Retired doctor from Zionsville joins crowded race for Congress

Another Republican has jumped into Indiana’s 5th Congressional District race. 

Chuck Dietzen, a retired doctor from Zionsville, announced his campaign Thursday afternoon. 

In his announcement video, Dietzen says he’s pro-life and talks about how he wants to fix the health care system and believes a socialist approach will worsen things for patients.

“What’s clear to me is this—health care means that we have a healthy workforce, and a healthy workforce means we have a healthy economy,” Dietzen said in the video. 

Dietzen recently retired as chief of pediatric rehabilitation medicine at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health. He’s also founder of Timmy Global Health, an Indianapolis not-for-profit that tries to expand access to health care in developing countries, and co-founder of an electronic medical records system known as iSalus Healthcare. 

He is the fifth Republican to launch a campaign for the seat, which is being vacated by Republican Susan Brooks. Indiana State Treasurer Kelly Mitchell, former Indiana Department of Workforce Development commissioner Steve Braun, Noblesville pastor Micah Beckwith and Concise Capital Management fund accountant Danny Niederberger also are running. 

Brooks has represented the district, which includes the northern portion of Indianapolis and the northern and eastern suburbs, since 2013. She announced in June that she would not seek re-election in 2020.

So far, four Democrats are running on the other side of the ticket—former state lawmaker and 2016 lieutenant governor candidate Christina Hale; 2018 5th Congressional District candidate Dee Thornton; Jennifer Christie, a scientist who ran unsuccessfully in the 2018 primary; and Andrew James Jacobs Jr.

The race is expected to be expensive and get national attention as Democrats see it as a potential seat to flip.