Overview
Two rural Indiana House seats feature contested Republican primaries on May 5, 2026 -- and both follow the same structural pattern. In House District 44, a first-time challenger is mounting the first primary challenge since 2018 against a third-term incumbent who inherited the seat from his father. In House District 45, a Knox County Commissioner is making her second consecutive run against an incumbent who barely survived a three-way primary in 2024, winning with just 38% of the vote. Neither district is remotely competitive in the general election -- Baird ran unopposed in 2020, 2022, and 2024, and Borders ran unopposed in the 2024 general -- making these Republican primaries the only real elections in either district. [1]
HD-44: The Heir vs. the Newcomer -- Putnam and Montgomery Counties
The District
House District 44 encompasses all of Putnam County and approximately 65% of Montgomery County in central Indiana. [2] The county seat of Putnam County is Greencastle, home to DePauw University. Montgomery County's seat is Crawfordsville. The district is overwhelmingly rural, anchored in small-town communities that depend on agriculture, light manufacturing, and the economic spillover from the two county seats.
This is deep-red territory. Beau Baird has run unopposed in every general election since 2020. In his only contested general election (2018), he won with 68.8% of the vote. [1] The district sits within Indiana's 4th Congressional District, currently represented by Jim Baird -- the incumbent state representative's father. [3]
The Incumbent: Beau Baird (R)
Beau Baird is a third-term Republican who took office in January 2019 after his father, Jim Baird, left the state legislature to run for Congress. [3] The family succession is the defining fact of his political biography: he won his father's seat in the same cycle his father won a congressional seat, continuing Baird family representation of the district without interruption.
Baird was born in Greencastle in 1981 and has deep roots in Putnam County. He graduated from Greencastle High School and earned a B.S. in Financial Planning from Purdue University's Krannert School of Management, followed by an MBA from Purdue and a Master of Liberal Arts from Harvard University's Extension School. [3] [4] His professional career centers on two roles: Chief Financial Officer of Indiana Home Care Plus, a home health care agency with 50+ employees that he has managed since 2004, and owner/operator of Baird Ranch, a quarter horse breeding operation. [4]
His legislative portfolio reflects agricultural and environmental interests. He chairs the House Environmental Affairs Committee -- a post he assumed in January 2025 when his predecessor left to head the Indiana Department of Natural Resources -- and serves on the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee and the Rules and Legislative Procedures Committee. [5] He also chairs the State Fair Advisory Committee. His authored legislation has included a landowner forest management program (HB 1661) and free state park admission for veterans with ID (HB 1556). [5]
Baird's organizational affiliations reveal his power base: he serves on the International Board of Directors of the American Quarter Horse Association, chairs the Putnam County Republican Party, and participates in the Indiana Agricultural Leadership Program. [4] He is a Republican Co-Chair of the Indiana chapter of Future Caucus. [3]
One notable vote distinguishes Baird from the average rural Indiana Republican: he voted against certifying the electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania on January 6-7, 2021. [3]
His campaign finance history shows modest spending consistent with uncontested races: $90,072 in total contributions across four cycles (2018-2024), with only $52,215 in total expenditures. [3] In 2024, he raised just $20,400 -- the spending level of an incumbent who expected no opposition.
The Challenger: Clint Cooper (R)
Clint Cooper is a first-time candidate challenging Baird in the first Republican primary this seat has seen since 2018. [6]
Cooper's biographical profile is thinner than the incumbent's. He went into law enforcement straight out of high school and has served on several community boards, including the Chamber of Commerce, the Planning and Zoning Commission, and the Fair Board. [6] He has worked in Crawfordsville -- the Montgomery County seat -- for four years. The available reporting does not specify his current employer or precise role.
Cooper's path to this race was indirect. He initially considered running two years earlier but withdrew after learning Baird might run for Congress -- a departure that never materialized. Community encouragement subsequently drew him back to a candidacy. [6]
His platform centers on two local issues and a structural reform:
Solar farms are what Cooper calls the "number one issue" he hears from constituents. Putnam County's Plan Commission recently voted down a proposed 2,000-acre solar farm in Cloverdale and Jefferson townships, and the tension between agricultural land preservation and renewable energy siting is live in the district. [6] [7] Cooper opposes solar installations on productive cropland, arguing Indiana should prioritize commercial rooftop solar instead. He claims 25 square miles of commercial rooftops in Indiana could power 500,000 to 900,000 homes if fitted with panels. [6]
Senate Bill 1 -- the property tax relief legislation -- is Cooper's other substantive issue. He argues the bill will create budget pressure for Greencastle and local governments, stating it "is going to put us in a bind." [6]
Term limits represent his structural reform position. Cooper advocates a maximum of eight years in the legislature, a position that implicitly critiques Baird's eight years in office and his family's multi-decade hold on the seat. [6]
Cooper's campaign pitch emphasizes accessibility and constituent service over ideology. He describes himself as a "very public person" who attends community events and will engage voters regardless of party affiliation -- a contrast with an incumbent he implicitly frames as too focused on Statehouse work and not present enough in the district. [6]
The General Election: Kelsey Kauffman (D)
Kelsey Kauffman is running unopposed in the Democratic primary. [1] In a district where the Republican nominee has won every general election since 2018 -- and run unopposed in three of four cycles -- her candidacy ensures a Democratic name on the November ballot without meaningfully threatening the Republican nominee.
