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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowGreg Goode will replace outgoing state Sen. Jon Ford in Indiana Senate District 38 after winning a caucus vote.
Goode defeated former state lawmaker John Waterman, who had hoped to return to the Senate chamber. The Saturday vote was 56-18, according to Terre Haute TV stations WTWO/WAWV.
Ford, R-Terre Haute, resigned from his seat in the Indiana Senate “to pursue new professional endeavors” effective Oct. 16. The decision came less than a year after he was reelected to another four-year term.
Goode spent more than 10 years as executive director of government relations and university communications for Indiana State University before leaving in January to be state director for Republican U.S. Sen. Todd Young.
Ford introduced and endorsed Goode for the seat.
“State Sen. Jon Ford is a tremendous leader and incredibly effective legislator. I am deeply grateful for his support as well as the support from the precinct leaders who elected me,” Goode told the Capital Chronicle. “I am committed to working hard and in bipartisan ways to honor Sen. Ford’s legacy of pragmatic policy decisions that will keep Indiana strong and successful.”
Ford had served in the Indiana Senate since 2014. He was re-elected to the District 38 seat—which represents Vigo and Clay counties and a portion of Sullivan County—in 2018, and again in 2022.
The seat is one of a handful recently filled by a caucus of precinct committeemen.
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Time to bring back special elections…
Agreed. But state legislators are loathe to enact a special elections’ law where “we the people” can have a say in who represents us because of the cost (especially considering how many legislators leave before the end of there terms). Better to have a politburo choose replacements for the club than use democratic means.
“More than one out of every five current members of the Indiana General Assembly first joined the legislature via private caucuses, rather than general elections in their districts.“
https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/republican-greg-goode-caucused-in-to-indiana-senate-to-replace-jon-ford
Another proof that the legislators choose their constituents, rather than the other way around.
It goes hand in hand with extremely partisan gerrymandering.