Marion County Prosecutor's race: 6 questions for challenger Cyndi Carrasco - WRTV

INDIANAPOLIS — Cyndi Carrasco believes the Marion County prosecutor’s office needs to change at the top. “I am an attorney. I am a wife. But most importantly, I’m a mom. I’m running for prosecutor because of that,” Carrasco said. “I want this city to be the city that it was, a vibrant safe city, (on) the trajectory that it was going on when I first chose to make it my home.” An American-born daughter of naturalized Mexican immigrants, Carrasco, 42, grew up in El Paso, Texas, and moved to Indianapolis in 2003. She graduated from Indiana University’s Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 2006 and soon went to work for the Indiana Office of Inspector General as a staff attorney. About six months later, she was appointed director of the State Ethics Commission. In 2015, then-Gov. Mike Pence tapped her to become the state’s second-ever Inspector General. Gov. Eric Holcomb made her one of his deputy general counsel’s when he took office in 2017, a post she held when she announced she was jumping into the prosecutor’s race in January. Marion County saw a record-setting 282 homicides last year. Carrasco, a Republican, said the current prosecutor simply hasn’t done enough to make the city safe. “(I’m running) so that my daughter can have the opportunities that I know the city can offer. Unfortunately, right now with the crime crisis that our city is experiencing, those opportunities just aren’t possible,” Carrasco said. “I want to change that. I want to get the prosecutor’s office back to the fundamentals. I want to get that office doing what it needs to be doing which is prosecuting crime so that our citizens here in Marion County can have the chance to make a better life for themselves.” Indiana as a state leans heavily Republican. Carrasco, however, is running in Democrat-leaning Marion County for an office that hasn’t been won by a Republican since 2006. “The next Marion County prosecutor has to have leadership experience,” Carrasco said. “I have that leadership experience.” SEE | WRTV 2022 Election Guide Below are six questions and answers with the Republican candidate for Marion County prosecutor, Cyndi Carrasco. *Answers have been edited and condensed for clarity. WRTV