Darryl Brent Waltz Jr. (born September 7, 1973) is an American politician and businessman. He served in the

Indiana Senate The Indiana Senate is the upper house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The Senate is composed of 50 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. Senators serve four-year terms ...

from 2005 to 2017, representing southern Marion County and northern Johnson County which comprise the 36th Senate District of Indiana following his defeat of Senate Finance Chairman Larry Borst in the May 2004 Republican primary election. His investment banking company, The Baron Group, Inc., specializes in mergers, acquisitions, and capitalization of small to midsize private companies in the transportation and manufacturing industries. In 2016 Waltz announced he would not seek reelection in order to run for

Indiana's 9th congressional district Indiana's 9th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Indiana. Located in south-central and southeastern Indiana, the district stretches from the south suburbs of Indianapolis to the Indiana side of the Louisvill ...

being vacated by Congressman

Todd Young Todd Christopher Young (born August 24, 1972) is an American attorney and politician serving as the senior United States senator for Indiana, a seat he has held since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Young previously served as the U.S. r ...

. Waltz was unsuccessful in this campaign and subsequently indicted for violating federal campaign finance law.

Early life

Darryl Brent Waltz Jr. was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on September 7, 1973 to Darryl Brent Waltz, Sr. and Geraldine Chaney Waltz. He is an only child. His father was a senior vice president of an Indiana savings and loan. Waltz graduated from

Center Grove High School Center Grove High School is a high school located in Greenwood, Indiana. A part of Center Grove Community School Corporation, it serves western Greenwood and most of Bargersville. Founded in 1884, the high school has always been located at the ...

in 1992 as a

National Merit Scholar The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships administered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded, not-for-profit organizati ...

. At 16, he became an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Sc ...

with bronze, silver, and gold palms. After high school, he attended

Wabash College Wabash College is a private liberal arts men's college in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Founded in 1832 by several Dartmouth College graduates and Midwestern leaders, it enrolls nearly 900 students. The college offers an undergraduate liberal arts cur ...

where he completed his degree as a

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

with a

minor Minor may refer to: * Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities. ** A person who has not reached the age of majority * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Music theory *Minor chord ** Barb ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

in 3 years.

Political career

Three out of four of Waltz's great-grandfathers held elected office in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. At the age of 26 he was elected an at-large member of the Johnson County Council in 2000. He was elected President of the Johnson County in 2003 and re-election his last year on the council in 2004. In a political upset, Waltz unseated 36-year incumbent and Senate Finance Committee chairman Larry Borst in the 2004 Republican primary by just 34 votes—6,062 to 6,024. He defeated his Democratic opponent in the November 2004 election and was reelected to a second term in 2008. Subsequently, in 2012 he won re-election for a third term. Waltz announced he would not seek re-election for his Senate seat in 2016 in order to pursue

being vacated by congressman

Business career

In 1995 Waltz founded his investment banking company, The Baron Group, Inc. - named after a company in a Jeffery Archer novel. In 2001 Waltz and two business partners began a logistics and courier company named Velox Express.

Scandal and criminal indictment

On September 29, 2020, Waltz was indicted on 5 counts related to violations of federal campaign finance law related to his 2016 campaign. On April 12, 2022 Brent Waltz pleaded guilty to two felony counts, making and receiving conduit contributions and making false statements to the FBI. On August 17, 2022, District Judge James R. Sweeney II sentenced Waltz to ten months in prison in addition to being supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for two years following his release from federal prison and to pay a $40,500 fine.

References

External links

Indiana Senate Republicans

VeLOX Espress

IndyStar. Article

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waltz, Brent Republican Party Indiana state senators Living people 1973 births Politicians from Indianapolis Wabash College alumni Businesspeople from Indianapolis 21st-century American politicians Indiana politicians convicted of crimes