Indiana Senate District 45 is not competitive, and everyone involved knows it. Republican incumbent Chris Garten -- the Senate Majority Floor Leader, a Marine combat veteran, Trump-endorsed, and the author of the session's flagship legislation -- faces Democrat Nick Marshall, who lost to Garten by 24 points in 2022, and Libertarian Larry Mahaney, an EMT and first-time state-level candidate.
Garten is unopposed in the Republican primary. Marshall is unopposed in the Democratic primary. The general election on November 3, 2026, is the only contest, and the structural math makes it a foregone conclusion.
The district sits on the Ohio River, directly across from Louisville, Kentucky. Key communities include Jeffersonville, Clarksville, Sellersburg, and Charlestown.
Chris Garten is not a typical state legislator. At 44, he is the youngest person to hold the Majority Floor Leader position and the first to receive it in his first term. He was born in Fort Lauderdale but grew up in Scottsburg, Indiana, in modest circumstances. He was adopted at age 14. He left Indiana University Southeast after September 11 to enlist in the Marine Corps Reserve, served 14 years including two combat deployments to Iraq, and separated as a gunnery sergeant. After returning, he founded Signature Countertops in a one-car garage.
His 2026 session was arguably his most significant. Senate Bill 1, his flagship, imposed stricter eligibility verification for Medicaid and SNAP, reinstated work requirements for the Healthy Indiana Plan, and eliminated broad-based categorical eligibility for food stamps. It passed the Senate 38-8, the House 62-31, and was signed by the governor. The White House endorsed it as a "gold standard" for Medicaid reform.
Garten voted yes on HB 1032, the redistricting bill, with a floor speech that was one of the most combative in the chamber: "The vote we are about to take is not simply procedural. It's a vote of critical, epic proportion that will define Indiana's role in the recovery of this republic." He added: "Some will say these maps are political. Let me be clear, you're damn right they are."
Nick Marshall's biography is genuinely compelling. He spent over twenty years in state care, beginning as an infant. He became the first in his family to graduate from college. He is explicitly campaigning against Garten's flagship achievement -- Senate Bill 1 -- arguing that its Medicaid and SNAP restrictions will drain revenue from local governments. This is the closest thing the race has to a substantive policy debate: the Majority Floor Leader's signature bill versus a challenger who says it will hurt the communities it claims to protect.
The structural challenge is severe. In 2022, Marshall raised $16,520. Garten raised roughly 57 times more across his career. But Marshall's persistence and his story -- a foster kid who keeps showing up to advocate for children and families in a district where he knows the math is against him -- is not nothing.
The race to watch in SD-45 is not the general election. It is what Garten does next. Majority Floor Leader at 44, with a legislative record, a Trump endorsement, military credentials, and a business biography -- this is a resume being built for a higher office.