Green wins GOP bid for Indiana’s 1st Congressional District
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Jennifer-Ruth Green has won the Republican nomination in a northwestern Indiana congressional district that the GOP is looking to capture after several decades as a Democratic stronghold.
Green, a Black U.S. Air Force veteran, won Tuesday’s primary in the 1st Congressional District to challenge Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan, who won his first term in 2020 following the retirement of 18-term Democratic Rep. Pete Visclosky.
The 1st District hugs Indiana’s Lake Michigan shoreline near Chicago. Democrats have typically won there by large margins, but former President Donald Trump closed the gap by appealing to working-class voters in a district with some of the country’s largest steel mills.
Green emerged from a seven-candidate Republican field that included former LaPorte Mayor Blair Milo, who was well connected with Indiana’s Republican hierarchy after spending four years as a member of GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb’s Cabinet leading state job-training programs.
Green had a combat deployment to Iraq and is now a lieutenant colonel in the Indiana Air National Guard. She had criticized Milo as not supportive enough of Trump, citing Milo’s decision to step down as a delegate to the 2016 Republican convention rather than vote for Trump as the nominee.