Indiana Republican accuses Dem challenger of abandoning voters and joining 'DC political machine'

FIRST ON FOX: A Republican seeking to flip a House seat from Blue to Red in Indiana says his Democratic challenger has abandoned his district's “hard-working” voters and joined the “far left” and the “DC political machine” after he had been a member of Congress for more than three years. years ago.

Randy Niemeyer, the Republican candidate to represent Indiana's 1st Congressional District in the House of Representatives, will face incumbent Democratic Rep. Rep. in the state's general election later this year. Frank Mrvan.

“Currently, Frank Mrvan's voting record is more aligned with the far left than with these hard-working, conservative, middle-class people in his district. He doesn't do much that is representative of that,” Niemeyer told Fox News Digital. in an interview.

According to Niemeyer, Mr. Van's voting record proves that the votes he is getting in Washington do not match the aspirations of those in the Hoosier State's First District.

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE SELECTED AS GOP WANTS TO CONVERT INDIANA HOUSE SEAT FROM BLUE TO RED

Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan and his Republican challenger Randy Niemeyer (Getty Images | Randy Niemeyer Campaign)

“Frank has really bought into the D.C. political machine and become very ingrained in it, and has forgotten that his district is not currently represented by his votes as it should and could be,” he said.

Niemeyer also said he rarely sees Mr. Van interact with or listen to his constituents in the district unless it is a public appearance or lecture.

“If there's a parade or an opportunity to speak somewhere, he always takes advantage of it. If there's a ribbon cutting for a project that was funded by the Infrastructure Act or the Inflation Reduction Act… he comes for that too things show up,” he says. he said of Mrvan. “But I don't see much of him or hear much from him, just interacting within the community and as places where people can listen and learn and making sure he's connected to the grassroots and really with the boots on the ground base. land that pays the taxes and freight for this country.”

Mrvan won the 2020 elections for Congress, defeating his Republican challenger, Mark Leyva, by almost 53,000 votes. He was re-elected to his post in the 2022 cycle, defeating Jennifer-Ruth Green by just over 12,000 votes.

Niemeyer previously served on the Cedar Lake City Council for twelve years, including ten as president. That experience, along with the lessons he learned from it, is something he often reflects on as he tries to gain voters' trust and support in the run-up to the general election.

“I think one of the biggest things we can do in government goes back to my 16 years in local government, where we really connect with the people and we make sure that the people we represent, the work we do , doing, is really on their behalf,” he said.

Niemeyer, who defeated his Republican challengers in the state's May 7 primary, has spent his entire life in Northwest Indiana and has been hauling milk for his family's trucking business for nearly three decades.

SIX HOUSE SEATS THAT COULD SWITCH FROM BLUE TO RED IN 2024, POSSIBLY GIVE GOP A LARGE MAJORITY

Randy Niemeyer speaks to supporters at an event in Highland, Indiana, on January 19, 2024.

Citing his upbringing, his work ethic and his combined 16 years of experience in local government, Niemeyer said he shares “many of the same struggles” as those in his district.

“I've driven five million miles behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer. I run a small business. I've lived paycheck to paycheck. The business I run sometimes runs on little to no margins. I have student loans that I gonna pay for my daughter,” he said. “We have similar life experiences.”

“I still drive a truck,” he added. “I like to give perspective to people that I work there with them. I sweat with them. We do the workers' work. We help feed this country and that perspective, I think, separates me from Frank, who spends most of the time participated with the most left-wing parties of his party.”

Although he has family members with public sector experience, Niemeyer said his biggest influence in challenging Mr. Van comes from a person “who never had her name on a campaign sign anywhere.”

“My grandmother was a cafeteria worker at a local school for 35 years and she died of cancer a year after her retirement,” recalled Niemeyer, who was 16 years old at the time of her death. “We had more than 1,100 people come through the line at multiple vigils we had for her, telling similar stories of how she would take money out of her own wallet and put it in the register so that a child could get a hot meal that maybe no hot meal at home.”