What to Watch
The HD-44 Republican primary is structurally unfavorable to the challenger. Baird is a committee chair with organizational ties throughout the agricultural community and the county party apparatus. Cooper is a first-time candidate with limited name recognition beyond his community board service. The challenger's two strongest issues -- solar farms and SB 1 -- are real local concerns, but they require Cooper to convince Republican primary voters that Baird has been inadequate on these issues, not merely that the issues exist.
The family dynasty angle is politically delicate. Cooper advocates term limits and implicitly criticizes the Baird family's unbroken grip on the seat, but explicitly attacking a family legacy in a small community can alienate voters who view the Bairds favorably. The question is whether dissatisfaction with Baird's Statehouse focus is widespread enough to overcome the structural advantages of incumbency in a low-turnout primary.
HD-45: The Rematch -- Sullivan, Greene, Knox, Daviess, and Vigo Counties
The District
House District 45 stretches across all of Greene and Sullivan counties, plus portions of Daviess, Knox, and Vigo counties in southwest Indiana. [8] This is coal country -- economically depressed rural territory in the state's southwestern corner, centered on communities like Jasonville, Linton, Sullivan, and Vincennes. The district includes one or more "Pivot Counties" -- counties that voted for Obama twice before swinging to Trump in 2016 -- reflecting a blue-collar electorate that has moved sharply rightward. [9]
The partisan dynamics are definitive. Borders ran unopposed in the 2024 general election with 23,309 votes. In 2022, he defeated an independent candidate 69.8% to 30.2%. [9] No Democrat has won this seat since Kreg Battles beat Borders by 0.2 points in 2012 -- and Battles lost the seat back to Borders two years later. The Republican primary is the only election that matters.
The Incumbent: Bruce Borders (R)
Bruce Borders is a long-serving Republican who has held the District 45 seat across two separate tenures: 2004-2012 and 2014-present. [8] Including his service as Mayor of Jasonville from 1987 to 1995, Borders has been in elected office for roughly three decades. [10]
Borders graduated as valedictorian of Shakamak High School and earned a BBA in Business Management from Evangel College (now Evangel University) in Springfield, Missouri. [8] He owns Borders Insurance & Financial Services. He holds a leadership position as Assistant Majority Whip in the Indiana House and serves as Vice Chair of the Local Government Committee, with additional seats on the Commerce, Small Business and Economic Development Committee and the Insurance Committee. [8]
His personal biography includes an unusual distinction: Borders gained national recognition as an Elvis Presley impersonator, appearing on Late Night with David Letterman, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Entertainment Tonight. [10] He is an active member and Royal Rangers teacher at First Assembly of God in Jasonville.
Borders' legislative record includes some controversial positions. He supported Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act (SB 101) in 2015, stating that "if we truly are doing things unto the Lord, our business can be...a church or sanctuary." [11] In 2017, he introduced HB 1361, a bill that would have restricted gender changes on birth certificates, which LGBTQ advocacy groups condemned as denying "the very existence of transgender people." The bill did not advance from committee. [11]
His campaign finance numbers are substantially higher than most rural incumbents: $162,750 in contributions in 2024 alone, and over $600,000 combined across recent cycles. [10] That 2024 spending spike reflects the three-way primary he nearly lost.
The Vulnerability
The 2024 Republican primary is the essential context for this race. In a three-way contest, Borders won with just 38.0% of the vote (3,553 votes), edging Kellie Streeter by 323 votes (34.6%, 3,230 votes) and Jeff Ellington by roughly 1,000 votes (27.4%, 2,558 votes). [9] [12]
That result means 62% of Republican primary voters chose someone other than Borders. In a two-way rematch, the arithmetic question is straightforward: where do Ellington's 2,558 voters go? If even a modest majority breaks toward Streeter, Borders loses. The incumbent survived 2024 because the opposition was split; the opposition is no longer split.
Borders has faced primary challenges in every cycle since returning to the seat in 2014. He beat Jeff Ellington 53.3% to 46.7% in 2022 and Jeff Gormong 67.3% to 32.7% in 2020. [9] The trend line is unfavorable: his primary margin has shrunk from 35 points (2020) to 7 points (2022) to a plurality win at 38% (2024). The district's Republican base appears increasingly willing to try someone new.
