Chip Coldiron

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Chip Coldiron

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

Indiana University, 2004-12

Graduate

Indiana University, 2012-05

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Army

Years of service

2005 - 2010

Personal

Birthplace

Fort Wayne, Ind.

Religion

Christian

Profession

High school science teacher

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Campaign YouTube

Chip Coldiron (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Indiana's 3rd Congressional District. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Coldiron completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Chip Coldiron was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He served in the U.S. Army from 2005 to 2010. Coldiron earned a bachelor's degree from Indiana University in 2004 and a master's degree from Indiana University in 2012. Coldiron’s career experience includes working as a high school science teacher. He has been associated with the Indiana State Teacher's Association.

Elections

2020

See also: Indiana's 3rd Congressional District election, 2020

Indiana's 3rd Congressional District election, 2020 (June 2 Democratic primary)

Indiana's 3rd Congressional District election, 2020 (June 2 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Indiana District 3

Incumbent Jim Banks defeated Chip Coldiron in the general election for U.S. House Indiana District 3 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jim Banks (R)	67.8	220,989
		Chip Coldiron (D)	32.2	104,762

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 325,751
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Robert Enders (L)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Indiana District 3

Chip Coldiron defeated Carlos Marcano, Tommy Schrader, and Jean-Paul Kalonji in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Indiana District 3 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chip Coldiron	38.9	13,545
		Carlos Marcano	30.9	10,759
	Submit photo	Tommy Schrader	16.0	5,570
		Jean-Paul Kalonji	14.2	4,954

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 34,828
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Indiana District 3

Incumbent Jim Banks defeated Chris Magiera in the Republican primary for U.S. House Indiana District 3 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jim Banks	85.2	64,574
		Chris Magiera	14.8	11,200

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 75,774
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Chip Coldiron completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Coldiron's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a career public servant. I have spent my adult life either working in the healthcare field, defending our country while serving in the United States Army, or teaching high school science throughout various schools in Indiana. I was born in Fort Wayne, the heart of Indiana's third congressional district, and moved to Wells County as a child with my parents. After graduating from high school, I attended Indiana University where I earned a degree in Biology as well as a degree in Political Science and Economics. While attending Indiana University, September 11th happened. When this occurred, I felt a responsibility to join the military and defend my country, which is exactly what I did upon graduation from Indiana University. I therefore enlisted as an infantrymen and went to basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia...the home of the INFANTRY!

Upon graduating from basic training and advanced individual training, I was assigned to Fort Drum, New York, home of the 10th Mountain Light Infantry Division. While stationed at Fort Drum, I deployed twice to Afghanistan for a total of 28 months, engaging in multiple encounters with insurgents. After being honorably discharged, I attended graduate school to earn a Master's in Education and my teaching license.

For the past eight years, I have been teaching high school science, with the last five at Norwell High School in Wells County.

If elected, I will be the voice of the working families in Northeast Indiana.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I want to fix the Affordable Care Act so that everyone has affordable healthcare insurance and that choices in healthcare are still provided.
• I want to find programs to help those struggling with student loan debt without using taxpayers dollars.
• I want to find ways to better protect the environment and use "clean energy" to promote economic growth.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

1. providing affordable healthcare

2. protecting the environment
3. protecting and properly implementing assistance programs
4. protecting and funding social security

5. sensible gun laws

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I look up to the late Senator John McCain. Although Senator McCain had an "R" behind his name, he always voted with his conscience. I too will vote with my conscience regardless of "party line" votes.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

The most important aspect of being an elected official is putting the needs of your constituents ahead of your own. We need to listen to what our constituents are telling us they need from our government and do our best to meet those needs.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Being an officeholder is about being a leader. Throughout my career in the military as well as in teaching, leading means putting the needs of others above your own. I will bring this mentality to my position every single day that I am in office.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Fortunate Son by CCR

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

What is most beneficial for a representative to possess if he/she is going to try and govern is a willing to be a public servant. Without the willingness to put others first, any previous experience is null and void.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Our nation's greatest challenge over the next decade does come from outside sources or from a potential global catastrophe. Rather, our greatest challenge is re-learning how to work together for the common good. Nearly every bill that comes to vote is split exactly down party lines. This is not how our representatives should vote, nor is it always been this way. If we truly want to be a world leader, it starts with being able to stand up to outside pressures and learning how to work with others in our own government.

If you are not a current representative, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

As a former veteran, I would be honored to serve on the Armed Forces committee as well as the Veteran's Affairs committee. In addition, since I am a science teacher, I would also be interested in being selected for the science, space, and technology committee. In all three committees, I feel as though I can bring valuable real-world experiences to the other committee members as well be able to have meaningful conversations with those on the committees with more experience than myself.

Regardless of which committees I am able to serve upon, I will do my best to work with both parties for the betterment of our country.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2020 Elections

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Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

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External links

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Footnotes

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Indiana's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Jim Banks (R)

Todd Young (R)

Representatives

District 1

Frank Mrvan (D)

District 2

Rudy Yakym (R)

District 3

Marlin Stutzman (R)

District 4

Jim Baird (R)

District 5

Victoria Spartz (R)

District 6

Jefferson Shreve (R)

District 7

André Carson (D)

District 8

Mark Messmer (R)

District 9

Erin Houchin (R)

Republican Party (9)

Democratic Party (2)