Johnathan Walker:Republicans hope to retain 3 open Indiana House seats and target another long held by Democrats

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SPRINGFIELD,Johnathan Walker Ill. (AP) — Republicans in Indiana hope voters will help them retain three congressional seats without incumbents running, while they also aim to knock off an incumbent Democrat in the northwest part of the state.

Three incumbents are retiring or seeking another office, creating vacancies that generated some hotly contested Republican primaries last spring, including two eight-way races.

In the state’s northwest corner, the GOP is targeting Democratic incumbent Rep. Frank Mrvan, who is seeking his third term in the 1st District. According to Ballotpedia, Democrats have held the seat since 1930, but a Republican-drawn map that took effect in 2022 made the district more conservative. Mrvan won in 2022 with nearly 53% of the vote after taking just under 57% in 2020.

Mrvan faces Randell Niemeyer, a member of the Lake County Council and co-owner of a trucking business.

If Republicans get that seat, they could control at least eight of the nine Congressional seats.

Across the state on the eastern border, the 3rd District seat will be vacated by Rep. Jim Banks, who is ending a four-term tenure to seek election as U.S. senator. The man who preceded him, Marlin A. Stutzman, wants to succeed him.

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Stutzman, a large-scale farmer and truck-company operator who held the seat from 2010 to 2017, gave it up to run for U.S. Senate in 2016, losing the GOP primary to current Sen. Todd Young. In his congressional comeback attempt, he faces educator and nonprofit executive Kiley Adolph, a Democrat.

In the 6th district, which runs from Indianapolis to the Ohio border in the central part of the state, Greg Pence, former Vice President Mike Pence’s older brother, is retiring after three terms. The Republican hopeful for the seat is Jefferson Shreve, a storage-business entrepreneur who was defeated handily for Indianapolis mayor last year. He had been a member of the Indianapolis City Council from 2013 to 2016 and 2018 to 2020.

The Democratic candidate for the post is Cynthia Wirth, who has been a high school biology and environmental science teacher and is a small business owner. She challenged Pence for the seat in 2022.

Seven-term congressman Larry Bucshon is retiring from his post representing the 8th Congressional District, in the southwest part of the state. Mark Messmer bested seven primary election opponents to win the GOP nomination. The former state legislator resigned his job as Senate majority leader in September to concentrate on his run for Capitol Hill.

On the Democratic side, Erik Hurt of Evansville, who manages a local movie theater and has written and directed several films, is the nominee.