Veteran Indiana House member leaving Trump’s Republican Party

Indiana State Rep. Ed Clere, R-New Albany, speaks during a committee meeting on Jan. 23, 2024. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle)

Republican Ed Clere has decided to leave the Indiana General Assembly after 18 years — and says President Donald Trump’s policy changes pushed him out of the party.

Clere cited conflict over Trump’s failed congressional redistricting among his reasons for not seeking re-election to his House seat this year. Next, he plans to run as an independent candidate for mayor of New Albany in 2027.

In recent weeks, Trump has endorsed five challengers to incumbent Republican senators after vowing political revenge against those who defied him on the redistribution bill.

One of those contestants, Bluffton City Councilman Blake Fiechter, had said he was surprised by Trump’s endorsement but he quietly filed last week to run in the Republican primary against Senator Travis Holdman, who is the third member of the House as the chairman of the majority group.

Clere’s rocky road with the republicans

Clere, who first won his New Albany seat in 2008, announced his decision not to seek a 10th term representing Floyd County in News and Tribune Friday.

He focused much of his legislative time on state welfare efforts. He criticized the Braun administration’s cuts to Medicaid, child care and food assistance programs, saying last month was “very concerned about ideological focus” of many actions of the state.

He was an early and outspoken opponent of the congressional redistricting force and was among 12 Republicans joined Democrats in voting “no” when it passed the House in December. The bill was defeated a week later in the Republican-dominated Senate.

Clere told the Indiana Capital Chronicle that the redistricting push was a “very obvious and extreme example” of how Washington’s “toxic and divisive politics have made their way into Indiana.”

“Many Republicans in Indiana wanted nothing to do with it and saw how dangerous and destructive it was, but they still felt they had to accept it,” he said in an interview Sunday. “… I know a lot of other people who don’t agree with it, but most of them keep their heads down and hope this all goes away.”

Clere has split with fellow Republicans on several major issues in recent years — voting against the 2022 abortion ban, the 2023 ban on transgender health care for minors, and the 2025 bill allowing partisan school board elections. All of these gained legislative approval and became state law.

Clere lamented the party’s shift away from the politics of former Gov. Mitch Daniels — who held office when Clere was first elected to the Legislature — and toward an embrace of divisive social issues.

“There’s still good legislation, but it’s not like it was when I arrived,” Clere said. “It’s a very different focus and a very different vibe.”

Republican Speaker Todd Huston’s office did not immediately comment on Clere’s announcement.

Clere said he told Huston of his decision last week and they had a “very cordial” conversation.

Clere said he plans to remain part of the House Republican caucus and serve out the remainder of his legislative term, which ends in November.

Floyd County Republican Party leaders issued a statement thanking Clere for his service, saying he “stepped away from Republican values ​​by supporting legislation not aligned with the Republican platform.”

Clere gained attention in 2015 for championing legislation that would have allowed counties to start syringe exchange programs for intravenous drug users following a major HIV outbreak in Scott County in southern Indiana.

He lost his the position of president of the Public Health Committee after that session, but Clere considers the syringe program to be her greatest accomplishment.

“This legislation has saved countless lives, prevented countless cases of infection, including HIV and hepatitis C, and led to countless people entering recovery programs,” he said.

A run for mayor of New Albany in the 2027 election would be Clere’s second attempt at the job. Democratic Mayor Jeff Gahan won a fourth term in 2023 as he received 52 percent of the vote over Clere.

Despite this primary loss, Clere easily retained his House district, which covers most of Floyd County, with 57% of the vote in 2024 and 60% in 2022.

Clere said Statehouse’s frustrations helped him look at another mayoral run.

“It’s not just about where I stand in the Republican Party, it’s about where I think I can be most effective,” he said.

Trump-backed challenger makes candidacy official

Fiechter, the Bluffton councilman, filed his state papers Wednesday to run for state Senate against Holdman in the May primary.

The move came nearly a week after Trump’s endorsement was posted on social media, with the president calling Holdman a “RINO” – for Republican in name only – and “America’s last state politician” for opposing redistricting legislation.

Fiechter did not respond to phone and email messages from the Capital Chronicle.

A post on Fiechter’s Facebook page about filing for office said “We need a strong conservative and America First senator to represent us in Indianapolis, and I am committed to continuing to be just that.”

He is a real estate broker serving his first term as an at-large member of the Bluffton City Council after winning election in 2023.

He told The Indianapolis Star the day after Trump’s endorsement post that he was surprised by it and hadn’t made a decision about a Senate campaign.

Fiechter described himself as a Trump supporter who has generally favored the congressional redistricting push.

Holdman, who has been in the Senate since 2008, is chairman of the influential Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee.

Asked last week by the Capital Chronicle about Fiechter’s main challenge, Holdman said “It’s part of the process.”

“I’ve known him for years, I helped get him elected to the Bluffton City Council,” Holdman said. “We’ll see how it goes.”

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