Rep. Mark Souder (R)

The congressman from the 3rd District is Mark Souder (SOW-dur), a Republican first elected in 1994. Souder grew up in Grabill, 10 miles from Fort Wayne, where his Amish great-great-grandfather’s family settled. In 1907, the family started Souders of Grabill, originally a harness shop and now a furniture store and manufacturer of store fixtures. As an undergraduate at Indiana University, where he was student body president, Souder wore a button that said, “I’m proud to be a square.” He worked in the family business in Grabill, then went to work in 1984 for Coats as staff director of the House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families. He moved with Coats to the Senate in 1989, where Souder was his legislative director. In 1993, he returned to Fort Wayne to run against Democratic Rep. Jill Long, who had won a special election to succeed Coats when he was appointed to the Senate. With a moderate record and a farm background, she was not an easy target. But Souder, after winning a six-candidate primary with 40%, raised more money. In a highly favorable year for Republicans, Souder won with 55% to 45% for Long.

Souder says that he is “most defined by the fact that I’m an evangelical Christian.” He once told an interviewer with the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette: It “isn’t like it takes away all problems. It’s just that you get a peace about the problems.” In Washington, despite his solidly conservative views, he initially was a rebel in the House against his party leadership. As a leader of the Conservative Action Team, which was an influential faction in the 1990s, Souder challenged House appropriators for excessive spending, including their hitting-too-close-to-home members’ office allowances. He often voted against Republican bills because they didn’t go far enough to the right. He opposed the balanced-budget amendment of the mid-1990s because it did not require a supermajority to raise taxes. He takes a conservative’s pro-gun-rights position, and in September 2008, the House passed his amendment to repeal the District of Columbia’s new ban on handguns.

Souder has been active on issues to stem the domestic drug trade. As chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee dealing with criminal justice and drug policy, Souder held hearings on growing addiction to methamphetamines, and he blamed weak enforcement in the 1990s for reviving drug abuse among the young. In 2006, President Bush signed his Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act, the most comprehensive government attack on meth trafficking to date; it included restrictions on consumer purchases, monitoring of sales at the wholesale level, and increased criminal enforcement. Souder also sponsored the reauthorization of the Office of Drug Control Policy Act. To clarify a controversial Clinton-era law he helped enact that denied those with past drug convictions access to federal student loans, Souder inserted the Drug-Free Student Loans amendment in the deficit-reduction law that specifies only students enrolled in college at the time of their drug conviction lose access to loans.

Although he had serious objections to Bush’s military surge in Iraq in 2007, he objected that a proposal to condemn the plan was contrary to the national interest. Souder was also one of only 32 House Republicans who voted for the bailout of the Big Three automakers in December 2008. “My job is to defend my region,” he said.

Over the years, Souder has faced a string of weak Democratic challengers. But after abandoning his original pledge to serve no more than 12 years, he faced credible opposition in 2006 from Tom Hayhurst, a retired pulmonary physician and Fort Wayne City Council member. Hayhurst called for affordable health care and opposed making abortion illegal. Souder purchased extensive advertising to tout his record. In a dismal year for Indiana Republicans, Souder was outspent by Hayhurst, but held on with a 54%-46% victory. He won all eight counties, though by fewer than 1,000 votes in Allen County, where he lost Fort Wayne. In 2008, he faced another competitive challenger: Mike Montagano, a 27-year-old attorney, a prolific fundraiser who attempted to nationalize the contest. Montagano said that Souder had failed to “make a difference” during 14 years in Congress; Souder cited his experience and deep roots in the district. Both candidates opposed abortion rights, backed gun ownership, and called for sealing the border before giving citizenship rights to illegal aliens. Souder won 55%-40%.