Jennifer-Ruth Green, the 2022 Republican congressional candidate, has announced her bid to challenge U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, D-Highland, in the expected to be redrawn First District. This announcement comes as Governor Mike Braun has called for a special session to address mid-census redistricting.
Braun revealed on Monday that he would convene a special legislative session beginning November 3 to tackle the redistricting of Indiana’s congressional districts. Typically, redistricting occurs every 10 years following the release of census data. However, the Trump administration has been pressuring Republican-led states to push redistricting efforts ahead of the 2026 election. The goal is to help Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Green narrowly lost to Mrvan in 2022 by more than 12,000 votes. Of Indiana’s nine congressional districts, seven are currently held by Republicans, while Democrats hold two seats, including the First District.
In her campaign announcement, Green emphasized the significance of the redistricting process:
“With Indiana likely to redistrict to make this seat fairer and more competitive, IN-01 will be key to the control of the House of Representatives in 2026.”
Green recently resigned from her position as Indiana Secretary of Public Safety following an ethics complaint investigation by the Indiana Office of Inspector General. The investigation alleged multiple ethics violations, including retaliating against an employee and requiring state employees to perform campaign work during state time. No hearing date has been set for the complaint as of now.
In an interview with the Post-Tribune, Green stated she has not held any conversations with state legislators or leaders about redistricting in Indiana. However, she expressed gratitude that Governor Braun called for the special session, adding that she believes the state legislature “will make the right decision in supporting President Trump.”
Green highlighted the stakes involved in the race:
“The stakes are very high in this race. It’s incredibly important for Hoosiers to fight fire with fire when it comes down to these things like redistricting because we’ve seen how the Democrats have gerrymandered states in New England, and we’ve seen how they’ve done it in Illinois. We need Republicans to continue to have a voice in Congress after Democrats counted millions of illegals in a census to get more blue-state entitlements in regards to representation than they were supposed to.”
Tim Edson, Green’s spokesman, pointed to former President Joe Biden signing an executive order in January 2021 that reversed Trump’s efforts to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census data.
The U.S. Census, conducted every 10 years, counts everyone living in the country at that time. The data is used for community planning, such as building grocery stores, schools, and roads, determining federal spending allocations, and apportioning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The bureau’s data includes the “foreign-born” population, encompassing naturalized U.S. citizens, non-citizen U.S. nationals, lawful permanent residents, temporary migrants, humanitarian migrants, and unauthorized migrants.
Gerrymandering—that is, manipulating voting district boundaries to favor one party—has been employed by both Democratic and Republican state leaderships, according to the Brennan Center, an independent, nonpartisan law and policy organization. After the 2020 census, Republicans controlled the redistricting process in more states than Democrats, which resulted in “a net 16 fewer Democratic or Democratic-leaning districts,” according to the center.
When asked if Indiana’s special redistricting session could be seen as an effort at gerrymandering, Green described the question as “an interesting semantic connection.”
“In certain states, voters have become increasingly upset when the percentage of votes for a political party doesn’t match the number of representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives,” she said. “When we look at who started it or who’s benefiting from it, I believe we are answering in response to the current situation, and it’s just us fighting back as Republicans.”
Green resigned as Indiana’s Secretary of Public Safety on September 5 amid an ethics complaint that alleged she engaged in political activity, ghost employment, misuse of state property, and retaliated against employees while on state time. Edson dismissed the complaint as “a baseless, politically motivated hit job,” adding that Green was not given the opportunity to obtain counsel or respond to the “false allegations” before the complaint was filed with the Ethics Commission.
“The truth is on Jennifer-Ruth Green’s side and this politically motivated smear campaign will fail,” Edson said.
Green, an Air Force veteran and Lieutenant Colonel in the Air National Guard, declared in her candidacy announcement that she is “ready to finish the mission” as she prepares to face Mrvan for the second time.
In the 2022 election, Green received 47.2% of the vote to Mrvan’s 52.8%. She won Porter and LaPorte counties, while Mrvan secured Lake County.
Green stated that Lake County continues to trend more Republican with each election and believes “President Trump’s policies are going to connect” going into the 2026 midterm election.
“We see that President Trump is making the Republican Party the working-class party again. We see that in Lake County there’s just a ton of hard-working people who want a Representative on their side,” Green said.
Mrvan responded in a statement that the Republican nominee for the 2026 midterm election will be chosen by Republican voters in the primary.
“I am running for re-election and welcome the opportunity to highlight my proven record of fighting for working families with whomever is on the general election ballot,” he said.
If elected, Green promised to help Republicans keep control of the House and prevent Democrats “from impeaching President Trump and advancing their socialist agenda.”
She pledged to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with Trump to rebuild American manufacturing, create middle-class jobs, increase salaries, lower prices, support farmers and rural communities, secure the border and deportations, and defend life, the Second Amendment, and law enforcement.
“I look forward to earning the vote, trust, and confidence of Hoosiers to get to Washington and making sure that we can have solid representation there,” Green said.
Lake County Republican Party Chairman Randy Niemeyer, who ran and lost against Mrvan in 2024, said he is “possibly” planning to run for the First Congressional District seat in 2026.
“I’m working through a lot of details,” Niemeyer said, adding that he would like to congratulate Green on her candidacy: “It’s sure to be a spirited primary season.”
Republican Barb Regnitz, who is finishing her third year as a Porter County commissioner representing Center District, also filed a statement of organization last week to run for the First Congressional District seat.
“For the past 100 years, Democrats have controlled Indiana’s First District,” Regnitz said in a news release. “Now, with radical far-left activists steering their party, people are concerned about endless investigations, attempts at impeachment, and a return to the failed policies of the past. Our country needs leaders who will defend President Trump’s agenda, restore accountability, and preserve our constitutional rights. For these reasons and more, I’m running to be your next U.S. Representative.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/28/jennifer-ruth-green-enters-gop-race-for-indianas-first-congressional-district/