A longtime state lawmaker has announced he will not run again for a state House seat and plans to leave the Republican Party.
Rep. Ed Clare says he plans to run for mayor of New Albany next year as an independent.
In an interview with The News & Tribune, which first broke the news, Clare said he was increasingly concerned about the legislative direction of the General Assembly, given that Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers.
“The question is where can I have the greatest impact. I believe that as mayor of New Albany I can have the greatest impact over the next few years,” Clare told the Southern Indiana newspaper. “It’s also a matter of conscience. There are a lot of good Republicans, but the Republican Party has lost its way and I can no longer be a part of it.”
Clare has held the District 72 seat as a Republican since 2008. He ran for New Albany mayor as a Republican in 2023, but lost to incumbent Democrat Jeff Gahan by about 300 votes.
Clare is one of more than a dozen House Republicans who have joined Democrats in opposing President Donald Trump’s push to redraw Indiana’s congressional districts to benefit Republicans. State police are still investigating a bomb threat against Clare on the eve of the Senate’s vote to kill the redistricting plan.
In a Jan. 31 interview with IndyStar, Clare cast the redistricting controversy as the latest example of national politics superseding good policy at the state level.
“You’ve heard it before: ‘I didn’t leave the party, the party left me.’ That’s how I feel,” Claire said.
“Under Trump, it has changed beyond recognition,” he said. “We’ve seen the very divisive and dysfunctional politics of Washington make its way into Indiana.”
Rep. Ed Clere and other lawmakers gather at the Indiana State Capitol on Organization Day, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Indianapolis.
The redistricting debate is not the first time Clare has clashed with her own party. He broke with the party on issues including transgender rights, Medicaid expansion and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). He was also the only Republican to oppose a 2011 amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage.
In some cases, his independent tendencies come at a cost. For example, in 2015, he was removed as chairman of the House Public Health Committee after he supported needle exchange legislation during the Scott County HIV outbreak. He is now working to update the law, which is set to expire later this year.
“My political obituary was written many times,” he said, “but I survived. I always tried to do the right thing regardless of politics.”
Why Clare left the Republican Party
Supporters of President Trump have pledged to fight primary campaigns against lawmakers who oppose midterm redistricting, but Clare said the fact that no other Republicans have filed to run for his House seat was not a factor in his decision.
“Frankly, I can’t in good conscience engage with the growing number of Republicans,” he said. “I’m specifically talking about people like the lieutenant governor.”
Clare said a clarifying moment came last year at the Floyd County Lincoln Day Dinner, an annual Republican event. Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, a Christian nationalist, was also a featured speaker.
Claire decided not to participate. He knew people would give Beckwith a standing ovation. He can’t.
“I just found out how deeply partisan and divisive he is,” Clare said. Advertisement
He cited Beckwith’s objection to his bill to eliminate straight-ticket voting.
“That’s the problem in a nutshell,” Claire said. “We should move beyond partisanship and find ways to work across party lines.”
Beckwith did not immediately respond to a message from IndyStar seeking his response to Clare’s comments.
“I know there are a lot of Republicans in the statehouse who feel the same way I do,” Clare said of the direction of the Republican Party under Trump. “But they keep their heads down and hope this goes away and we can go back to the way things were before the party. But that’s not my position.”
Clare said he plans to continue caucusing with House Republicans through this session and through the remainder of his term this year.
IndyStar reached out to Rep. Greg Steuerwald, the chairman of the House Republican caucus, but he did not immediately respond.
Clare’s statement has already prompted strong reactions from some others in the Republican Party.
The Floyd County Republican Party said in a statement that Clare “has broken away from Republican values by supporting legislation that is inconsistent with the Republican platform.”
The statement concluded: “The party thanks Ed for his past contributions, pays tribute to him, and asks that he resign from all Republican seats he holds.”
Claire says he has no intention of doing so. He plans to continue the focus on health and human services issues that have been a hallmark of his tenure in the General Assembly.
“I’m 18 years old,” he said. “There have been a lot of challenges along the way. But I wouldn’t trade them for anything.”
Contact IndyStar reporter Tony Cook at 317-444-6081 or tony.cook@indystar.com. Follow him on X@IndyStar Tony and blue sky @tonycook317.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared in The Indianapolis Star: Longtime Indiana congressman Ed Clere leaves Republican Party