Skip to content
RollCall logo

Campaigns

Stutzman looks for comeback with Indiana seat open

Republican running to succeed Banks, now a Senate candidate

Then-Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., speaks at a town hall style event at Soul Harvest Church in Cloverdale, Ind., on April 7, 2016.
Then-Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., speaks at a town hall style event at Soul Harvest Church in Cloverdale, Ind., on April 7, 2016. (Al Drago/CQ Roll Call file photo)
By Niels Lesniewski
Posted April 19, 2023 at 10:45am

Former Rep. Marlin Stutzman says that now that his sons have grown, it’s time to try to return to the House.

Stutzman, an Indiana Republican, used Tuesday’s tax filing deadline as the occasion to formally launch his comeback bid.

“Through the last several years, in being a business owner and experiencing COVID, inflation, the cost of everything going through the roof and watching our federal government operate has frankly just ticked me off,” Stutzman said in an interview with WANE, the CBS affiliate in Fort Wayne.

Stutzman left the House when his term expired at the beginning of 2017, having lost the Republican primary for Senate to current Sen. Todd Young. In that contest, Young managed to appeal to supporters of Donald Trump at the same time he maintained his establishment credentials.

Stutzman was a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus during his first tour in the House. 

Stutzman was succeeded by Rep. Jim Banks in the overwhelmingly Republican 3rd District. Banks is now running for Senate, and the primary field to replace him in the House is already crowded.

Wendy Davis, who stepped down from her seat on the Allen County Circuit Court last month, has entered the race, as has the state senator who replaced Banks in that role, Andy Zay.

Stutzman’s wife, Christy, herself a former state legislator, was an unsuccessful primary candidate for Congress in the race to replace the late Rep. Jackie Walorski.

Recent Stories

Capitol Ink | DOGE Minions

Rep. Sam Graves poses inside his office in the Longworth House Office Building on Dec. 4.

In a party of firebrands, Graves sidesteps limelight

“I honestly feel that people should come and serve and not spend the rest of their entire career in Congress,” says Rep. Larry Bucshon, seen here in the Capitol in October 2023.

After 14 years in the House, Rep. Bucshon moves on

Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., greets President-elect Donald Trump at the Republican convention in July.

In a surprise, GOP panel recommends Mast to lead Foreign Affairs

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and ranking member Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., are sparring over a bill that would expand the federal judiciary. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

House sets up vote on bill to add dozens of new federal judgeships

Senate Republicans under incoming leader John Thune, seen in the Capitol last month, are planning as much as $85 billion for border security as part of an initial bill for budget reconciliation. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Republicans start making immigration plans for next year