Overview
Four Indiana House districts in the northern tier of the state share a structural feature: each has exactly one Republican candidate and one Democrat, with no contested primary on either side. The general election matchup is locked in before the May 5 primary. HD-4 also carries a Libertarian nominee from the March 2026 convention. [1]
These are not safe seats in the same way that the truly unopposed districts are -- several have recent election margins in the single digits. But the absence of a primary fight on either side means voters will meet their general election candidates for the first time in November, with no intra-party vetting process to sharpen either nominee. What follows is a district-by-district assessment of the geography, the candidates, and what each race reveals.
HD-4: Porter County -- The Vietnam Vet vs. the Afghanistan Vet
House District 4 covers portions of Porter County in northwest Indiana, including Valparaiso (the county seat), Kouts, Hebron, and surrounding rural communities. [2] The district sits within Congressional District 1 and has been represented by Republican Edmond Soliday since 2006 -- nearly two decades. Soliday won re-election in 2024 with 57.6% against Democrat Erika Robinson-Watkins, a comfortable but not overwhelming margin for an incumbent with his tenure. [3]
Edmond Soliday (R) -- Incumbent
Ed Soliday is one of the most credentialed members of the Indiana House, and his biography reads like a greatest-hits compilation of twentieth-century American service. He graduated from Valparaiso High School in 1963 and Indiana University, then served as an attack helicopter pilot in Vietnam, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Bronze Stars, and the Purple Heart. After the war, he spent thirty-five years at United Airlines, rising from line pilot to Vice President of Safety, Quality Assurance and Security. He was responsible for crisis management at United during September 11, 2001. He also served simultaneously as President and CEO of Kid's Alive International, a network of international children's homes. [2]
Soliday's legislative record matches the resume. He chaired the House Roads and Transportation Committee for years and authored House Enrolled Act 1002, providing nearly $900 million in new annual funding for state and local transportation infrastructure -- the largest such investment in Indiana history. He later moved to chair the Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications Committee, co-chaired the 21st Century Energy Policy Development Task Force, and authored comprehensive state energy legislation signed into law in 2023. [2]
In 2025, Governor Holcomb awarded Soliday the Sagamore of the Wabash, Indiana's highest civilian honor. He has been inducted into the Indiana Aviation Hall of Fame and received the Commercial Aviation Safety Team's Collier Trophy. [2] At 80 years old, Soliday is among the oldest members of the chamber, but his committee chairmanship and institutional authority remain intact.
Soliday is married to Mary (since 1969), has two adult children and two grandchildren, and attends Liberty Bible Church in Valparaiso.
Ryan Kominakis (D) -- Challenger
Ryan Kominakis is a Marine veteran, steelworker, and union leader from Valparaiso who announced his candidacy in October 2025. He graduated from Wheeler High School in 2005, joined the Marine Corps at 21, and deployed four times in five years of service -- to Guantanamo Bay, the Pacific, Haiti, and Afghanistan. After leaving the Marines in 2012, he was hired at US Steel, where he has worked since as a crane operator and union crew leader. He has served as a union representative for his fellow steelworkers for eleven years. He is active at VFW Post 988 in Valparaiso. [4]
Kominakis's platform centers on working-class economic concerns: fair wages, affordable living, and honest government. He has specifically cited recent utility rate hikes as a driving issue -- an interesting point of contrast given that his opponent chairs the committee with jurisdiction over utility regulation. [4] His campaign represents the labor-Democrat tradition that once dominated northwest Indiana's politics but has been steadily eroded in the legislative map.
Travis Gearhart (L) -- Libertarian Nominee
Travis Gearhart was nominated at the Libertarian Party of Indiana's state convention in Fort Wayne on March 22, 2026. [5] Gearhart has prior political involvement in Porter County: he served on the Hebron Town Council and as town police commissioner (as a Republican), and manages sales of refractory materials and equipment in the Midwest. He is an Indiana University graduate and lifelong region resident who previously ran for the Porter County Council. [6] His campaign has described his party switch as motivated by disillusionment with both major parties.
