| Aaron Freeman | |
| State Senate: | Indiana |
| State: | Indiana |
| District: | 32nd |
| Term Start: | 2016 |
| Preceded: | Patricia Miller |
| Office1: | Member of the Indianapolis City-County Council from the 25th district |
| Term Start1: | 2010 |
| Term End1: | 2016 |
| Preceded1: | Lincoln Plowman |
| Succeeded1: | Brian Mowery |
| Party: | Republican |
| Alma Mater: | Bradley University (BS) University of Dayton (JD) |
| Spouse: | Heather |
| Children: | 2 |
| Residence: | Indianapolis, Indiana |
Aaron Freeman is an American lawyer and politician from the state of Indiana. He has been a Republican member of the Indiana Senate from 2016, representing the 32nd district. He previously served on the Indianapolis City-County Council from 2010 to 2016.
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.[1] He graduated from Bradley University and the University of Dayton School of Law.[2]
Freeman was a Marion County deputy prosecutor before entering the private practice of law[3] as the owner of his own firm, Aaron Freeman Law Office, LLC,[1] which he opened in 2010 in Franklin Township.[2]
Freeman joined the Indianapolis City-County Council in March 2010,[2] after being selected by Republican precinct committee members to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Lincoln Plowman.[4] Freeman was a member of the council for six years,[1] representing a district in the southeast side of the city.[4]
He was elected to the Indiana State Senate in 2016 from District 32,[3] [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.[3] [1] [7]
Freeman describes himself as a "solid Republican"[7] and a conservative.[2] 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."[3] 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.[3]
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.[3]
Freeman is married and has two sons. He lives in Franklin Township.[2]