Bloomington candidate opposes Flock and surveillance tech

25 September 2026. [AI first draft. Verify every fact against the source before publishing.]

Lilliana Young announced on September 25, 2026, that she will seek the Democratic Party nomination for one of three at-large seats on the Bloomington city council in the 2027 municipal election. Young, who identifies as a democratic socialist, is running on a platform that includes housing affordability, infrastructure, human rights programs, and opposition to surveillance technology. She specifically pledges to fight artificial intelligence data centers and surveillance systems including Flock and Axon. Young's announcement comes less than five months after she lost a Democratic primary challenge to state Representative Matt Pierce in May 2026, receiving 1,879 votes compared to Pierce's 3,820 votes in a race that marked Pierce's first primary challenge in more than two decades.

Young's city council campaign enters a political environment where surveillance technology has already become a contested issue. Bloomington's city council unanimously adopted a resolution in March 2026 calling for greater transparency and oversight of Flock Safety's automated license plate readers. Mayor Kerry Thomson subsequently announced that the city would not renew its Flock contract. An ordinance to restrict license plate reading technology was introduced at the council's September 16 meeting and could face a vote on October 14. Young previously served on the Bloomington/Monroe County human rights commission from February 2024 to January 2026, during which time she worked on the resolution protecting access to gender-affirming health care that the council adopted in June 2024.

The 2027 election will fill three at-large seats whose current members, Matt Flaherty, Isak Asare, and Andy Ruff, have terms running through the end of 2027. Young's stated commitment to opposing surveillance contracts makes her position on Flock and related technologies a potential area of focus in the campaign. Residents can track Bloomington's ongoing surveillance technology ordinance and monitor whether candidates address contract renewal timelines and oversight provisions in their campaigns.

Read the original reporting: The B Square Bulletin.

Related record: Bloomington, Indiana in the jurisdictions directory.