Indiana Senate District 24 candidate Veronica Pejril (rhymes with EDGE-roll) has been a Hoosier-by-choice for nearly 30 years, and she resides in Putnam County. The daughter of a municipal water-treatment engineer and a public school math teacher, She is a proud parent of twin sons, who are 2017 Purdue graduates.

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Veronica attended Illinois public schools, including the University of Illinois where she received her bachelor’s degree. While a student there, she invented new software tools for musicians and composers, and was awarded a doctoral fellowship to Princeton University to continue her research. At the time, she also founded a business, Black Squirrel Software. After time as a stay-home parent and as a K-8 music teacher, she now leads DePauw University’s instructional technology team and is a part-time Assistant Professor of Music.

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Pejril was elected to the Greencastle City Council in 2019, making history as Indiana’s first openly-transgender elected official. In her council service, she championed increased investments in city infrastructure, doubling Greencastle’s 2023 street repair funding while maintaining a balanced budget. Councilor Pejril also supported pay-raises for police officers, fire fighters, and other municipal employees to promote morale and retention. She continues to spearhead ongoing efforts with the city's Human Relations Commission to bring together city/county law enforcement, first responders and mental health specialists, to strategize improvements for mental health crisis responses in Putnam County.

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Veronica’s non-profit service gives insight to her values:

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As President of Putnam County Recovery Coalition, she gives vision and direction to the only non-church-based organization providing substance recovery services to Putnam county.

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As Treasurer on the Board of Directors for Indiana Youth Group, she provides fiscal guidance to an organization that works to improve outcomes for young LGBTQ+ Hoosiers through affirming programming and activities, and access to health care and rapid-rehousing. IYG has an operating budget of over $4M, and demand for services has tripled in recent years, correlating with attacks on Indiana’s LGBTQ+ community from  the Indiana Statehouse.

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As Vice President of the Board of Trustees for QPA, Princeton’s LGBTQ+ alumni association, Veronica provides leadership for an organization leveraging a $1.7M endowment, supporting a post-doctoral fellowship and ensuring access to gender-affirming healthcare for Princetonians through university health services.

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Veronica also serves on the boards of Main Street Greencastle and the Fuller Center for Housing of Putnam County, working to improve local economic vitality and access to housing. With the Putnam County Housing Stability Committee, she is particularly engaged with working to improve outcomes for residents who are food and housing insecure.

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An outspoken champion for marginalized and vulnerable young people, Pejril’s community advocacy has been featured in regional press and television media, including the Indianapolis Star, WRTV-6 and WISHTV-8. She proudly represented her Putnam County community on national media by opening the Pledge of Allegiance in front of the iconic Dunbar Covered Bridge for the second evening of televised programming for the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Veronica is an alumna of the 4th class of Hoosier Women Forward, a Democratic women’s leadership development program. In 2017, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin commissioned Veronica as a Kentucky Colonel, the highest title of honor bestowed by the state.

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Pejril is active with 100 Women Who Care of Putnam County. She plays jazz/blues piano with her church community and in Putnam County’s music scene; she regularly seizes opportunities to donate her talents to benefit local and regional organizations.

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As the next State Senator for Indiana’s 24th District, Veronica Pejril intends to restore Hoosiers’ healthcare freedoms, including abortion care and parents' rights to support their gender-expansive children in consultation with doctors, improve access to mental health crisis care, addiction recovery resources, and affordable housing, to eliminate tax-burdens on menstrual products, and to protect the liberties of the state's most-vulnerable populations.