Indiana state Sen. Marlin Stutzman, who recently ran an unsuccessful but very active campaign in the Republican primary for Senate, has now officially become a candidate for Indiana’s Third District, from which GOP Rep. Mark Souder announced his resignation due to a sex scandal.
Stutzman was supported by Tea Partiers and conservative activists such as RedState.com. Despite starting the race in a distant third place, behind former Sen. Dan Coats and former Rep. John Hostettler, Stutzman ultimately took 29% of the vote to Coats’s 39%, with Hostettler behind at 23%.
For his first day of campaigning, Stutzman had to deny questions from reporters that he was in any way involved in spreading the news about Souder. “I worked for Congressman Souder several years ago and we were approached by some people that saw things suspicious,” said Stutzman, “and we approached Congressman Souder about it and he said there was nothing to it and that it was a vicious rumor and so, um, I trusted my boss in what he said.”
