SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Republicans in Indiana are hoping voters will help them keep three seats in Congress without incumbents running for office, while also aiming to topple an incumbent Democrat in the northwestern part of the state.
Three party incumbents are retiring or seeking other positions, creating vacancies that produced a number of hotly contested Republican primaries last spring, including two eight-way races.
In the northwest corner of the state, the Republican Party is targeting incumbent Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan, who is seeking his third term in the 1st District. According to Ballotpedia, Democrats have held the seat since 1930, but a Republican-drawn map that took effect in 2022 made the district more conservative. Mrvan won in 2022 with almost 53% of the vote, after polling just under 57% in 2020.
Mrvan is confronted by Randell Niemeyer, a Lake County Council member and co-owner of a trucking company.
If Republicans win that seat, they could gain at least eight of the nine seats in Congress.
Across the state’s eastern border, the 3rd District seat will be vacated by Rep. Jim Banks, who is ending a four-term term to run for U.S. senator. The man who came before him, Marlin A. Stutzman, wants to succeed him.
Stutzman, a large-scale farmer and trucking company operator who held the seat from 2010 to 2017, gave it up to run for the U.S. Senate in 2016, losing the Republican Party primary to current Sen. Todd Young. During his comeback attempt in Congress, he is confronted by Democrat Kiley Adolph, director of a non-profit organization.
In the 6th District, which runs from Indianapolis to the Ohio border in the central part of the state, Greg Pence, the older brother of former Vice President Mike Pence, is retiring after three terms. The Republican hopeful for the seat is Jefferson Shreve, a warehousing entrepreneur who was handily defeated for mayor of Indianapolis last year. He served on the Indianapolis City Council from 2013 to 2016 and from 2018 to 2020.
The Democratic candidate for the post is Cynthia Wirth, a high school biology and environmental science teacher and small business owner. She challenged Pence for the seat in 2022.
Seven-term Congressman Larry Bucshon is retiring as representative of the 8th Congressional District, in the southwestern part of the state. Mark Messmer defeated seven opponents in the primaries to win the Republican nomination. The former state lawmaker left his job as Senate majority leader in September to focus on his candidacy for Capitol Hill.
On the Democratic side, Erik Hurt of Evansville, who manages a local movie theater and has written and directed several films, is the nominee.