Russell Stwalley

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

Russell Stwalley

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

June 2, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

Indiana University Bloomington, 1984-08

Personal

Birthplace

Crawfordsville, Ind.

Contact

Campaign website

Personal Facebook

Russell Stwalley (Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Indiana's 5th Congressional District. He lost in the Republican primary on June 2, 2020.

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

Biography

Russell Stwalley was born in Crawfordsville, Indiana. He earned a bachelor's degree from Indiana University Bloomington in 1984.

Elections

2020

See also: Indiana's 5th Congressional District election, 2020

Indiana's 5th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 2 Republican primary)

Indiana's 5th Congressional District election, 2020 (June 2 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Indiana District 5

Victoria Spartz defeated Christina Hale and Ken Tucker in the general election for U.S. House Indiana District 5 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Victoria Spartz (R)	50.0	208,212
		Christina Hale (D)	45.9	191,226
		Ken Tucker (L)	4.0	16,788

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 416,226
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Vernon Moore (Independent)
• Ellen Kizik (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Indiana District 5

Christina Hale defeated Dee Thornton, Jennifer Christie, Andy Jacobs, and Ralph Spelbring in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Indiana District 5 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Christina Hale	40.8	30,123
		Dee Thornton	27.1	20,049
		Jennifer Christie	18.1	13,345
	Submit photo	Andy Jacobs	13.3	9,817
	Submit photo	Ralph Spelbring	0.8	575

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 73,909
= 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 5

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. House Indiana District 5 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Victoria Spartz	39.7	34,526
		Beth Henderson	17.6	15,343
		Micah Beckwith	12.7	11,063
		Carl Brizzi	6.5	5,619
		Kent Abernathy	5.6	4,901
		Kelly Mitchell	5.3	4,643
		Chuck Dietzen	4.7	4,071
		Matthew Hook	2.5	2,147
		Andrew Bales	1.5	1,329
		Mark Small	1.2	1,057
		Danny Niederberger	0.8	675
		Victor Wakley	0.5	465
		Allen Davidson	0.5	411
		Russell Stwalley	0.4	379
		Matthew Hullinger	0.4	333

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 86,962
= 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.

Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Mark Jay (R)
• Steve Braun (R)
• Jeremy Miner (R)

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. House Indiana District 5

Ken Tucker advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. House Indiana District 5 on March 7, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Ken Tucker (L)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= 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.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Russell Stwalley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Stwalley'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 grew up on a family farm in central Indiana. I love history and reading about the founders and what made them do what they did has inspired me my entire life. We are nothing if we are not free. And we aren't. Our government has been corrupted by money and ideology that would have made our founders gag. Most of our problems can be fixed if we look back to the founders and follow their path. This will not be easy. The things that matter never are. After I graduated from college I bought some hiking gear and walked from Indiana to Florida. This was not easy and I could have given up at any point. But I didn't. The drive and determination it took to achieve that goal have been with me always. My life has not been about achieving financial success, fame and glory or anything like that at all. My life has been about understanding who I am and my place in the world. The first time I ran for Congress, in 1996, to replace John T. Myers, America was not quite ready for me. I finished 13th out of 14. But I had the campaign experience under my belt. This time around there is a new format involved. It's called "The Internet." I pretty much despise technology but I'll be doing my best to get my message out through various electronic means.

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?

• Put up or shut up.
• Keep your story straight by sticking to the truth.
• If you can't do the first two there are consequences.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Draining the swamp and fixing the problem so it doesn't EVER come back. You do this first by exposing the swamp creatures, prosecuting them and finally by eliminating their financing.

Ending endless wars. Bring our troops and equipment home. Cut the military budget. If you have a problem with cutting the military budget you are not even remotely serious about the next item. Cease and desist with the aid to foreign countries.
Deal with our Debt. We can't raise taxes enough to ever seriously deal with the debt as long as we keep spending. So we eliminate financing the swamp creatures, cut the military budget and raise taxes on the super-wealthy.
Term limits. Consider making them retroactive as well.

Protecting the Constitution as the founders intended.

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

I look up to the founders... well... most of them. I despise Hamilton. Aaron Burr is probably my favorite. You can probably figure out why from the person I mentioned just before him.

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

Honesty. The scene from Excalibur comes to mind on this. Arthur asks Merlin what is the most important quality of knighthood. Merlin at first gives him some non-sense about how they blend together but Arthur presses him for just one. And Merlin replies, "Truth, yes, that's it, it must be truth above all others. When a man lies he murders some part of the world."

What legacy would you like to leave?

A strong foundation for the future.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

I struggle with your definition of "historical" event. I remember the Bobby Kennedy assassination. That would be when I was five. But I remember plenty of things before that as well, which are historic to me. My first memory is of being in the crib at night listening to the sounds of the brickyard which was across the street. We moved out of that house shortly after I turned three.

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

Working on a farm. I had it until I left home for college. If you mean working for someone other than family... that would be de-tasseling. It lasted until we pulled all the tassels.

What is your favorite book? Why?

The Crippled God, Steven Erickson. It is the culmination of a ten book series that will emotionally rip you to shreds. After nine books of 600 pages or so, you are kind of heavily invested in these characters.

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

Absolutely not. It's thoughts like that that keep good, quality people from running. People with political experience tend to be the ones that get elected and then stay there. Unless ambition moves them on to another elected position. Then they will stay there. Unless they think they have a shot at being president. Thinking that representatives should have previous government experience is just wrong. Let's say you hold a state office and an incumbent for Congress decides not to run for re-election. You leap into the fray because you've had the experience, you've got the backing, you've got the money, you've even got a bit of name recognition. It absolutely doesn't mean you are the best qualified. Not that anyone comes to mind.....

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

Having seen the Intelligence Committee in action recently and realizing that intelligence isn't a requisite... well, I'd be a perfect fit. The Ethics committee, too, would be a good fit for the opposite reason. I actually have those.

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

The founders did, and that is enough for me. They considered term limits, too but ultimately decided against it. The idea of career politicians hadn't caught on at that time. Boy, it has now. And then some! So not only do we need to put term limits in place, we need to consider making them retroactive.

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

Newsletters

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External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Campaign website

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)