Army veteran. Father. Republican. Running to put the Region first.

Jim Schenke is a U.S. Army veteran and Republican candidate for Congress in Indiana's 1st District. He is running to fight for steel jobs, cut utility and grocery bills, secure the border, and stand up for working families across Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties.

Why I'm running.

I am running because Northwest Indiana — Lake, Porter, and LaPorte counties — has been told to wait its turn for too long. I am an Army veteran, a father, and a teacher. I have watched the steel jobs that built this Region get traded away while families here pay more for utilities, groceries, and the basics. Washington keeps treating this district as a place to ignore between elections. The people of the Region deserve a representative who will fight for them every single day, not someone who is buying a seat or running on a national talking point. That is the job I am asking for.

U.S. ARMY VETERAN

Jim served in the United States Army. The values that pulled him into the uniform are the values he runs on now: country first, neighbors first, and tell the truth.

REPUBLICAN PRECINCT COMMITTEEMAN

Jim has done the work inside the Republican Party — block by block, neighbor by neighbor — long before anyone asked him to run.

INDIANA STATE GOP CONVENTION DELEGATE

Jim represents Republicans at the Indiana state convention. That is earned, not bought.

The Fight.

Steel jobs and the Region's industrial base.

Northwest Indiana built this country with steel and hard work. The mills in Lake County, the manufacturing across Porter, the ports and rail through LaPorte — that is the Region's job base, and it is under pressure from trade policy that ignores us. Jim's promise: every vote on trade, tariffs, and manufacturing policy gets measured against one question — does it protect Region steel jobs and the families those jobs feed?

The cost of utilities, groceries, and gas.

Working families across the Region are getting squeezed at the same time on utility bills that keep climbing, grocery prices that have not come back down, and gas costs that decide whether the second car gets to work.

Safer streets and a secure border.

You cannot have a safe neighborhood without a secure country. Jim will vote consistently to back the rule of law in our communities and to give county sheriffs across the Region the resources they need to do their jobs.

The same man, year after year.

Same truck in the driveway. Same wife beside him. Same kids around the table. Same country he wore the uniform for. Jim's life is anchored in family, faith, and the conviction that public service is supposed to mean something.

The full story.

Jim Schenke grew up understanding that hard work pays the bills and faith holds the family together. He went on to serve in the U.S. Army — earning the discipline and country-first instinct that still guides him.

After his service, Jim built a career in communications, broadcasting, and education, working in journalism, teaching at the university level, and developing the public-affairs and writing skills that prepare him for the federal job he is now asking voters to give him.

Jim has been active in the Republican Party as a precinct committeeman and as an Indiana state convention delegate. He is married, a father, and a man of faith. He is running to put the Region first.