Rep. Chris Chocola (R) Elected 2002, 2d term
Born:	Feb. 24, 1962, Jackson, MI
Home:	Bristol
Education:	Hillsdale Col., B.L.S. 1984, Thomas Cooley Law Schl., J.D. 1988
Religion:	Presbyterian
Marital Status:	married (Sarah)
Professional Career:	Foreign Exchange Trader, 1984-87; Mngr. and CEO, CTB Intl., 1988-2002.
DC Office	510 CHOB20515, 202-225-3915; Fax: 202-225-6798; Web site: www.house.gov/chocola/
State Offices	Logansport, 574-753-4700; South Bend, 574-251-0596.
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When Notre Dame University was founded in 1842, Catholics were still a rarity in most of America and certainly rare on the limestone-bottomed plains of northern Indiana. This was still farm country and South Bend no more than a crossroads on the St. Joseph River. But by the 1920s, both had grown. Notre Dame, thanks to its football team, "the Fighting Irish," was the most famous Catholic university in the land, and South Bend was a significant industrial city, home of Studebaker and Bendix and dozens of other factories. In the past 50 years, Notre Dame has grown in size and reputation, but South Bend has had the experience of many Midwestern industrial cities: In the 1960s, Studebaker went out of business, in the early 1980s there were big layoffs at big factories, and in the early 1990s there were well-publicized layoffs in nearby Elkhart. But these high-visibility job losses were accompanied by the much less visible creation of jobs in small factories throughout the region. The work here requires more skill than did the old assembly lines, and the products must be more responsive to just-in-time prime contractors or computer-inventory retailers. In the late 1990s, many employers had trouble filling job openings, and the economic base was more secure than when it depended on the fate of two or three big companies. There have been painful layoffs since then as part of the nation's continuing industrial shrinkage, but nothing like the agony of 20 years before.

The 2d Congressional District of Indiana is centered on South Bend, which for three decades has seen plenty of close congressional contests. This is an industrial and ethnic city--with one of the nation's largest percentage of Hungarian-Americans, plus a growing community of Mexicans--that has long been Democratic; so is LaPorte County around Michigan City. Elkhart County to the east is heavily Republican and conservative--there used to be a six-foot Ten Commandments monument in front of Elkhart City Hall until an ACLU lawsuit led to its removal. The 2d District also includes several counties on the limestone plains to the south down past the Wabash River. This is an area rural in appearance but with much small manufacturing; politically, it has been part of the Republican heartland since the party was created in the 1850s. Moderate Democrat Tim Roemer represented this area for 12 years before he retired in 2002; he later gained renown as a member of 9/11 Commission. Indiana Democrats drew the lines of the 2d to maximize their chance to hold it by including Democratic Michigan City, excluding much of heavily Republican Elkhart County and adding the industrial town of Kokomo at its southern edge. But Roemer did not run for reelection in 2002, and the partisan lines were not enough to elect a Democrat.

The congressman from the 2d District is Chris Chocola, a Republican elected in the 2002 open-seat contest. Chocola grew up in Williamston, Michigan, graduated from Hillsdale College and Thomas Cooley Law School in Michigan, and became chief executive of his family's agricultural equipment manufacturing business, which he sold in 2002. With a net worth of $15 million, he ranked 20th on Roll Call's list of the 50 wealthiest members of Congress in 2004. In 2000, he ran against Roemer in the old 3d District and held him to a 52%-47% victory. When Roemer announced that he would not run again, Chocola was the obvious Republican nominee in the new 2d District. Democrats rallied around Jill Long Thompson, who as Jill Long served three terms in the old Fort Wayne-based 4th District before losing in 1994 and serving as an undersecretary of the Agriculture Department in the Clinton administration. The campaign was bitterly contested. Chocola derided career politicians and highlighted his background in business. Democrats assailed him for living a mile outside the district. Thompson struck a populist note against her CEO opponent and walked the 100 miles from Kokomo to South Bend to get acquainted with the district. She criticized Chocola as a threat to Social Security because of his support of personal retirement accounts. "Eventually, I'd like to see the entire system privatized," Chocola had said during his 2000 campaign. In 2002, he said he would "support our president in making sure that 20-year-olds find a way to get Social Security." Democrats mined his record as chairman of CTB International to portray him as the embodiment of corporate greed. The North American Free Trade Agreement was an especially contentious issue. Chocola, who said his company conducted nearly 40% of its business overseas, defended free trade. Thompson argued that NAFTA cost the state 30,000 jobs. Chocola's support for NAFTA resulted in a key endorsement from the Indiana Farm Bureau; he also benefited from two campaign visits by George W. Bush. Chocola won 50%-46%.

Chocola has had a strongly conservative voting record and Republican leadership has usually been able to rely on his support. He sponsored a bill, with 54 co-sponsors, to create the crime of "eco-terrorism," damage to property that is aimed at influencing public opinion on environmental issues. One objective was to respond to destruction of vehicles at SUV dealerships: Humvees and Hummer H2s are produced by AMGeneral in South Bend (Chocola himself campaigns in a red Humvee). With Mark Souder of the neighboring 3d District, Chocola sought to increase military research and purchase of armored Humvee vehicles for Iraq. In the 109th Congress, Chocola made a successful bid for a Ways and Means seat.

Democrats targeted this district in 2004, but challenger Joe Donnelly raised less than half as much money as Thompson had in 2002. Donnelly, a local businessman, compared himself to Roemer and said that he would be more independent of his party than Chocola had been. But the tone of debate was polite and the DCCC made the district a low priority. Bush narrowly carried South Bend's St. Joseph County and Chocola got 49% of the vote there. With big margins in the southern counties, Chocola won overall 54%-45%. Chocola seems to be in strong shape in this district; Democrats are looking to convince St. Joseph County prosecutor Michael Dvorak to run.

Committees

• Budget (22d of 22 R).
• Ways & Means (23d of 24 R): Select Revenue Measures.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	5	0	0	0	100	75	100	96	92	92	--
2003	5	--	0	10	--	65	100	92	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	9%	--	84%		9%	--	88%
Social	5%	--	87%		20%	--	77%
Foreign	0%	--	89%		4%	--	93%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR Y 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 3. Medicare/Rx Bill Y 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. N 5. DC School Vouchers Y 6. Ban Human Cloning Y		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage Y 10. Fund Iraq War Y 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds N 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Chris Chocola (R)	140,496	54%	$1,480,546
	Joe Donnelly (D)	115,513	45%	$700,728
	Other	3,346	1%
2004 primary	Chris Chocola (R)	36,847	84%
	Tony Zirkle (R)	7,043	16%
2002 general	Chris Chocola (R)	95,081	50%	$1,697,816
	Jill Thompson (D)	86,253	46%	$1,535,962
	Sharon Metheny (Lib)	7,112	4%

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 146,000 (56%) Kerry (D) 112,671 (43%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 128,803 (53%) Gore (D) 107,344 (44%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Second District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R + 4
• District Size: 3,719 square miles
• Population in 2000: 675,766; 72.8% urban; 27.2% rural
• Median Household Income: $40,381; 9.5% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 34.7% blue collar; 50.7% white collar; 14.6% gray collar; 13.5% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 84.4% White, 8.1% Black, 0.8% Asian, 0.3% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.3% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 5.0% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 18.3% German, 8.8% Irish, 6.4% USA
• Click here for statewide demographic data.