Mara Candelaria Reardon is an American politician who is a member of the

Indiana House of Representatives The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House memb ...

, representing the 12th District from 2007 - 2015, and then 2017 to present. Candelaria Reardon is a member of the Democratic Party. She was first elected in 2006. She was defeated in the 2014 general election by Republican

Bill Fine William I. Fine is an American politician who served as a member of the Indiana House of Representatives. He was a Republican member representing District 12 from 2014 to 2016. Fine was appointed to serve as the state's Office of Utility Consume ...

, but defeated him in the 2016 general election. Candelaria Reardon was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for

Indiana's 1st congressional district Indiana's 1st congressional district is an electoral district for the U.S. Congress in Northwestern Indiana. The district is based in Gary and its surrounding suburbs and exurbs. It consists of all of Lake and Porter counties, as well as most of ...

, to replace retiring incumbent

Pete Visclosky Peter John Visclosky ( ; born August 13, 1949) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1985 until his retirement in 2021. He is a member of the Democratic Party and was the dean of the Indiana congressional del ...

. She announced her run on November 21, 2019.

Frank J. Mrvan Frank John Mrvan (; born April 16, 1969) is an American mortgage broker and politician who has served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for since 2021. From 2005 until 2021, he served as the township trustee for ...

of Lake County won the nomination and the seat in Congress.

Biography

Candelaria Reardon was born in

East Chicago, Indiana East Chicago is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,698 at the 2010 census. The city is home of the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, an artificial freshwater harbor characterized by industrial and manufacturing ac ...

, in 1964. She is the daughter of Isabelino "Cande" Candelaria, the first Puerto Rican appointed to a city council in Indiana, and Victoria Soto Candelaria, the first Latina elected as President of the Indiana Federation of Teachers. She graduated from Munster High School in Munster, Indiana, in 1982. She attended

Indiana University Northwest Indiana University Northwest (IU Northwest) is a public university in Gary, Indiana. It is a regional campus of Indiana University and was established in 1963. Academics IU Northwest is located on a campus in the northwest corner of the state. ...

for her undergraduate degree, and gained her

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

degree at John Marshall School of Law in Chicago.

Political career

She is the Chair of the Board of Hispanic Caucus Chairs (BHCC), serves as Chair of the National Association of Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Education Fund Board of Directors, and is a member of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL). Reardon has advocated for greater funding for drug addiction treatment and legalizing medical marijuana. She has generally opposed cuts to public education funding, limits on collective bargaining, cuts to unemployment insurance programs, repealing Common Core education standards, and directing state funding to private charter schools. In July 2018, Reardon was one of five women who alleged they were sexually harassed by

Indiana Attorney General The Indiana Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the State of Indiana in the United States. Attorneys General are chosen by a statewide general election to serve for a four-year term. The forty-fourth and Attorney General is Todd Roki ...

Curtis Hill Curtis Theophilus Hill Jr. is an American prosecutor from the Republican Party who served as the 43rd Attorney General of Indiana from 2017 to 2021. A graduate of Indiana University and Indiana University School of Law, Hill was a lawyer in pri ...

, a Republican, while celebrating the end of the General Assembly session at AJ's Lounge, an adult party bar and the oldest African-American-owned bar in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

. He denied the allegations. Reardon and three other women filed a civil lawsuit against Hill. On March 2, 2020, the lawsuit and all federal claims in the civil case brought against the Attorney General by Candelaria and three other women were dismissed by federal Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson of the U.S. District Court of Southern Indiana. They refiled their suit in State Court. In the 2020 elections, Reardon ran for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

seat in , where

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

was retiring. There were 14 candidates, including

, supported by Visclosky as his chosen successor. Mrvan won both the Democratic nomination and the general election.

Election results

2012

2014

2016

2018

References

External links

Indiana State Legislature - Representative Mara Candelaria Reardon
Official government website
Project Vote Smart - Representative Mara Candelaria Reardon (IN)
profile *''Follow the Money'' - Mara Candelaria Reardon
candidate profile
campaign contributions

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reardon, Mara Candelaria Democratic Party members of the Indiana House of Representatives Living people Women state legislators in Indiana People from East Chicago, Indiana People from Munster, Indiana Indiana University alumni American politicians of Puerto Rican descent Hispanic and Latino American women in politics Year of birth missing (living people) Hispanic and Latino American state legislators 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians