The 2010 United States House of Representatives special election for Indiana's Third congressional district occurred on November 2, 2010 to elect the successor to

Mark Souder Mark Edward Souder (July 18, 1950 – September 26, 2022) was an American politician and businessman from Indiana. A Republican, he was a U.S. Representative from 1995 to 2010. During the 1980s and early 1990s, he worked as a congressional ai ...

(R) who resigned upon admitting to an extramarital affair. This election coincided with the regularly scheduled election.

Background

Two weeks after winning renomination, Souder resigned both from office as U.S. Representative and as the Republican nominee for the Third district following the revelation of an affair with Tracy Meadows Jackson, a married female staffer. Governor

Mitch Daniels Mitchell Elias Daniels Jr. (born April 7, 1949) is an American academic administrator, businessman, author, and retired politician. A Republican, Daniels served as the 49th governor of Indiana from 2005 to 2013. Since 2013, Daniels has been pr ...

(R), in the interest of cutting the costs of holding the election, scheduled the special election to succeed him to occur on the same day as the general election.

Nominating caucuses

As per Indiana state law, the parties held caucuses within thirty days following Souder's resignation to choose their nominees for the special election.

Republican

Republicans held their caucus on June 12.

State Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

Marlin Stutzman Marlin Andrew Stutzman (born August 31, 1976) is an American politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Indiana's 3rd congressional district, from 2010 to 2017. A Republican, Stutzman previously served ...

, the runner-up in the Republican U.S. Senatorial primary, won the nomination decisively in the second round over

state Representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

Randy Borror, car salesman Bob Thomas, Fort Wayne City Councilwoman Liz Brown, and Ryan Elijah.

Democratic

Democrats choose former

Fort Wayne Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

city councilman

Tom Hayhurst Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, who had won the Democratic primary for the general election earlier, as their nominee for the special election.

Libertarian

Tea Party activist and ex-Republican Scott W. Wise, also their nominee for the general election, was chosen as the Libertarian nominee for the special election.

Polling

Election results

Given the district's strong conservative bent, which at the time had a

Cook Partisan Voting Index The Cook Partisan Voting Index, abbreviated Cook PVI, CPVI, or PVI, is a measurement of how strongly a United States congressional district or U.S. state leans toward the Democratic or Republican Party, compared to the nation as a whole, based ...

of R+14, Stutzman, as predicted by many political prognosticators, handily won the simultaneous special and general elections in November.

Special election

General election

References

{{2010 United States elections Indiana 2010 03 Indiana 2010 03 2010 03 Special Indiana 03 Special United States House of Representatives 03 Special United States House of Representatives 2010 03