Rep. Mark Souder (R) Elected 1994, 6th term
Born:	July 18, 1950, Ft. Wayne
Home:	Ft. Wayne
Education:	IN U., B.S. 1972, Notre Dame U., M.B.A. 1974
Religion:	Protestant
Marital Status:	married (Diane)
Professional Career:	Furniture salesman, 1976-83; Staff Dir., U.S. House Select Cmte. on Children, Youth & Families, 1984-89; Legis. Dir., U.S. Sen. Dan Coats, 1989-91, Dep. Chief of Staff, 1991-93.
DC Office	2231 RHOB20515, 202-225-4436; Fax: 202-225-3479; Web site: www.house.gov/souder
State Offices	Ft. Wayne, 260-424-3041; Goshen, 574-533-5802; Winona Lake, 574-269-1940.
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The northeast corner of Indiana, in the center of a flat agricultural and manufacturing area, can claim to be the center of Middle America. Its first settlers were of New England Yankee stock, establishing orderly communities with public schools and even colleges. They were joined by German immigrants, who built tidy farms and their own civic institutions. In the northern part of the state there are hills and lakes, and the strange swamp that is the central focus of Gene Stratton Porter's children's classic, A Girl of the Limberlost. The one large city here, Fort Wayne, was built on the flat terrain along the Maumee River that flows to Toledo, Ohio. It grew as a factory town, surging ahead and then falling back as large factories, often tied to the auto industry, opened and closed over the years. As much as anything else, this part of Indiana is a place where people make things. Northwest of Fort Wayne on U.S. Route 33, Elkhart County is a manufacturing hub where local companies make everything from pharmaceuticals to musical instruments--oboes, bassoons, piccolos. The county is best known as the nation's manufacturing center for recreational vehicles ("I represent the biggest gas guzzling district in the U.S.," says the congressman), a business that flourished after the September 11 attacks as travelers stayed closer to home. Neighboring Kosciusko County is renowned for medical supplies; residents have been making orthopedic devices in Warsaw for at least a century. This also is a surprisingly diverse area. Its eclectic population mix includes a concentration of Amish that ranks with those in central Ohio and Lancaster Pennsylvania, plus Bosnians, Somalis and the nation's largest population of dissident Burmese.

The 3d Congressional District of Indiana consists of most of eight counties in the northeast part of the state; all are heavily Republican. This part of Indiana has been heavily Republican since the Civil War, though it has sometimes veered Democratic in times of economic distress. The seat recently has had members who have gone on to other high positions: Dan Quayle, who was elected here in 1976, then was elected senator and vice president, and Dan Coats, a Quayle aide, who was elected here in 1980, succeeded to Quayle's Senate seat and was appointed ambassador to Germany by George W. Bush.

The congressman from the 3d District is Mark Souder (pronounced 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. There the family started Souders of Grabill in 1907, originally a harness shop and now a furniture store and manufacturer of store fixtures. As an undergraduate at Indiana University, he wore a button, "I'm proud to be a square." Souder worked in the furniture business, returned to 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 he served as his legislative director. In 1993, he returned to Fort Wayne and started running against Democrat 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. When the state Republican ticket ran far ahead of the Democrats, Souder won a 55%-45% victory.

Souder says that he is "most defined by the fact that I'm an evangelical Christian." In Washington, despite his solidly conservative views, he has been a rebel in the House, especially against his own party's leaders. His independence frequently leaves senior Republicans muttering. As a leader of the Conservative Action Team, Souder challenged House appropriators for excessive spending, including the close-to-home House members' office allowances. He voted against the balanced budget amendment because it did not require a supermajority to raise taxes. More recently, he has displayed a greater interest in financing projects back home, including a windmill museum near Kendallville. In the 2004 omnibus appropriation, he inserted a requirement for the Veterans' Administration to reexamine its plan to eliminate in-patient services at its Fort Wayne facility.

Souder has been active on drug issues and blamed Bill Clinton's "half-hearted" anti-drug message for increased drug use by teens. He proposed a bill pre-empting state laws that allow marijuana for medicinal purposes. As chairman of the 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 problems. He protested to Washington-area officials about Metro ads supporting marijuana legalization.

Souder opposed normal trade relations with China because trade should be "a leverage in foreign policy," but he voted to give trade promotion authority to George W. Bush. He has worked for years to ensure that faith-based programs are eligible for federal funds, a cause that Bush has pursued. With Democrat Brian Baird, he formed a National Parks Caucus to assure adequate funding; but the League of Conservation Voters continued to rate him poorly. In September 2004, the House passed his bill to rescind the District of Columbia's ban on gun ownership, but it died in the Senate.

Souder has been comfortably re-elected since 1994 against poorly funded opponents. In 2002, former Fort Wayne Mayor Paul Helmke, challenged him in the primary. With support from the League of Conservation Voters, Helmke ran as a moderate and criticized Souder's use of congressional perks. Souder said that Helmke, had been a liberal mayor and called him "a Clinton clone." He carried all eight counties to win by 60%-37%. His string of weak Democratic challengers continued in 2004 when stage fright forced Democratic challenger Maria Parra to walk off the stage during a campaign debate. "I'm not used to being in front of the camera," Parra said. "I was just overwhelmed." She lost, 69%-31%.

Committees

• Education & the Workforce (6th of 27 R): Education Reform; Select Education.
• Government Reform (8th of 23 R): Criminal Justice, Drug Policy & Human Resources (Chmn.); Government Management, Finance & Accountability; Regulatory Affairs.
• Homeland Security (8th of 19 R): Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection & Cybersecurity; Intelligence, Information Sharing & Terrorism Risk Assessment.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	5	5	13	18	90	57	100	88	81	100	--
2003	5	--	0	5	--	62	100	92	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	19%	--	80%		32%	--	67%
Social	5%	--	87%		25%	--	73%
Foreign	35%	--	65%		25%	--	68%
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 * 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds N 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Mark Souder (R)	171,389	69%	$238,176
	Maria Parra (D)	76,232	31%	$18,761
2004 primary	Mark Souder (R)	46,583	79%
	William Larsen (R)	12,210	21%
2002 general	Mark Souder (R)	92,566	63%	$518,717
	Jay Rigdon (D)	50,509	34%	$131,458
	Other	3,531	2%
Prior winning percentages: 2000 (62%); 1998 (63%); 1996 (58%); 1994 (55%)

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 172,919 (68%) Kerry (D) 79,674 (31%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 147,106 (66%) Gore (D) 73,775 (33%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Third 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 +16
• District Size: 3,292 square miles
• Population in 2000: 675,457; 65.1% urban; 34.9% rural
• Median Household Income: $44,013; 7.8% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 35.9% blue collar; 51.7% white collar; 12.4% gray collar; 11.9% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 87.6% White, 5.6% Black, 0.9% Asian, 0.2% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 1.1% Two+ races, 0.1% Other, 4.5% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 22.8% German, 8.4% USA, 7.1% Irish
• Click here for statewide demographic data.