Gearhart's presence on the ballot adds a third line but is unlikely to alter the fundamental dynamics of the race. Libertarian candidates in Indiana state house races typically draw low single-digit percentages. In a district where the incumbent won by nearly 16 points in 2024, the Libertarian vote is a rounding error in the arithmetic -- though in a hypothetical closer race, even a few hundred votes could become strategically significant.
The Race
HD-4 is a generational contrast wrapped in a shared military tradition. Soliday flew helicopters in Vietnam; Kominakis served in Afghanistan. Soliday spent his career in the cockpit and corporate suite; Kominakis works on the factory floor. Both are Valparaiso men, both served their country, and both are products of the same community across a fifty-year gap.
The structural challenge for Kominakis is severe. Soliday's nearly twenty years of incumbency, committee chairmanship, and institutional recognition make him extremely difficult to dislodge in a district where Republicans hold a comfortable baseline advantage. Kominakis would need a significant shift in the district's political composition or an unusually strong labor turnout to close the gap from 57.6%. His campaign's focus on utility costs is strategically sound -- it is a pocketbook issue with local salience -- but converting that into a 10-point swing against a popular incumbent is a tall order.
HD-5: Granger -- The Home Builder vs. the Screenwriter
House District 5 covers portions of St. Joseph County in northern Indiana, including the Granger area and parts of Penn, Harris, and Clay townships -- the suburban corridor east of South Bend near the University of Notre Dame. [7] The district has been represented by Republican Dale DeVon since 2012. He won re-election in 2024 with 54.6% against Democrat Heidi Beidinger, the closest margin of his career and one of the tighter results for a Republican incumbent in a suburban northern Indiana seat. [3]
Dale DeVon (R) -- Incumbent
Dale DeVon was born and raised in Clay Township and has lived in Granger since 1989. He started a contracting business in the 1980s, founded DeVon Custom Homes in 1995, and was named national director for the Home Builders Association in 1997 -- a role he still holds alongside the state directorship. Before the legislature, he served on the St. Joseph County Council starting in 2002, chairing the Land Use Committee. He was elected to the House in 2012. [7]
DeVon chairs the House Family, Children and Human Affairs Committee and sits on the Utilities, Energy and Telecommunications Committee. His legislative focus has been on youth services and child welfare: teacher mentorship programs, foster care support, kinship caregiver legislation, early childhood education, and infant surrender protections. He is active in youth ministry at New Life Christian Fellowship and works with young people at the Juvenile Justice Center. He sits on the board of The Crossing, a school for at-risk youth. He and his wife Christine have been married since 1978 and have three children and seven grandchildren. [7]
DeVon is also an ALEC member -- the American Legislative Exchange Council named him "Legislator of the Week" during his tenure. [8]
Alex Wait (D) -- Challenger
Alex Wait is a screenwriter who filed for the Democratic primary in House District 5. [1] Wait was listed among Indiana's 2024 DNC delegation, indicating prior involvement with the state Democratic Party. [9] Beyond these data points, Wait's public footprint is minimal. No campaign website, local news profile, or detailed candidate survey has surfaced as of late March 2026. Wait did speak at a Granger town hall meeting regarding the Microsoft data center project planned for the area, suggesting local engagement on land-use and development issues. [10]
The Race
HD-5 is the analytically interesting race in this batch because of what happened in 2024. DeVon's 54.6% margin represented a significant erosion from his typical performance in a district that has been trending purple alongside suburban demographic shifts near South Bend. Beidinger, a Notre Dame researcher and former St. Joseph County Board of Health president, ran an energetic campaign in 2024 and came within five points of an upset.
The question for 2026 is whether the Democrats' decision to field Wait rather than a candidate with Beidinger's institutional profile represents a strategic retreat or simply a failure to recruit. A 54.6% district is within theoretical flipping range under the right conditions, but only if the challenger brings a visible campaign, a platform, and a local profile. Without those elements, DeVon's incumbency and name recognition carry the race.
