Marlin Stutzman
A LaGrange County farmer and Freedom Caucus member back in his old IN-3 seat after an eight-year absence, Stutzman faces a primary rematch with Jon Kenworthy on May 5.
The 60-second story
Marlin Stutzman is a fourth-generation Howe, Indiana farmer and serial small-business operator who is now serving his fourth non-consecutive term in the U.S. House. He represents the 3rd Congressional District — a heavily rural, R+16 seat anchored by Fort Wayne — after returning to Congress in January 2025 following an eight-year absence. He is a member of the House Freedom Caucus and sits on the Financial Services and Budget committees.
Stutzman first won the seat in a 2010 special election to replace Mark Souder, served three terms, and gave it up in 2016 to run for U.S. Senate, losing the Republican primary to Todd Young by a 2-to-1 margin. The seat went to Jim Banks; when Banks ran for Senate in 2024, Stutzman jumped back in and won a chaotic seven-candidate Republican primary by 1,307 votes over Tim Smith, then carried the general election with 65%.
On May 5 he faces a primary rematch with Fort Wayne military analyst Jon Kenworthy, who finished seventh in the 2024 primary with 3.8%. Kenworthy's campaign is built around campaign-finance transparency and Epstein-records release — both implicit shots at Stutzman, whose 2016 Senate run drew an Office of Congressional Ethics referral over family travel charged to his campaign. Stutzman is the heavy favorite.
His 2026 platform is built on inflation, border enforcement, parental rights in education, government-transparency legislation he authored (the Bureau Guidance Transparency Act), and an aggressive defense of the Trump administration's spending cuts. He authored what he calls the 'Conservative Congressional Budget' during his earlier tenure and was the original House author of the Right to Try Act, signed by President Trump in 2018.
Quick facts
- Born August 31, 1976, Sturgis, Michigan
- Residence Howe, Indiana (LaGrange County)
- Education Lake Area Christian H.S. (1994); Glen Oaks Community College; Trine University
- Family Wife Christy (former Indiana state rep.); two sons, Payton & Preston
- Religion Baptist; attends Grace Bible Church, Howe
- Caucus House Freedom Caucus
- Committees Financial Services; Budget
- Last election 2024 general: 65.0% over Kiley Adolph (D)
Three things voters should know
He's done this seat before
Stutzman represented IN-3 from 2010 to 2017, gave up the seat to run for U.S. Senate, lost that primary to Todd Young, and won his old district back in 2024 after Jim Banks moved up to the Senate. He is one of a small number of members serving non-consecutive terms in the House.
Freedom Caucus, by reputation and roll call
He is a House Freedom Caucus member, was a 2013 face of the shutdown push to defund the Affordable Care Act, and called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act the best bill he has ever voted on. His League of Conservation Voters lifetime score from his earlier tenure was 4%.
Owns or runs at least a dozen businesses
His personal financial disclosures list partnerships in Stutzman Farms, Show Hauler RV, Stutzman Brothers Meats, Stutzman Power Equipment, The Barns at Nappanee, the Round Barn Theatre, the Stutzman Brothers Steakhouse, Mid America Products, Tepe Upholstery, Kruse Plaza and others. He is a former president of WishBone Medical and currently sits on House Financial Services.
Biography
Marlin Andrew Stutzman was born August 31, 1976 in Sturgis, Michigan, and grew up on a family farm that straddles the Michigan–Indiana state line in St. Joseph County, Michigan and LaGrange County, Indiana. He graduated from Lake Area Christian High School in Sturgis in 1994 and went on to Glen Oaks Community College and what is now Trine University in Angola, Indiana, where he later served on the Board of Trustees.
He started his first beef-cattle operation at 16 and at 18 became a partner with his father Albert in Stutzman Farms, a roughly 4,000-acre Michiana operation that grows seed corn, green beans, corn, soybeans and organic crops. He added Stutzman Farms Trucking to support the crop business. Today he runs an extensive small-business portfolio with his wife Christy, including The Stutzman Group (managing partner), Show Hauler RV (co-owner), Stutzman Brothers Meats, the Schönbrook Farm Wagyu beef operation, the Stutzman Brothers Steakhouse, and a stake in The Barns at Nappanee — the Elkhart County tourist complex he and partners John Kruse and Jason Bontrager bought at a 2020 auction for the entertainment-center tract.
Stutzman entered politics in 2002, winning election to the Indiana House at 26 — then the youngest member of the General Assembly. He served three terms, moved to the Indiana Senate in 2009, and ran the same year for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Evan Bayh, finishing second to Dan Coats in the 2010 Republican primary. Months later, Mark Souder's resignation opened the IN-3 House seat; Republican delegates picked Stutzman on the second ballot at a Columbia City caucus, and he won both the special election and a full term that November.
