This was... unexpected:
Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.), a former congressional staffer who was elected to the House in the Republican revolution of 1994, has told colleagues he will resign Tuesday because of an affair with a female aide, a House GOP official told POLITICO.
Souder has scheduled an announcement about his future for 10 a.m. today at his congressional office in Ft. Wayne.
Souder is married and has three children.
He informed Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) of his decision on Sunday, according to GOP sources.
Souder, as you'll recall, squeaked out of his primary earlier this month with just 48% of the vote. Last cycle, he handily dispatched Dem Mike Montagano in a race many (SSP included) expected to be a lot closer. We'll bring you details on any word of a special as soon as we have them.
UPDATE: The law:
Sec. 1. A special election shall be held in the following cases:
(3) Whenever a vacancy occurs in the office of United States Representative unless the vacancy occurs less than thirty (30) days before a general election.
Also, when Julia Carson's death created a vacancy in IN-07 back in 2008, news accounts at the time said that the special election had to have been held within 60 days of the vacancy. Presumably that is the timetable we'll be following here, but we will do some more research on this question. (James)
MORE UPDATE: Hoo boy, this is rich. Souder and his mistress actuallly made an anti-sex tape together: they appeared together in a video in favor of abstinence-only education.
A couple other interesting observations from the comments: prior to Andre Carson's election, the last special election in Indiana was back in 1989 in this very district (numbered the 4th back then), where Democrat Jill Long won an upset to fill the vacancy left by Dan Coats (who got promoted to the Senate to fill the vacuum left by Dan Quayle). Long went on to get swept out by Souder in 1994, and as Jill Long Thompson mounted a very poor comeback in the 2008 gubernatorial race. (H/t IndianaProgressive.) Also, it turns out that state Sen. Marlin Stutzman, last seen acquitting himself well in the Senate primary against Coats, is from this district (he's from tiny Howe, in LaGrange County). I wonder if he'd be interested in parlaying his newfound celebrity with the DeMint wing into another run for a promotion? (H/t izengabe.)
Finally, here's some legal background from Indiana's Secretary of State:
2) When will the special election be held?
Under Indiana Code 3-13-3-2, the circuit court clerk of the county where the U.S. Representative resided (in this case, Marion County) must certify that the vacancy has occurred, and file the certification with the Governor.
The Governor will then issue a writ of election that must specify the date of the special election (IC 3-10-8-3). There is no deadline specified by law for either the clerk's certification to be filed or for the Governor's writ to be issued.
However, the combination of deadlines set by state law for nominating candidates and absentee ballot voting makes it mathematically impossible for a special election to occur earlier than 60 days after a vacancy occurs in the office of U.S. Representative (See, for example, IC 3-13-1-7; 3-13-1-9; 3-13-1-20; 3-8-6-13; 3-8-7-15).
Just to clarify, this means that the "within 60 days" timeline that the Politico identified back in 2008 is incorrect. |
