Indiana House Republicans pick Ben Smaltz as new speaker after losing supermajority

Indiana House Republicans pick Ben Smaltz as new speaker after losing supermajority

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The number that defined Indiana politics for fourteen years was 70. The Republican majority in the Indiana House is expected to fall to 54 seats. House Republicans, meeting behind closed doors at the Statehouse, picked Rep. Ben Smaltz of Auburn as their next speaker, handing him a chamber where the GOP supermajority that let them govern without a single Democratic vote is gone, reduced to a 54-46 margin after Democrats flipped at least 16 seats Tuesday night, Indiana Capital Chronicle reported.

The selection came one day after House Speaker Todd Huston lost his own reelection bid to Democrat Lauren Cole, a result that ended the Republican supermajority control the party had held since the 2012 elections. Smaltz, who was first elected in 2012, has never served in a chamber where Republicans needed Democrats to pass legislation. Now he will.

Indiana Republicans pick Rep. Ben Smaltz as new house speaker

A caucus meeting after a “terribly disappointing” night

Smaltz emerged from a three-and-a-half-hour private meeting of House Republicans on Wednesday afternoon, telling reporters that the caucus would still set the legislative agenda despite the losses. “We have a good working relationship with the Democrats. I always have had that,” he said. “We’re still in the majority. We’re still going to operate like a body in the majority.”

He called Tuesday’s results “terribly disappointing” and pointed to “a lot of national headwinds that we are dealing with.” But he insisted the focus would remain on affordability and jobs. “We’re going to be committed to doing what we are sent here to do,” Smaltz said. “We’re sent here by the Hoosiers that want a better life, that want things to be affordable, and that want high-paying jobs, that want a strong economy.”

Alongside Smaltz, Rep. Matt Lehman of Berne will continue as majority leader, and Rep. Jake Teshka of North Liberty was picked as majority caucus chair, replacing Rep. Greg Steuerwald of Avon, who also lost his seat. Fox59 reported that Gov. Mike Braun congratulated both Smaltz and Senate President Pro Tem-elect Chris Garten, saying their shared focus must remain on “addressing the kitchen table concerns facing hardworking Hoosiers, lowering costs, increasing opportunity, and ensuring affordability.”

The redistricting architect takes the gavel

Smaltz’s rise to the speakership carries particular weight given his role in last year’s congressional redistricting fight. He was the House author of House Bill 1032, which aimed to redraw Indiana’s congressional maps mid-decade to give Republicans a 9-0 advantage in the state’s U.S. House delegation. The bill passed the House over unanimous Democratic objections—Smaltz acknowledged the districts were “politically gerrymandered”—but failed in the Senate, prompting President Donald Trump to back primary challengers against Republican senators who voted no.

Indiana House Speaker-elect Rep. Ben Smaltz, of Auburn

Asked Wednesday whether redistricting might return next session, Smaltz demurred. “I’m not sure that’s an issue that’s important to Hoosiers right now, and we’re focused on doing what’s important for them,” he said, according to Indiana Capital Chronicle.

Democrats say they have new bargaining power

House Democrats, who now hold their most seats since losing the majority in 2010, were quick to claim the election gave them real bargaining power. Democratic Leader Phil GiaQuinta of Fort Wayne said his caucus would now have “more leverage” and hoped Republicans would reach across the aisle rather than working “on the extremes.”

Representative ben smaltz
Photo: fox59.com

“When it comes to figuring out ways to lower costs for utilities, healthcare, funding of our schools, and things like that, I do think that we’re going to work together to get that stuff done. I also think it’s probably, frankly, a wake-up call that this is what Hoosiers want. So it’s time to come together to work to get that stuff done.”

Axios reported that GiaQuinta told reporters Tuesday night: “We set out to break the supermajority and guess what we did?” The Democratic Party fielded candidates in 97 of 100 House races this cycle, its most this century, and even party leaders seemed surprised by the scale of the gains.

What changes on January’s first day

Smaltz will be formally elected speaker during the Legislature’s Organization Day on Nov. 17, ahead of the 2027 session beginning in early January. The speaker presides over floor sessions, appoints committee chairs, and leads the legislative agenda—powers that will now require negotiation with a Democratic caucus that can no longer be ignored. Every Indiana county shifted left compared to 2024 and 2022, and Democrats also captured the secretary of state and comptroller races, their first statewide wins since 2012.

Smaltz said the success of any cooperation would rest with Democrats. “That’s going to be up to them,” he said. “I mean, they’re going to have to accept us for who we are and we’re going to accept them for who they are.”

The 2012 elections had given Republicans the two-thirds supermajority that let them pass bills without Democratic votes for over a decade. That era ended Tuesday night.

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