He served three full House terms (2010–2017), built a national profile as a Tea Party–aligned conservative, and in 2013 was one of the most public Republican voices arguing that the House should attach Affordable Care Act defunding to the must-pass federal funding bill — a stance that helped trigger that year's 16-day government shutdown. He left the House to run for Senate in 2016, was endorsed by the Club for Growth and Senator Rand Paul, but lost the primary to Todd Young 67–33.
Out of office, he served as president and chief development officer of WishBone Medical, a Warsaw, Indiana orthopedic-implant company, and built out the family's hospitality and agriculture businesses. He returned to politics in April 2023 when Jim Banks announced for Senate, won a tight seven-way Republican primary in May 2024, and beat Democrat Kiley Adolph 65–31 in the November general election. He was sworn in to the 119th Congress on January 3, 2025.
Stutzman and his wife Christy have two sons, Payton and Preston. Christy was elected to the Indiana House for one term in 2018, representing District 49, and resigned in late 2020 to focus on the family's businesses. The Stutzmans attend Grace Bible Church in Howe; Marlin has been on short-term mission trips to Haiti, Mexico, Russia and Guatemala.
Career
Business holdings & ownership
Memberships & affiliations
Grace Bible Church, Howe (member), House Freedom Caucus, LaGrange County Chamber of Commerce, National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), Indiana Farm Bureau, Howe Community Association, National Rifle Association (NRA), Trine University Board of Trustees (former), ARC of Indiana
Potential conflicts the Ledger has flagged
In August 2016, the independent Office of Congressional Ethics referred Stutzman to the House Ethics Committee over a five-and-a-half-day August 2015 trip to Los Angeles in which his Senate campaign committee paid roughly $2,000 in airfare for him, his wife and their two children, plus van rental and hotel charges. While in LA, Stutzman had three campaign meetings over two days; the family also visited Universal Studios, the Reagan Library and the Reagan Ranch. The Ethics Committee announced in November 2016 it would continue investigating; the matter lapsed when Stutzman left the House in January 2017.
An Associated Press review of Stutzman's principal campaign-fund spending found roughly $300,000 in flights, vehicle charges, meals and hotels charged to the campaign between 2010 and early 2016 — about three times what then-rival Todd Young's House campaign had spent over the same period. During one eight-month stretch in 2015, Stutzman reimbursed himself $13,100 for personal-vehicle mileage. He repaid a portion of the LA trip costs but disputed the AP's characterization.
Stutzman's brother-in-law Anthony Rivera was paid roughly $170,000 over nearly three years to manage finances for Stutzman's congressional campaign — about $5,000 a month — despite no prior political fundraising experience (his prior work was as a car salesman and traveling actor). House and Senate rules forbid hiring family members as official congressional staff; Rivera worked only on the campaign, which is permitted, but Stutzman acknowledged he didn't seek an Ethics Committee advisory opinion. The two were also business partners in a Virginia bridal shop during the period Rivera ran the campaign's fundraising.
As a member of the House Financial Services Committee — and previously president and current Chief Development Officer-emeritus of WishBone Medical, an orthopedic-implant manufacturer — Stutzman holds active or recent leadership stakes in firms across banking-adjacent (financial services), medical-device, RV manufacturing, agriculture and hospitality sectors. Several of his 2025 introduced bills (e.g., on FDIC insurance limits, Regulation A+ small-business capital raises, and rural housing) directly affect industries in which he has personal financial interests. He has not announced specific recusals.
Prior government service
Notable votes
Sponsored or co-sponsored
Positions, in their own words
"The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is the start of America's return to fiscal sanity."— Stutzman press release, May 22, 2025
"We cannot have a secure nation without secure borders. I have seen firsthand at the southern border the problems we face."— gomarlin.com / The Issues, accessed Apr 2026
"Education was never meant to be a federal issue. Education is the responsibility of parents first and foremost."— gomarlin.com / The Issues
"For years we marched in Right To Life marches in Washington, Fort Wayne and across the nation, demanding that our leaders reverse the disastrous decision made by the Supreme Court in 1973."— gomarlin.com / Defending the Unborn
"Democrats are calling a timeout and shutting the government down. Democrats are going to be blamed for the Schumer shutdown."— Newsmax 'Wake Up America' interview, Oct 21, 2025
"You could have a kindergarten class draw our maps, and it would be nine to zero."— Newsmax interview, Oct 21, 2025
"I staunchly support medical freedom, affirming the right of all Americans to make independent healthcare decisions without coercion or intimidation."— gomarlin.com / Medical Health Freedom
"It is time to put American families first instead of corporate interests."— Stutzman press release, Feb 10, 2026
Where the money came from
$618,303 raised this cycle · 618303 contributions
- Industry & corporate PACs$172,550
- Out-of-state individuals$95,748
- Unitemized small-dollar (<$200)$90,526
- In-district individuals (IN-3)$82,443
- Joint-fundraising transfers$77,130
- Leadership / ideological PACs$63,650
- Indiana individuals (outside IN-3)$36,256