Fort Wayne’s Congressional Race Takes Shape: Stutzman Defends Deep-Red 3rd District Against Kelly Thompson
Hoosier Enquirer | Indiana Politics | August 2026
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Northeast Indiana voters will decide this November whether Republican Congressman Marlin Stutzman receives another term in Washington or whether Democrat Kelly Thompson can pull off what would amount to one of Indiana's largest congressional upsets.
The contest is for Indiana's 3rd Congressional District, the sprawling northeastern Indiana seat anchored by Fort Wayne. It includes all of Adams, Allen, Blackford, DeKalb, Huntington, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wells and Whitley counties, along with portions of Jay and Kosciusko counties. The district contains roughly 775,000 residents and combines Indiana's second-largest city with some of the state's most reliably Republican rural communities.
The November 3 general election currently features Stutzman, Thompson and independent write-in candidate Phillip Beachy.
For Thompson, the central challenge is unmistakable: this is Republican territory, and it isn't particularly c…