HD-10: Portage and the Indiana Dunes Corridor
House District 10 covers portions of Porter County in northwest Indiana -- the city of Portage, Burns Harbor, Dune Acres, Ogden Dunes, and South Haven. This is blue-collar lakefront Indiana, where the steel industry and the Indiana Dunes have shaped the economy and identity for generations. The district sits within Indiana's 1st Congressional District, the state's only consistently Democratic federal seat. [1]
Charles "Chuck" Moseley (D, Incumbent)
Chuck Moseley has held this seat since 2008 -- eighteen years by the time the November 2026 general election arrives. He is the longest-tenured incumbent in this batch by a wide margin. [1]
Moseley is a graduate of River Forest High School in Lake Station and a veteran of the Army National Guard. His professional career has been in community development: he served as Director of Public Relations at North Shore Health Centers and was deeply involved in Portage civic life -- past president of both the Portage Chamber of Commerce and the Portage Township School Board, and a former member of the Portage Planning Commission, Park Board, and Port Authority. He and his wife Monica have two children and five grandchildren. [1] [2]
In the Indiana House, Moseley serves as ranking minority member of the Employment, Labor and Pensions Committee, and is a member of the Commerce, Small Business and Economic Development Committee and the Veterans Affairs and Public Safety Committee. [2]
His electoral record tells a story in two chapters. From 2012 through 2020, Moseley ran unopposed four consecutive times -- no Republican even bothered to file. But the 2022 and 2024 cycles brought competitive challengers, and his margins were thin for a long-term incumbent: 52.8% in 2022, 52.1% in 2024. He won his last race by just 1,256 votes. [1]
Ted Uzelac (R, Challenger)
Ted Uzelac is the Republican challenger. He has deep roots in Portage: he served as a detective and later assistant chief of the Portage Police Department, and previously served as a Portage City Council member representing the 3rd District. He is also a member of the Indiana National Guard's 113th Engineer Battalion, holding the rank of sergeant. Before joining the Portage force, Uzelac worked for the DeMotte and New Chicago police departments. [3]
In 2015, a new state law forced municipal employees who held elected office in the same municipality to choose one or the other. Uzelac chose his police career, giving up his council seat. His 2026 state house bid is for a different level of government, so no such conflict applies. [3]
The Race
This is formally uncontested in the sense that each party has exactly one candidate -- there is no primary fight on either side, and no third-party filing. But the general election will be genuinely competitive. Moseley's sub-53% margins in 2022 and 2024 show a district that is trending from safely Democratic to marginal. Uzelac's profile -- police officer, military veteran, city council experience -- is custom-built for a blue-collar swing district. If Republicans are serious about flipping HD-10, 2026 is their best opportunity in a decade. [1]
HD-11: The Agricultural Heartland of Northwest Indiana
House District 11 stretches across the rural southern portions of Lake and Porter counties into the farming communities of Jasper and Newton counties. Hebron, Kouts, Rensselaer, and the surrounding agricultural townships form the core of the district. This is deep-red rural Indiana -- Aylesworth ran unopposed in both 2022 and 2024. [4]
Michael J. Aylesworth (R, Incumbent)
Mike Aylesworth is 83 years old and has served in the Indiana House since 2014. But his career in public life stretches back nearly half a century. Born March 24, 1943 in Hebron, he is a fifth-generation Porter County resident -- his great-great-grandfather settled in Boone Township from Wayne County in the mid-1840s and purchased farmland that the family still partially owns. [4] [5]
He graduated from Hebron High School in 1961, earned a B.S. in Secondary Education from Indiana University in 1966, and later earned an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Valparaiso University in 1989. After one year teaching social studies at Boone Grove High School, he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1968 and trained in communications (morse code and teleprinter). He was stationed in Korea, achieved the rank of Sergeant, and was honorably discharged in 1973. [5]
After the Army, Aylesworth returned to Porter County and built a farming operation. Aylesworth Farms grew from 165 acres to over 2,400 acres between 1973 and 2003. He rose to president of the Indiana Corn Growers Association (1997-2002) and served on the National Corn Growers Association policy team. He co-founded Iroquois Bio Energy Company, an ethanol producer. He also served as Northern Regional Director of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management under Governors Daniels and Pence (2005-2014). In local politics, he was a Porter County Commissioner (1977-1984), county councilman (1988-1992), and chaired the Porter County Republican Party three times. [4] [5]
