House District 38 spans all of Carroll and Tipton counties, plus portions of Cass, Clinton, Howard, and Tippecanoe counties in west-central Indiana. This is rural heartland territory -- corn and soybean country. Republican incumbent Heath VanNatter has held this seat since 2010 and has never faced a serious electoral challenge. His 2024 margin was 75.3%, and he has never won with less than 65% in a general election -- and has never faced a contested Republican primary.
Mark Hufford is a Carroll County farmer and small business owner from Cutler who has been self-employed for roughly twenty years. He previously served as a pastor in Flora and lived in Oregon for a decade before returning to Indiana. His candidacy is framed around "limited government" and opposition to pandemic-era government overreach. At a Clinton County forum, he described how he organized a petition against local mask mandates while pastoring in Flora.
HD-38 is a primary challenge that faces overwhelming structural headwinds. VanNatter holds a committee chairmanship that gives him institutional standing and access to the homebuilder, labor, and employer networks that constitute the district's Republican base. Hufford's candidacy appears to be a conviction candidacy rooted in COVID-era frustration rather than a strategically resourced campaign. The absence of a campaign website, the thin public record, and the reliance on proxy appearances at forums all point to a first-time candidate with limited political infrastructure.