HD-7: St. Joseph County -- The Party Organizer vs. the Community Elder
House District 7 spans portions of LaPorte, Marshall, and St. Joseph counties in northern Indiana -- from the western and southern edges of South Bend through rural countryside to the east. [11] Republican Jake Teshka flipped this seat from Democratic control in 2020 with 54% of the vote, expanded to 60.8% in 2022, and ran unopposed in the 2024 general election. [3] The district's partisan composition has shifted steadily rightward.
Jake Teshka (R) -- Incumbent
Jake Teshka is a South Bend native who graduated from St. Joseph High School, earned a BA in political science from Saint Joseph's College, and a Master of Public Affairs from Indiana University South Bend. His career has been spent entirely in Republican politics and business development. In 2008, he worked as a regional political director for the Indiana Republican Party. He subsequently served as field representative and executive director of the St. Joseph County Republican Party. [11]
Before the legislature, Teshka served on the South Bend Common Council from 2018 to 2020, representing the 5th District -- notably as the only Republican on the council. He also sat on the South Bend Transpo Board of Directors and the South Bend Redevelopment Commission. [11]
In the House, Teshka chairs the Financial Institutions Committee and serves on the Education and Employment, Labor and Pensions committees. His legislative work has focused on education: student reading proficiency mandates, math skills improvement, a "let kids be kids" bill promoting children's independent activities, and school transparency requirements. He also authored legislation providing tax relief for active-duty military personnel. [11]
Teshka lives in North Liberty with his wife and two children, attends The Vineyard Church in Mishawaka, and volunteers with the Boys & Girls Club, the South Bend History Museum, and the Boy Scouts of America LaSalle Council. At 38, he is among the younger members of the Republican caucus. [11]
Oliver Davis (D) -- Challenger
Dr. Oliver Davis Jr. is among the most recognizable names in South Bend civic life. He holds a Doctor of Social Work degree from the University of Southern California, a Master of Social Work from The Ohio State University, a Bachelor of Social Work from Oakwood University, a professional certificate in management from Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, and a professional certificate in political social work from the University of Michigan. He served as Assistant Professor of Social Work and BSW Program Director at Andrews University from 2003 to 2009 and currently teaches social work at Capella University and UMass Global University. [12]
Davis's political career is extensive. He served twelve years on the South Bend Common Council as the 6th District representative starting in 2007, including stints as Council President and Vice President. He then won an at-large council seat in 2023. He has also served on the TRANSPO Board and the Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG). He previously ran for mayor of South Bend but was unsuccessful. [12] [13]
Davis announced his House candidacy in January 2026. [13] His campaign has not published a detailed platform as of late March 2026. His council work has focused on community safety, poverty, and food access -- in November 2025, he filed a resolution calling for an emergency hearing on a hunger crisis in South Bend. [14]
The Race
HD-7 presents a contrast between a young Republican party professional who has steadily consolidated the district and a veteran Democratic community figure with deep local roots but no state legislative experience. Teshka's trajectory -- 54% to 60.8% to unopposed -- suggests he has locked down the district's rightward shift. Running unopposed in 2024 is a particularly strong signal; it means Democrats could not recruit a candidate to even contest the seat.
Davis's entry breaks that streak, but he faces the same structural math. The district now leans Republican by a wide margin, and Teshka has the committee chairmanship, youth, and party infrastructure advantages that come with three terms in office. Davis's academic credentials and council experience give him institutional credibility, but his failed mayoral bid and the absence of a published platform leave questions about campaign organization and messaging.
The race's significance may be less about competitiveness and more about whether Democrats can sustain a presence in districts they used to hold. HD-7 was Democratic as recently as 2018. If Davis can claw back into the mid-40s, it would signal that the seat is at least contestable in future cycles. If Teshka wins by 20 or more, it would confirm that the 2020 flip was permanent.
