Jennifer-Ruth Green is seeking to turn a slice of northwest Indiana red in the House for the first time since Herbert Hoover was president.
Green is the Republican nominee in Indiana’s 1st Congressional District and is trying to oust Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan after a single, two-year term. Based on political history, it’s a daunting challenge since the blue-collar city of Gary, Indiana, and its suburbs and exurbs have been represented by the Democrats since 1931. But with President Joe Biden’s popularity continuing to sink amid stubbornly high inflation and spiking gas prices, the 1st District is just the kind of seat House Republicans hope will flip if, as expected, the party wins the majority in November.
Green, an Air Force veteran and nonprofit leader, says she would bring a fresh perspective to Congress and the Republican Party. If she wins, Green would only be the second black Republican woman elected to the House, and she hopes she can bring nontraditional GOP voters with her into the party mainstream.
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The district is unique in Indiana, encompassing the northwest corner of the state that includes the Chicago exurbs and the Lake Michigan shoreline. After redistricting, the seat only leans toward the Democrats by 4 percentage points. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added Mrvan to its list of endangered incumbents. And Republican Rep. Mayra Flores’s June win in a Texas district that had been blue for 100 years suggests there is more politically fertile ground for House Republicans to till as they try to net at least five seats in the 435-member chamber, which would provide for the first GOP majority since the 2018 elections.
With political headwinds favoring the Republicans this cycle, Green’s people-first approach may be enough to flip the district. She won the May 3 Republican primary by a wide margin and hopes that, by continuing to listen to constituents, she’ll be able to edge out Mrvan in the fall.
“Hoosiers cannot handle two more years of the Biden and congressman Mrvan’s agenda,” she told the Washington Examiner. “We can’t handle it economically. We can’t handle it politically. We can’t sustain it. It’s just untenable. Hoosiers deserve better and are going to get better come November.”
Mrvan’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Green learned about working hard and not giving up from her parents, who instilled in her the values that eventually led her to graduate from the Air Force Academy and dedicate years of service to her country.
“Those principles that I grew up with really helped hone me into an understanding of how my values as a Christian relate to the Republican Party,” Green said. “Being a conservative black Republican isn’t a thing for me, as far as that, in my own mind, it’s not a struggle. I embraced these principles as a young person, and this is the party that allows me to apply them most effectively.”
Green said her decision to run for office came after seeing the stark difference in the issues that matter to regular people versus what matters to the elites in Washington. A watershed moment came for her when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) ripped up former President Donald Trump’s 2020 State of the Union address.
“For me, it just said that on the highest levels of the world stage, when people look at us, they’ll know that we’re divided,” Green said. “And thinking as a foreign enemy, I would say, ‘Their leadership’s divided — now would be a perfect time to attack.'”
Invoking the enemies of the United States isn’t a rhetorical ploy for Green, who, as a former military commander, knows what it’s like to lead in combat. She lost friends in Iraq, and while stationed in Baghdad, she saw firsthand what American ideals meant to the world in recruiting spies and watching people risk everything because they believed in America’s mission.
Back home, it’s the everyday issues that are driving voters’ concerns. She said that she commonly hears from people in her community and on the campaign trail that they’ve had to restructure their lives based on rising gas prices and food costs. Inflation is hitting hard, wages can’t keep up, the border is a sieve, crime rates are rising, and Green says it’s the failures of Democratic leadership that are to blame.
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“Are we headed in the right direction? Absolutely not. Am I optimistic? I believe that America will see through the difficulties,” she said.
Green has earned the endorsements of high-profile GOP lawmakers, including House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, a representative from New York who has been backing strong female candidates through a PAC aimed at electing more conservative women to Congress. Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) have also endorsed Green.
