> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://bsquarebulletin.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Lilliana Young launches 2027 bid for Bloomington city council at-large seat - URL: https://bsquarebulletin.com/lilliana-young-launches-2027-bid-for-bloomington-city-council-at-large-seat/ - Published: 2026-09-25T12:22:58.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-25T12:22:58.000Z - Description: Lilliana Young will seek a Democratic nomination for Bloomington city council in 2027, less than five months after challenging state Rep. Matt Pierce. Young, a democratic socialist, is campaigning on housing, infrastructure, human rights and opposition to surveillance technology. - Author: Dave Askins - Tags: Local Government, #no-inline-feature ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/20/6f/206f9007-c0a7-47d4-b87b-686c21961f22/content/images/2026/09/2026--Lilliana-Young-Lilli-Photo--1--1.jpg) Lilliana Young (photo from the Young campaign) Lilliana Young [announced](https://bloomdocs.org/wp-content/uploads/simple-file-list/2026-09-25-Lilliana-Young-Council-Press-Release.pdf) on Friday (Sept 25) that she will seek the Democratic Party nomination for one of the three at-large seats on the Bloomington city council in the 2027 municipal election. Young made an unsuccessful bid to challenge longtime state representative Matt Pierce in the Democratic Party primary this May. In her [campaign announcement](https://bloomdocs.org/wp-content/uploads/simple-file-list/2026-09-25-Lilliana-Young-Council-Press-Release.pdf), Young identifies housing affordability, infrastructure and public works, and human rights programs as her leading priorities. She also pledges to oppose artificial intelligence data centers and surveillance technology in Bloomington. Young frames her campaign in explicitly class-based terms, describing herself as a democratic socialist, saying local government should be responsive to working-class residents. “When faced with threats of this magnitude to our politics, our economy, and even our foundational quality of life, it’s time for the working class to rise and take back the power that’s been stolen from us,” Young says in the announcement. Bloomington’s nine-member city council has three members elected at large, in addition to six members elected from geographic districts. The current at-large members are Matt Flaherty, Isak Asare and Andy Ruff. Their four-year terms run through the end of 2027. Young’s city council campaign comes in the first possible election cycle after her first run for elected office. In the May 5 Democratic Party primary for Indiana House District 61, Young challenged Pierce, who has represented the Bloomington-centered district since 2002\. Pierce won with 3,820 votes (67%) compared to 1,879 votes (33%) for Young. \[[May 3, 2026 primary results](https://bloomdocs.org/wp-content/uploads/simple-file-list/2026-05-03-primary-Indiana-all-offices-statewide-results.csv)\] The contest was Pierce’s first Democratic primary challenge in more than two decades. Young, who was 40 when she launched that campaign last year, grew up in the Dallas area and moved to Indiana about a decade ago. In an [October 2025 profile](https://www.idsnews.com/article/2025/10/lilliana-young-challenging-demoncratic-primary), the Indiana Daily Student quotes Young from an interview saying, “Rather than just watching my political YouTube videos and being mad all day, I think I want to take that anger and channel it into something more serious and productive.” During her statehouse campaign, she made her experience as a low-income worker a central part of her political argument, contrasting it with what she described as the backgrounds of elected officials who are more economically secure. On her [former campaign website](https://web.archive.org/web/20260514221754/https://youngfor61.com/#about ), she describes herself as “an out and proud trans woman.” Young’s [current campaign website](https://youngforbtown.com/#https://youngforbtown.com/#about) chronicles her work on transgender rights and anti-surveillance efforts. Before seeking elected office, Young became involved in local transgender-rights advocacy when she served on the Bloomington/Monroe County human rights commission. Young received a mayoral appointment to the commission for a term beginning Feb. 1, 2024 and ending Jan. 31, 2026. Young was also involved in the effort that led to the Bloomington city council’s June 2024 [adoption of a resolution](https://bsquarebulletin.com/city-council-declares-bloomington-a-safe-haven-for-gender-affirming-healthcare/) protecting access to gender-affirming health care. A human rights commission [quarterly report](https://bloomington.in.gov/onboard/reports/361/download) says the commission worked with Young and London Montgomery to propose the resolution to the council. In Friday’s announcement, Young points to her work on that commission as one of her qualifications for city council. She also cites her membership in Bloomington Democratic Socialists of America and work involving affordable housing, assistance to unhoused residents and political organizing. Young says her city council campaign would put particular emphasis on housing costs and city infrastructure. She also promises that serving on the council would be her “first and primary job.” Her opposition to surveillance technology puts one of her campaign themes squarely in the middle of an issue that has already produced significant city council debate this year. Bloomington’s use of automated license plate readers supplied by Flock Safety drew public protests and council scrutiny during the first part of 2026\. In March, the council unanimously [adopted a resolution](https://bsquarebulletin.com/bloomington-city-council-adopts-resolution-on-flock-license-plate-reader-cameras-as-first-step/) calling for greater transparency and oversight of the technology. Mayor Kerry Thomson later [announced that the city would not renew](https://bsquarebulletin.com/bloomington-flock-camera-contract-expired-march-5-mayor-reveals-non-renewal-6-weeks-later/) its Flock license-plate-reader contract. An [ordinance](https://bloomington.in.gov/onboard/meetingFiles/17445/download#page=60) to restrict license plate reading technology is also currently pending in front of the city council. It was introduced at the council’s Sept. 16 meeting, and could see a vote on Oct. 14. Young’s announcement pledges to “fight to keep AI data centers and surveillance systems like Flock and Axon out of Bloomington.” Friday’s announcement also makes clear that Young intends to run to the left of at least some other Democrats. “I’m not part of the corporate, establishment Democrats that have sat on their hands and allowed things to become so bad,” Young said. “I’m a Democratic Socialist, and that means I get on the ground level and keep going until the work is done.” In her announcement Young describes Bloomington as the place where she “found myself, found purpose to strive towards, and community to pick me up when I needed it.” “My home, our home, is worth protecting from the greed of corporations and the cruelty of the state government,” she said. “I promise to do everything I can to protect our city.”