The new congressman from Indiana’s 3rd District is Marlin Stutzman, a Republican elected in 2010 after conservative GOP Rep. Mark Souder confessed publicly to an extramarital affair and gave up the seat. Read More

The new congressman from Indiana’s 3rd District is Marlin Stutzman, a Republican elected in 2010 after conservative GOP Rep. Mark Souder confessed publicly to an extramarital affair and gave up the seat.

Stutzman is a fourth-generation farmer who grew up in Howe, Ind. His parents were Mennonites, a denomination of Anabaptists that shares historical roots with the Amish. His father was 19 and his mother 17 when they were married, and neither attended college. Stutzman is the oldest of four children, all of whom worked on the family farm from a young age, driving tractors, feeding livestock, and sorting vegetables. When he was 14, Stutzman started raising his own livestock herd, which reached almost 100 animals before he sold them. He attended Tri-State University (now Trine University) for two years to study accounting, but he dropped out to focus on farming. He married a teacher when he was 23, and converted to her Baptist religion. They had their first child a year later. He co-owned Stutzman Farms with his father and also was the sole owner of a trucking company before his election to Congress. (He estimates that in the past 15 years, he has collected $100,000 in farm subsidies from the federal government. But Stutzman says he favors phasing out subsidies because he views them as unnecessary government interference in the free market and because they increase the federal debt.)

Stutzman says he did not have political ambitions growing up; he formed his early political views by listening to conservative talk radio programs while driving his tractor. He first became involved in local politics out of frustration with navigating state regulations as a small business owner, recalling one incident in which incorrect information from the state Revenue Department regarding the transfer of license plates for his trucking company cost him thousands of dollars.

In 2002, when no one registered to challenge a longtime incumbent Democrat in the Indiana House, Stutzman filed papers to run on the last possible day. He won by 249 votes, becoming the youngest member of the House at age 26. In three terms, he helped to pass a tax credit for ethanol producers and authored Indiana’s lifetime handgun permit law, which frees gun owners from having to renew their licenses. He was the co-author of the bill that created the Indiana Agriculture Department, which he describes as an advocacy agency rather than a regulatory one. In 2005, he pushed a bill that created tougher regulations for abortion providers. From 2005 to 2008, while still a state representative, Stutzman worked as a special assistant in Souder’s district office. In 2008, Stutzman won a seat in the state Senate.

The following year, he announced he would seek the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh. Then in February 2010, Bayh said he would not seek re-election, creating an open seat opportunity that generated interest among other Republicans. In the primary, Stutzman faced former Sen. Dan Coats and former Rep. John Hostettler. Although national Republicans recruited Coats for the race, Stutzman had the support of tea party activists and conservative Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who was attempting to boost the number of conservative candidates around the country. Coats ultimately won the nomination with 39% of the vote, and Stutzman came in second with 29%.

The results raised Stutzman’s political profile and helped him win the support of Republican officials when Souder ran into political trouble in the spring of 2010. The incumbent looked to be well on his way to securing a ninth term when he revealed in May that he had engaged in an extramarital affair with one of his aides. Because Souder had already won the GOP primary, party officials chose Stutzman as their new nominee at their June caucus.

In the general election campaign, he was the heavy favorite over his Democratic opponent, former Fort Wayne City Council member Tom Hayhurst, in one of the most Republican districts in Indiana. Although Hayhurst raised an impressive $730,000 for the contest, Stutzman, who raised $1 million, won with ease, with 63% of the vote to Hayhurst’s 33%. Stutzman won a double victory on Nov. 2: He was elected to fill the final weeks of Souder’s term in the 111th Congress (2009-10) while, at the same time, winning a full two-year term for the 112th Congress (2011-12). He was sworn in on Nov. 16, two months ahead of other newly elected lawmakers, whose terms began in January 2011.