Sen. Mark Messmer, R-Jasper, speaks on the Senate floor on March 5, 2024. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
A former state legislator now has a new home in Congress — Republican state Sen. Mark Messmer easily claimed victory over Democrat Erik Hurt and Libertarian K. Richard Fitzlaff on Tuesday in the race to represent the 8th Congressional District.
The Associated Press called the race shortly after 7 p.m. with Messmer leading at roughly 74%.
The deep-red district covers southwestern Indiana. Incumbent U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon’s retirement left the seat open.
Messmer, of Jasper, served in the state Senate from 2014 until September. He was the state Senate’s majority leader from 2018 to 2022, when Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray replaced him. The reason for the leadership change was unclear.
But Messmer was one of two Republican senators who were not present for a final vote on the state’s near-total abortion ban in 2022. Before that, he voted down an earlier version of the bill, saying lawmakers’ discourse showed the impossibility of “threading the needle” on abortion-related matters.
The small business owner and engineer previously served in the Indiana House of Representatives, starting in 2008.
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