Representative Mark Edward Souder

Mark Edward Souder (July 18, 1950 – September 26, 2022) was an American politician and businessman from Indiana who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2010. Over eight consecutive terms in Congress, he represented first Indiana’s 4th congressional district and, following redistricting, Indiana’s 3rd congressional district, participating actively in the legislative process and representing the interests of his constituents during a significant period in recent American political history.

Souder was born on July 18, 1950, in Grabill, Indiana, a small town in Allen County near Fort Wayne. He was raised in northeastern Indiana, an area that would later form the core of his congressional base. His early life in this largely rural and small-town region helped shape his political outlook and his emphasis on conservative social values, limited government, and strong ties to local communities.

Souder pursued higher education in Indiana, attending Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1972. He later continued his studies at the University of Notre Dame, receiving a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 1974. His academic training in business and management informed both his early professional endeavors and his later work in Congress, where he frequently approached policy questions with an eye toward economic impact and administrative efficiency.

Before his election to Congress, Souder worked in both the private sector and in government. He was involved in his family’s retail business in northeastern Indiana, gaining experience as a businessman that he would later cite as grounding his views on taxation, regulation, and small business policy. During the 1980s and early 1990s, he built his career in national politics as a congressional aide and committee staff director to U.S. Representative and later Senator Dan Coats of Indiana. In this capacity, he worked on legislative issues and committee operations, developing expertise in federal policy and the workings of Congress that prepared him for his own tenure as a legislator.

Souder entered electoral politics in the Republican wave election of 1994. In his initial campaign for Congress that year, he pledged his support for term-limit legislation, aligning himself with the broader reform themes of the “Republican Revolution.” He won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 1994 and took office on January 3, 1995. From 1995 to 2003 he served four terms representing Indiana’s 4th congressional district. After redistricting based on the 2000 census, he was elected in 2002 to represent Indiana’s 3rd congressional district, centered on Fort Wayne and surrounding counties, and he continued to hold that seat until his resignation in 2010.

During his congressional service, Souder was known as a conservative Republican, particularly on social issues, and he participated in the full range of legislative activities, including committee work, floor debates, and constituent services. He contributed to the legislative process over eight terms in office, often emphasizing family values, law enforcement, and education-related issues. He was repeatedly returned to office by voters in northeastern Indiana. In the 2004 general election, the 3rd district re-elected Souder by a margin of 69 percent to 31 percent over Democratic challenger Maria Parra. In 2006, he faced Fort Wayne City Councilman and military veteran Dr. Tom Hayhurst, winning re-election with 54 percent of the vote to Hayhurst’s 46 percent and carrying all eight counties in his congressional district. In 2008, he was re-elected to an eighth term in the U.S. House, defeating Democrat Mike Montagano and Libertarian William Larsen.

Souder’s congressional career ended abruptly in 2010. In May of that year, he announced that he would resign from the U.S. House of Representatives and withdraw as the Republican nominee for re-election in the fall. He acknowledged that he had engaged in an extramarital affair with a part-time female staff member, stating in his written resignation announcement, “I sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part time member of my staff. I am so shamed to have hurt those I love.” When reading the statement aloud to the press in Fort Wayne, he departed from the prepared text to explain why his wife of 30 years was not standing beside him, saying, “I’m sick of politicians who drag their spouses up in front of the cameras rather than confronting the problem they caused.” His resignation, effective in May 2010, brought to a close more than fifteen years of service in the House. The vacancy prompted the 2010 special election in Indiana’s 3rd congressional district, held concurrently with that year’s regular elections, in which Republican Marlin Stutzman was elected to succeed him.

After leaving Congress, Souder returned to private life in Indiana. Drawing on his background as a businessman and former legislator, he remained engaged in public affairs and policy discussions, though outside of elected office. He continued to be identified with the conservative politics of northeastern Indiana and with the legislative record he had built over eight terms in the House of Representatives. Mark Edward Souder died on September 26, 2022, closing a career that had spanned local business, congressional staff work, and a decade and a half of service as a U.S. representative from Indiana.