He chairs the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee and sits on the Commerce, Small Business and Economic Development Committee and the Environmental Affairs Committee. He authored a resolution to address judicial shortages in rural Indiana. He and his wife Dolores have three sons and eight grandchildren. He is active in St. Mary's Church in Kouts, the Farm Bureau Porter County Board, and the American Legion. [4] [6]
Tyler Bridges (D, Challenger)
Tyler Bridges is a 28-year-old teacher and father who describes himself as motivated to run by his four-year-old son and frustration with the direction of the state. He filed as a Democrat on January 9, 2026. [7] [8]
His campaign platform emphasizes affordability (particularly NIPSCO utility rates), public school funding (opposing voucher expansion), workers' rights (supporting right-to-repair laws for farmers and criticizing Indiana's right-to-work policies), and childcare (citing a $4.2 billion annual cost to Indiana from inadequate childcare access). He has pledged to attend local government meetings and town halls -- a contrast, he implies, with the current incumbent. [7]
The Race
This is a mismatch on paper. Aylesworth ran unopposed in his last two general elections and has never won with less than 56.7%. The district is deeply rural and deeply Republican. Bridges is a first-time candidate with no visible fundraising infrastructure or institutional support. The 55-year age gap between the two candidates is striking but unlikely to be electorally decisive in this district. Aylesworth will win. The relevant question is whether his age -- he turns 83 in 2026 and would be 85 at the end of his next term -- produces a Republican primary challenge in future cycles. [4]
HD-13: Rural West-Central Indiana and the Socialist Experiment
House District 13 is geographically large, covering all of Benton and Warren counties with portions of Fountain, Jasper, Montgomery, Newton, Tippecanoe, and White counties. The district is overwhelmingly rural and agricultural, though its Tippecanoe County slice touches the southern and western edges of the Lafayette metro area. This is conservative farmland -- the kind of territory that gave Matt Commons 73.7% in 2024. [9]
Matt Commons (R, Incumbent)
Matt Commons is a first-term representative who arrived in the Statehouse through a genuinely impressive primary upset. In May 2024, he defeated long-serving incumbent Sharon Negele 60.2% to 39.8% -- a result that caught the Indiana political establishment by surprise. [9]
Commons was born in Bedford, Indiana and served five years as an infantryman in the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division (2009-2014), completing two tours in Afghanistan and earning a Purple Heart after being wounded in combat during his second deployment. After the military, he pursued education: a bachelor's in social studies education from Purdue University, a master's in history from Liberty University, and a master's in educational leadership and administration from Indiana State University. He teaches social studies at Seeger Memorial High School in Williamsport. He has served on the Warren County Council since 2018. He and his wife Alyssa have two sons. [9] [10]
In the legislature, Commons sits on the Local Government, Natural Resources, and Veterans Affairs and Public Safety committees. His platform emphasizes local control, protecting the Wabash River from the LEAP project's water demands, IEDC accountability (he has criticized the agency for purchasing farmland at inflated prices), and Indiana's current abortion protections. He spent modestly in 2024: $39,848 in contributions, $20,333 in expenditures. [9] [10]
Democratic Primary: Brenna Geswein vs. Edward Moyer Jr.
Two Democrats are competing in the May 5 primary. Brenna Geswein is a mechanical engineer who has worked at Caterpillar's Lafayette facility for over 15 years. She is a West Lafayette resident, a former Habitat for Humanity board member, and campaigns on supporting vulnerable populations and representing "the average Hoosier." She has an ActBlue fundraising page. [11]
Edward Moyer Jr. is a retired educator from Hillsboro with an unusual academic background: a B.S. in Astrophysics from Indiana University (1986), an M.S. in Astronomy from the University of Arizona (1992), and an M.S. in Educational Leadership from Northern Illinois University (2006). He spent over three decades in education as a teacher, professional learning coordinator, principal, and district administrator. He served on the Quarknet Advisory Board at Fermilab National Laboratory for over two decades (2000-2021). He currently serves as Hillsboro Town Council president. He is 61, married to Holly, and has five children. [12]
Moyer ran against Commons in the 2024 general election and lost 26.3% to 73.7%. His second consecutive campaign for the same seat suggests either genuine commitment to the district or limited alternative Democratic recruitment -- probably both. [9] [12]
Ben Davis (Socialist Party of Indiana)
The more unusual candidate in this race is Ben Davis, nominated by the newly formed Socialist Party of Indiana. The party launched on March 15, 2026, at the historic Eugene V. Debs house in Terre Haute -- a location chosen for symbolic resonance, as Debs ran for president five times on the Socialist ticket from Indiana. Davis is one of three inaugural candidates (alongside Tanya Pearson for SD-26 and Harrison Jacobo for Secretary of State). [13]