The Challenger: Kellie Streeter (R)
Kellie Streeter is a Knox County Commissioner making her second consecutive run for this seat, and she enters the 2026 primary with stronger structural advantages than any previous Borders challenger. [13]
Streeter's professional credentials are unusually deep for a state house challenger. She has served as a Knox County Commissioner since 2016 -- the first woman elected to that position -- and currently serves as President of the Knox County Board of Commissioners. [13] [14] She is a Past President of the Indiana County Commissioners Association and currently chairs its Legislative Committee, giving her statewide organizational ties and direct experience working with state legislators on county-level policy. [14] She also serves as Administrator of the Daviess County Health Department, sits on the Good Samaritan Hospital Board of Governors, and serves on the Knox County Indiana Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors. [13]
She holds a bachelor's degree from Kentucky Wesleyan College (2004) and originally hails from rural Kentucky before settling in Freelandville. [13] She has three children who attend or graduated from North Knox Schools and two grandchildren. She serves as Vice Chair of the Knox County Republican Party and is a member of Word of Life Church in Bicknell. [13]
Her campaign platform centers on four priorities: [14]
Local control -- protecting agricultural decisions, land use, and energy development decisions at the county level rather than ceding them to state mandates.
Infrastructure -- securing fair funding for roads, bridges, and drainage systems. In her 2024 Indiana Public Media interview, she cited road funding formulas that "haven't been reviewed in years" and anticipated impacts of electric vehicles on gas tax revenue. [15]
Rural healthcare access -- supporting rural hospitals, EMS services, and provider recruitment. She specifically cited Medicaid reimbursement rates affecting rural hospitals and OB service availability. [15]
Public safety -- backing first responders, law enforcement, and emergency services. As commissioner, she led the launch of a new county ambulance service in 2022. [14]
Her policy accomplishments as commissioner include passing Knox County's first Unsafe Building Ordinance, creating a Code Enforcement Officer position, and authoring what she describes as Indiana's first County Invasive Species Ordinance to protect agricultural land. [14]
Streeter's recognition within Republican and county government circles is extensive: Knox County Chamber of Commerce 5 Under 40 (2021), County Commissioner of the Year from the Association of Indiana Counties (2024), and the Distinguished County Commissioner Award from the Indiana Association of County Commissioners (2025). [13] She holds endorsements from the Indiana Farm Bureau AgELECT PAC, the Knox County Council, and Daviess County Sheriff Gary Allison. [13]
Her 2024 campaign finance report showed $39,170 in contributions and $22,183 in expenditures -- competitive for a challenger but dwarfed by Borders' $162,750 in contributions. [13] Whether she can close the fundraising gap in the rematch will be a significant factor.
Streeter identifies as "pro-life," "pro-Second Amendment," and a "Christian conservative" -- positions indistinguishable from Borders on the ideological spectrum. [15] This is not an ideological challenge from the right or the center. It is a competence-and-representation argument: Streeter contends she is more effective, more engaged, and more connected to the district's practical needs than a long-serving incumbent whose primary margins have been shrinking for years.
The General Election: Rebecca Mayfield (D)
Rebecca Dawn (Becky) Mayfield is running unopposed in the Democratic primary. [1] As with HD-44, the district's deep-red lean makes the general election a formality. The Republican primary winner will represent District 45.
What to Watch
The HD-45 rematch is the more consequential race in this batch. The structural dynamics have shifted significantly since 2024:
The field narrowed. Jeff Ellington's absence transforms a three-way race into a head-to-head contest. Borders won 2024 with 38% -- meaning 62% voted for alternatives. If Streeter consolidates even a bare majority of Ellington's voters, she wins.
The challenger is stronger. Streeter ran her 2024 campaign as an underdog with limited resources and still came within 323 votes. She now enters with name recognition, an established campaign infrastructure, statewide endorsements, and a results-based argument strengthened by the Commissioner of the Year and Distinguished Commissioner awards she earned between cycles.
The incumbent's trend line is adverse. Borders' primary margins have shrunk in each cycle: 35 points (2020), 7 points (2022), 3.5 points (2024). The district's Republican electorate has been signaling dissatisfaction with increasing clarity. Whether that signal reflects a genuine desire for change or merely the noise of perennial primary challenges will be tested on May 5.
Borders' advantages remain real: he is an Assistant Majority Whip with leadership-tier fundraising capacity and decades of name recognition. But his 2024 result was a warning shot that arrived in the form of near-defeat, and the dynamics of the rematch favor the challenger more than any previous cycle.
The Structural Story
These two districts sit in the rural heartland of Indiana's Republican supermajority -- territory so red that Democratic challengers are either absent or ceremonial. The meaningful political competition happens entirely within the Republican primary, where low turnout and self-selected electorates determine who governs.
In HD-44, the incumbent's advantages are overwhelming: a committee chairmanship, family legacy, organizational ties, and no prior vulnerability. Cooper's challenge is a legitimate expression of local concern about solar farms and property taxes, but it faces the structural barriers of a first-time candidacy against an entrenched incumbent.
In HD-45, the dynamics are genuinely competitive. An incumbent who won with 38% faces a rematch against a challenger who came within 323 votes in a split field that is no longer split. Streeter's credentials, endorsements, and award-winning county government record make her the strongest challenger Borders has faced in his lengthy career. The May 5 primary will determine whether the district's Republican electorate follows through on the dissatisfaction they have been signaling for three cycles running.