’s happening with people, and I think that’s what the issue is with career politicians,” she said.

McCray beat her opponent, Marc Carmicheal, in the May Democratic primary with 68% of votes and is now up against Republican Jim Banks, who has raised over $4.6 million for his campaign, while McCray is at $80,000.

Banks served as a member of the Indiana Senate from 2010 to 2016. The last Democrat to be elected to the U.S. Senate from Indiana was Joe Donelly in 2012.

The Hill has McCray’s chance of winning as 2% in the race against Banks, who has a 98% advantage. But Ryan Ely, Valerie’s adult son, says that is not the case at all.

“There’s a big difference in the competitors, media profile and in the size of donors,” he said. “While my mother’s campaign has demolished all expectations, the other guys are sitting congressmen, so there’s always going to be some difficulty with [visibility].”

The significance of McCray’s campaign is not just about the present challenges, but also about historical milestones that remain unachieved.

“Our country is getting close to being nearly 300 years old. For one of the 50 states to have never nominated a Black woman to be a senator. … It feels like we should have gotten past that before,” he said.

Mary Lett, McCray’s accountant and longtime friend, has been a close supporter to McCray.

“She’s doing it for all the right reasons, and I have to tip my hat to her for, you know, she’s not on a power trip,” Lett said.

She commended McCray for her work and reasoning behind running for Senate.

“She genuinely wants to serve the people. … She’s never been a politician,” Lett said. “She’s worked with veterans, she’s worked in the prisons, she’s been a small business owner, she’s got a PhD in psychology, so she’s educated, and I don’t know what more people would want in a candidate.”

McCray plans to continue her clinical work while also advocating for policy changes if she wins the Senate election.

“People are going to continually be surprised, but the only people who won’t be surprised are the people who know her best,” Ely said. “We are all completely unsurprised by the success that she’s had, and I think that she’ll just continue to surprise everyone else but us with her success.”

FOOTNOTES: This story was updated on July 10 to correct two errors. Jim Banks served in the Indiana Senate, not the U.S. Senate, from 2010 to 2016, and the last Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate was Joe Donnelly in 2012, not 2019.

Despite knowing Indiana as a whole is Republican, there have been instances where Senators have tried to challenge the majority, which residents in Indiana have mixed feelings about.

In 2024 alone, over 10 bills were introduced in the House and Senate regarding firearms, one of which being Senate Bill 24.

Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, authored the Senate Bill to raise the minimum age to carry a handgun to 21.

Much like Senate Bill 144 introduced in 2023 — the same bill as Sen. Randolph’s Senate Bill 24 — the 2024 bill did not have a long life span.

Some Hoosiers are still talking about how such bills could be a significant step toward limiting gun violence among minors.

In Indianapolis alone, handgun homicides have increased over 25% since 2018 and Everytown data shows firearms as the leading cause of death among children and teens in Indiana and the nation.

Across the United States, there have been over 2,000 shootings and 286 teens have died due to gun violence as of mid-March. Over 50 of those shooting incidents were in the Hoosier State, four of them among citizens under the age of 18.

Taking into account how many incidents involved citizens under 18 in the year 2024 alone, teens and minors are getting their hands on more and more guns every year.

And to narrow the types of shootings, according to the Washington Post, there have been 394 school shootings since Columbine, which happened in 1999.

Of the biggest school shootings like Parkland and Uvalde, the shooters were people under the age of 21.

Cathy Weinmann, a Moms Demand Action volunteer, believed the chances of Randolph’s bill to raise the minimum age passing to be “zero to none.”

“The odds were slim. People choose guns over people every time,” Weinmann said. “It’s a battle we will fight everyday.”

Everytown data shows that over the next decade, 300k lives could be saved if stricter gun laws were enforced.

A list from Everytown ranks each U.S. state based on how strong gun laws are and compares them to the death rates due to guns. The list shows California as the state with the strongest gun laws and the lowest gun deaths and gun ownership.

Of the 50 policies regarding gun control, California enforces 48 of them.

Some of the major laws in California restricting guns require gun purchasers to go through a background check. Buyers also need a purchase permit as well as a “concealed carry” to legally carry in public.

In Indiana, bills that reflect California’s gun laws have been turned down.

While some advocate for stricter laws like those in California, others remain strong in their support of gun rights in the Hoosier state.

Although Indiana does not look to be a state where laws will mirror the laws in California, Weinmann has hopes for other states to follow The Golden State’s lead.

There are some organizations who think otherwise, though. Hoosiers Concerned About Gun Violence President Jerry King had high hopes for Randolph’s bill.

“We [HCGV] believe that the majority of Hoosiers support reasonable reform,” he said. King seemed to be optimistic about SB 24’s chances.

“Our job is to call our members and partners to speak out and make the most forceful presentation that they can,” he said. “Especially by communicating with the chairs of committees to which some of these important bills get assigned to read. We insist that these bills need to be heard.”

But the question people seem to have is what “reasonable reform” is.

“Truly all these bills would do is take the ability for people who don’t outright want to cause harm to others away due to them actually caring and following the law or rules put in place,” Zach Alexander, a Marine until February of 2024 and now a correctional officer at the Johnson County sheriff’s office said.

“I believe a majority of individuals who carry a firearm in public do train with that gun, although it may not be professionally, they are still comfortable with that weapon and the responsibilities associated with carrying it in public,” he said.

While Alexander says he trusts that most people have good intentions while carrying, students and young adults in the same area do not.

Some Franklin College students reported that they believe if they are not allowed to buy alcohol until they are 21, there is no reason they should be able to buy a gun.

The debate over gun control in Indiana reflects broader national discussions on balancing individual rights with public safety; everyone has their own opinion.

Despite efforts to introduce legislation aimed at curbing gun violence, such as Senate Bill 24, the political landscape and deeply entrenched beliefs make progress challenging.