Davis is a Lafayette native and career IT technologist. He is an activist with multiple organizations -- PFLAG, Jewish Voice for Peace, the Democratic Socialists of America, SURJ, and the Sunlight for All Network. He is the parent of a transgender child and served as Grand Marshal of the 2023 Indianapolis Pride Parade. He has been donating platelets through Versiti Blood Center of Indiana for 17 years (350+ donations) and has fundraised for St. Baldrick's children's cancer charity for five years. [14]
His platform targets working-class voters: fighting corporate interests, lowering the cost of living, rural healthcare access, education funding reform, broadband expansion, and environmental protection. He campaigns against what he calls "the wealth steal by the Epstein class." [14]
The Race
Commons will win the general election by a large margin regardless of which Democrat emerges from the primary or whether Davis draws any votes. The 2024 result -- 73.7% for the Republican -- leaves no realistic path for any challenger. The Socialist Party candidacy is historically notable as the first statewide third-party filing from the left in Indiana in years, but it is a statement candidacy, not a competitive one. HD-13 is safely Republican. [9]
HD-15: Suburban South Lake County
House District 15 covers Dyer, St. John, and portions of Schererville and Hanover Township in Lake County. These are middle-class suburban communities in the far south of Lake County, closer to Illinois than to Gary, and culturally part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The district has the most interesting recent electoral history in this batch. [15]
Harold "Hal" Slager (R, Incumbent)
Hal Slager has represented HD-15 in two separate stints: 2012-2018 and 2020-present. The gap matters.
Slager graduated from Butler University in 1981 with a B.S. and built a career in accounting and business. He worked as a CPA at a local firm, then in corporate accounting at Melvin Simon & Associates (the Simon Properties mall empire), before transitioning Trico Graphics into electronic publishing in the late 1980s and later founding Triangle Equities LLC for real estate development in 1997. He served on the Schererville Town Council for ten years starting in 2002, where he negotiated incentives for a $100 million shopping center development. He and his wife Carol have two sons. [15] [16]
He was first elected to the House in 2012 by just 51%. He won more comfortably in 2014 (58.7%) and 2016 (54.3%). Then in 2018 he lost to Democrat Chris Chyung by 82 votes -- one of the closest state legislative races in Indiana that year. Slager ran again in 2020 and reclaimed the seat with 51.5%. Since then he has widened his margins: 63.2% in 2022, 63.3% in 2024. [15]
In the legislature, Slager vice-chairs the Rules and Legislative Procedures Committee and sits on Ways and Means and Financial Institutions and Insurance. He has authored legislation on voting system reconciliation, tax sale procedures, school funding, childcare safety, public records transparency, and crisis intervention training for law enforcement. He secured $35 million in the biennium budget for construction of the Northwest Biosciences Building. His current priorities include fixing Medicaid reimbursement disparities that prevent NWI families from accessing pediatric specialists at Chicago hospitals and establishing statewide energy policy. [16]
Anthony Oberman (D, Challenger)
Anthony Oberman filed as a Democrat on January 29, 2026. He is the sole Democratic candidate, so he will advance to the general election unopposed in his primary. Public information about Oberman's background, occupation, and platform is minimal at this stage of the campaign -- no campaign website, no news coverage, and no Ballotpedia biography have appeared as of March 31, 2026. [8]
The Race
Slager's 2018 loss to Chyung proved that HD-15 can swing Democratic under the right conditions -- a blue-wave midterm with a strong young challenger. But the district has since settled back into comfortable Republican margins. Slager has won the last two cycles by 27 points each. Without a well-funded, well-known Democratic challenger, this seat is safe Republican. Oberman's lack of any visible campaign infrastructure as of late March 2026 suggests this will not be the cycle that tests Slager. [15]
What Connects These Four Races
All four districts are in northwest Indiana, within or adjacent to the Chicago metro area's southern fringe. All four have incumbents running for re-election. And in all four, the general election outcome is not seriously in doubt -- though HD-10 is the closest thing to competitive in the batch, with Moseley's sub-53% margins inviting a serious Republican challenge.
The most interesting dynamics are internal. In HD-13, the first Socialist Party of Indiana candidate in a generation is running in territory where Eugene Debs once built the American socialist movement -- a historical irony worth noting even if the electoral impact is nil. In HD-11, an 83-year-old fifth-generation farmer chairs the Agriculture Committee in a district where farming is the economy. In HD-15, a man who lost his seat by 82 votes in 2018 came back two years later and has since built a 27-point cushion.
These are not the races that will determine the balance of power in the Indiana House. But they are the races that tell you what the districts actually look like.