After nearly a century as a Democratic stronghold, Indiana’s 1st Congressional District was locked in a tight race Tuesday night between incumbent U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan Jr., D-Highland, and Republican political newcomer Jennifer-Ruth Green. The race had not been called at press time.
Mrvan was leading in early vote counts in Lake County, but the district also includes Porter County and parts of LaPorte County.
Negative campaign ads were omnipresent on local cable television as national political action committees (PACs) exert their influence on the race.
Mrvan hoped his record in Northwest Indiana supporting public safety, steel, women’s rights and labor speaks would rise above the noise of campaign ads that distort his accomplishments.
“Be leery of individuals who will say and do whatever is necessary to achieve power. My record stands for itself. I’m very district-centric,” Mrvan said.
Green’s campaign has focused on Republican talking points of high crime, inflation and illegal immigration without substance on how she would address these points in both campaign ads and repeat guest appearances on Fox News programming.
Mrvan sat down with the Post-Tribune to discuss the campaign for this article, but access to Green was limited to events sanctioned by the National Republican Campaign Committee. Questions submitted to her campaign team go unanswered or are responded to with a statement that does not answer the questions and focuses on the campaign’s talking points.
Requests for an interview with Green for this article Oct. 14 and Oct. 25 went unanswered. Kevin Hansberger, communications director for the campaign, responded to an Oct. 28 request.
“Our scheduling team informed me this afternoon that we are not going to be able to accommodate an interview at this time,” Hansberger said via email.
As a Black, conservative Republican with a military background, Green’s candidacy checks the political boxes for a party looking to depict itself as more inclusive.
Mrvan said he has a lot of which to be proud of after his first two years in Congress. The first major accomplishment was passage of the American Rescue Plan Act. Mrvan said he always has to remind people where we were at as a nation with when 3,000 Americans a week were dying from COVID-19, and schools, businesses and churches were closed. Hospitals were full and emergency rooms were overrun.
In ads and events, Green lays the blame for inflation on Mrvan and his support of Democratic endorsed spending provisions including the American Rescue Plan Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that she says are causing runaway prices.
Inflation is a global issue caused in part by supply-chain issues and the global pandemic and not isolated to the U.S. According to Forbes magazine, U.S. inflation in July was 8.5%, compared to 10.1% in the United Kingdom, 7.6% in Canada, 2.7% in China, 2.6% in Japan, 79.6% in Turkey, 6.1% in Australia, 7.8% in South Africa and 5.2% in Israel.
Mrvan said ARPA funds allowed communities to invest in public safety and infrastructure. Funds were available for schools to improve their HVAC systems so kids could return to classrooms.
“I was able to get resources for local communities to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars,” Mrvan said. He cites the multi-agency COVID-19 vaccination site at Gary Roosevelt where 60,000 people received a vaccine as a model for the state.
“ARPA was a lifeline for our schools, our businesses and our local governments. Those resources were able to be utilized by local governments for public safety for our citizens. It’s something I’m very proud of,” Mrvan said.
Like many Democrats, Mrvan said this election has a lot to do with civil liberties after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade ending 50 years of precedence. He called it an attack on women’s rights.
“When you take rights away from individuals, that is a scary place. It’s important to me also on the healthcare side of things. When physicians in our state are going to delay making decisions because they are contemplating the legal ramifications on the health care of a woman… that is a scary place to be,” Mrvan said.
“Codifying Roe v. Wade is vitally important to me and I believe our nation,” Mrvan said, adding the decision should be made by a woman and her health care provider, and not a politician.
Green has spoken out about her anti-abortion views. Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe v. Wade she said she was optimistic the conservative court would overturn the decision.
“I’m 100 percent pro-life all the way,” Green has said.
