POLITICS

Indiana GOP to pick nominee for Rep. Walorski's former seat Saturday. Here's what to know.

Carley Lanich
South Bend Tribune

MISHAWAKA – The Indiana Republican Party will pick a candidate on Saturday to represent the state GOP in elections to fill the late Rep. Jackie Walorski’s 2nd district seat in Congress.

A dozen candidates have filed to represent the party after Walorski and three others died in a car crash earlier this month.

Indiana Republicans will hear from each of the 12 candidates ― including embattled former Attorney General Curtis Hill and Rudy Yakym, a former Walorski campaign finance director backed by the late congresswoman’s widower ― in a caucus Saturday at Grissom Middle School in Mishawaka. 

The current term for Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District seat ― which stretches from Miami County north to St. Joseph County ― extends until Jan. 3, 2023.

More:Curtis Hill among others running for Rep. Walorski's former seat

Walorski ran unopposed in her party’s primary this spring, meaning the Indiana GOP will name candidates to represent Republicans in two elections ― a special election to fill the remainder of the late congresswoman’s current term and November’s general election to decide who will occupy the 2nd district seat for the next two years. Republicans are likely to nominate the same person to represent the party in both the special and general elections. Both elections will take place Nov. 8.

How to watch the Indiana 2nd District special election

A group of more than 500 eligible precinct committee members will select their party’s nominee during Saturday’s caucus. Only the committee members, candidates and their guests will be allowed onsite for the caucus, Indiana GOP press secretary Luke Thomas said in an email.

However, the voting will be streamed live to the Indiana Republican Party’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/indgop.

Doors open to committee members, candidates and their guests at 10 a.m. and the caucus is expected to begin at 11 a.m.

How will the nominee be chosen?

At the caucus, each candidate will be allowed three minutes to speak to the committee members. They also will be allowed to invite someone to speak on their behalf in a two-minute introduction.

The general election and special election nominee will be decided in separate votes.

More:State, national figures honor Walorski

A group of 531 committee members representing the 2nd district will vote first for their representative in the general election.

To be selected, a candidate must receive 50% plus one vote. If, after one round of voting, no one takes more than half of the vote, the candidate or candidates receiving the least votes will be dropped and another round of voting will occur. That process will continue until one candidate receives more than 50% of the votes.

The caucus will then select a nominee for the special election through a similar process ― the only difference being that just 505 committee members will be eligible to vote in these rounds as committee members belonging to the 2nd district before its lines were redrawn in recent redistricting.

The general election nominee will face Democratic candidate Paul Steury, who ran uncontested in the May 2022 primaries. Indiana Democrats will similarly caucus next Tuesday to select a nominee for the November special election to fill out the rest of the current 2nd district term.

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Who are the candidates for Indiana District 2?

The 12 Republican candidates to appear Saturday include:

  • Dallas Barkman
  • Terry Harper III
  • Curtis Hill, Jr.
  • Michael Hogberg
  • Scott Huffman
  • Tiernan Kane
  • Daniel Koors
  • Marvin Layne
  • Curtis Nisly
  • Christy Stutzman
  • Scott Wise
  • Rudolph Yakym III

Email South Bend Tribune education reporter Carley Lanich at clanich@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @carleylanich