HD-9: Michigan City -- The Fire Chief vs. the Software Entrepreneur
House District 9 stretches along Indiana's Lake Michigan shoreline and into the interior, covering Michigan City, northern LaPorte County, and portions of eastern Porter County including Chesterton. [15] This is one of only three Indiana House districts where a Democrat won in 2024 despite Trump also carrying the district (Trump +3%). [16] Former representative Pat Boy won with just 51% against Republican Joel Florek in 2024 -- the narrowest margin of any surviving Democratic state house seat outside of Indianapolis. [3]
Boy retired in October 2025, citing personal reasons, and the Democratic precinct committee unanimously selected LaPorte County Councilman Randy Novak to fill her remaining term. [17] That makes Novak a first-term incumbent defending a seat that was already on a knife's edge.
Randy Novak (D) -- Incumbent
Randy Novak brings a biography rooted in blue-collar public service. A 1978 graduate of Rogers High School, he completed coursework at Ivy Tech, Purdue North Central, and the University of Georgia, earning certifications as an EMT, State Fire Investigator, and State Fire Inspector. He spent his career with the Michigan City Fire Department, rising from firefighter to Fire Chief (appointed 2015, retired 2020). He then served as President of the LaPorte County Council, focusing on fiscal oversight and economic development. He has been a licensed real estate broker since 1998. [15]
Novak was sworn in on October 22, 2025, and immediately entered the 2026 legislative session. He has already made a mark: his HB 1048, increasing the minimum annual allowance for volunteer fire department members from $100 to $250, advanced to the governor's desk in February 2026. [15] His legislative priorities center on first responders, workforce development, affordable housing, and utility rate transparency.
Novak has been married to his wife Debbie for 46 years and has two sons and four grandchildren.
Chris Cleveland (R) -- Challenger
Chris Cleveland is a software entrepreneur and business owner from LaPorte County with a political background that spans well beyond the district. He graduated from Princeton University and the University of Chicago. He previously served as chairman of the Chicago Republican Party, state chairman for Ted Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign, and a district director for the Trump campaign. [18]
Cleveland's campaign focuses on rising costs: "Costs are going up, and people are tired of it. Rising utility and healthcare costs are making life difficult, and government is making it worse with rising local income taxes, property taxes, wheel taxes and tolls." He frames his business background as proof that he can control spending -- a message that echoes standard Republican fiscal messaging but with local specificity about utility and tax pain points. [18]
Cleveland enters the race with significant institutional support. His campaign committee includes prominent LaPorte County GOP officials -- county commissioners, the sheriff, treasurer, and prosecutor -- and he claims backing from most Republican-elected officials in both LaPorte and Porter counties. [18]
The Race
HD-9 is the most competitive race in this batch by every available metric. The seat was a 51-49 result in 2024. The Democrat who held it retired. The replacement incumbent was appointed, not elected, and has been in office for only five months. The district went for Trump by 3 points. And the Republican challenger has a Princeton-and-Chicago pedigree, party establishment backing, and a focused economic message.
Novak's strengths are local credibility and public service biography. A fire chief and county council president with 30+ years of community service is a strong profile for a blue-collar district. His early legislative output -- getting a bill to the governor's desk in his first session -- demonstrates institutional competence. But he has never won a contested general election for this seat, and the district's demographics are trending rightward.
Cleveland's strengths are resources and party infrastructure. His Ivy League education and national political experience cut both ways: they signal competence to donors and operatives, but could read as carpetbagging to voters in a district where authenticity matters. His prior role as Chicago Republican Party chairman may raise questions about how long he has actually lived in the district.
This is a genuine toss-up. If Republicans flip HD-9, it would eliminate one of the last Democratic footholds in northwest Indiana outside of the Lake County core. If Novak holds it, it would validate the Democrats' strategy of running practical, public-service-oriented candidates in working-class districts. Either outcome shapes the supermajority math.