The two men who recently were appointed to finish out the final year of two recently opened local seats in the Indiana House of Representatives will take their oaths of office today.
Republicans Steve Bartels of Eckerty and Shane Lindauer of Jasper are set to be sworn in as the newest members of the Indiana Legislature during a ceremony planned for 11 am today at the House Chamber in Indianapolis.
The ceremony will be presided by Indiana Supreme Court Justice Geoffrey Slaughter.
Lindauer was picked by members of the Indiana Republican party during a caucus held October 30th in the Pfaffenweiler Room at Jasper City Hall to complete the final year of former Indiana District 63 State Representative Mike Braun’s term. Braun resigned on November 1st to focus on his 2018 campaign for the United States Senate.
Lindauer was picked over Washington City Councilman Jerry Sidebottom.
Soon after Braun announced his plans to run for the U.S. Senate last August, Lindauer followed up by announcing his intentions to run for the state representative seat in next year’s election which he still plans to do.
Indiana House District 63 covers parts of Dubois, Pike, Daviess and Martin counties.
A week later Bartels was selected by members of the same Indiana Republican party during a caucus held on November 6th at Perry Central High School to fulfill the Indiana District 74 seat vacated by Lloyd Arnold. He was one of 6 republicans who filed for the vacancy.
Arnold had served as the district’s state representative since he was first elected to the office in 2012. He was recently appointed to the position of Director of Law Enforcement with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. He resigned on October 22nd.
Barltes will serve out the remainder of Arnold’s two-year term, which will conclude at the end of 2018. Bartles says he plans to run for a full two-year term in the next election.
Indiana House District 74 consists of all or portions of Crawford, Dubois, Orange, Perry and Spencer counties.
Both caucuses was presided over by Indiana Republican Party State Chairman Kyle Hupfer.
