Indiana’s newest state lawmaker was sworn in to the Senate this week, after David Vinzant became the sixth person chosen by private political caucuses to fill out a legislative term since the end of the 2023 session last April.
Democrat Eddie Melton left his Senate seat late last year to become mayor of Gary. A Democratic precinct caucus chose David Vinzant to replace him, serving out the remaining 11 months of Melton’s term.
Vinzant previously served as a city councilman in Hobart.
“After 16 years of city council, I realized that a lot of the problems I wanted to work on don’t happen at the city level,” Vinzant said. “It takes state action on a lot of these things and this is the place to get that to happen.”
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Nearly one out of every four current state lawmakers first joined the General Assembly via private political caucuses, rather than facing voters in a general election.
Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.