Jackie Walorski

Jackie Walorski
File:Jackie Walorski 117th Congress portrait.jpg Official portrait, 2020
Ranking Member of the House Ethics Committee
In office January 3, 2021 – August 3, 2022
Preceded by	Kenny Marchant
Succeeded by	TBD
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 2nd district
In office January 3, 2013 – August 3, 2022
Preceded by	Joe Donnelly
Succeeded by	Vacant
Member of the Indiana House of Representatives from the 21st district
In office January 5, 2005 – November 16, 2010
Preceded by	Richard W. Mangus
Succeeded by	Timothy Wesco
Personal details
Born	(1963-08-17)August 17, 1963 South Bend, Indiana, U.S.
Died	near Nappanee, Indiana, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Dean Swihart (m. 1995)
Education	Liberty University Taylor University (BA)

Jacqueline R. Walorski (/wəˈlɔːrski/, 17 August 1963 – 3 August 2022) was an American politician and U.S. representative for Indiana's 2nd congressional district from 2013 until her death in 2022. A member of the Republican Party, she was a member of the Indiana House of Representatives, representing Indiana's 21st district, from 2005 to 2010. In 2010, Walorski won the Republican nomination for Indiana's 2nd congressional district, but narrowly lost the general election to Democratic incumbent Joe Donnelly. Walorski won the seat in 2012 after Donnelly vacated it to run for the U.S. Senate. Walorski died in a car crash in Indiana on August 3, 2022.

Early life, education and early career

Born in South Bend, Indiana, on August 17, 1963, Walorski grew up with her two older brothers in the city's Gilmer Park neighborhood. Her mother, Martha C. (née Martin), worked as a meat cutter at a local grocery store, and her father, Raymond B. Walorski, worked as a firefighter and owned an appliance store. She had Polish and German ancestry. As a child, she attended Hay Elementary School and graduated from Riley High School in 1981. She then attended Liberty Baptist College from 1981 to 1983, and graduated from Taylor University, receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in communications and public administration in 1985.

Walorski began her career as a television reporter for WSBT-TV, a CBS affiliate in South Bend, from 1985 to 1989, and was the executive director of the St. Joseph County Humane Society from 1989 to 1991. In 1991, she was appointed as the director of institutional advancement at Ancilla College, a position she held until she was appointed as the director of membership at the St. Joseph County Chamber of Commerce in 1996. She later worked as the director of annual giving at Indiana University South Bend from 1997 to 1999.

Walorski moved to Romania in 2000 and founded Impact International, a foundation to provide medical supplies and attention to impoverished children. She did Christian missionary work in Romania before returning to the U.S. in 2004.

Indiana House of Representatives

Elections

In 2004, Walorski ran for a seat in the Indiana House of Representatives after incumbent Republican State Representative Richard W. Mangus decided to retire. She ran for Indiana's 2nd District, which included the suburban area between South Bend and Elkhart. Walorski defeated Democrat Carl H. Kaser, 64%–36%. In 2006, she won a second term with 53% of the vote. In 2008, she won a third term unopposed.

Tenure

During her tenure in the Indiana House, Walorski was a sponsor of Indiana's Voter ID law, requiring voters to present government-issued identification during in-person voting. The Voter ID law led to many lawsuits and was brought before the Supreme Court, where it was upheld in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, and is cited as helping the expansion of Voter ID laws in other states.

Walorski has been criticized for missing a committee vote and the opportunity for stopping the Daylight Saving Time bill from passing out of committee, even though that bill died on the House floor. After a different bill passed introducing DST, she authored and introduced a bill to rescind DST, a measure that ended up dying.

Walorski authored legislation combating identity theft, including in 2006 when she sponsored a bill requiring companies to notify customers who are Indiana residents, of any security breaches that could cause identity theft, identity deception or fraud, and making it a Class C felony and imposing a $50,000 fine on anyone who has the identities of over 100 persons. "Identity theft is the most rapidly growing crime in the United States. We need to find a solution to this problem before it gets any bigger in Indiana", she said.

Committee assignments

• Republican Study Committee

Walorski became active in the caucus and was appointed as Assistant Floor Leader. She served on the Family, Children, & Human Affairs and the Public Policy committees.

U.S. House of Representatives

See also: 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Indiana § District 2

On January 31, 2009, Walorski announced her candidacy to challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Representative Joe Donnelly in Indiana's 2nd congressional district. She won the Republican primary on May 4, 2010 with 61% of the votes, defeating Martin Dolan, Jack Jordan, and Tony Zirkle. She lost the November 2 general election, 48%–47%.

See also: 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Indiana § District 2

On March 22, 2011, Walorski announced that she would run for Indiana's 2nd Congressional District again. Over the Indiana legislature's 2011–2013 legislative session, the predominantly Republican Indiana House and Senate redrew Indiana's congressional districts. After redistricting, the newly drawn 2nd district included all of Elkhart County, Walorski's home county, and the demographics of the new district included more registered Republican voters. Had the district existed with these lines in 2008, Barack Obama would have won it by just 0.3 percentage points, 49.6% to John McCain's 49.3%. In contrast, he won the old 2nd with 54% of the vote.

Donnelly decided not to seek reelection, opting instead to run for the U.S. Senate. Walorski ran against Libertarian candidate Joe Ruiz of Mishawaka and Democratic candidate Brendan Mullen of Granger, an Iraq War veteran.

On May 8, 2012, Walorski won the primary election with 73% of the vote, winning all 10 counties in the 2nd District.

Walorski defeated Mullen 49%–48%, likely helped by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney carrying her district with 56% of the vote. She took office on January 3, 2013. At the same time, Donnelly was elected to the Senate.

Walorski voted against the second impeachment of Donald Trump and voted to object to the certification of the 2020 United States presidential election.

In her final election, Walorski won the 2022 Republican primary for the 2nd Congressional District uncontested.

Committee assignments

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces
  • Subcommittee on Military Personnel
• Committee on the Budget
• Committee on Veterans' Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Health
  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
• Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis

Caucus memberships

• Veterinary Medicine Caucus
• U.S.-Japan Caucus
• Republican Study Committee

Political positions

Defense

On May 25, 2018, Walorski introduced legislation to double the death gratuity paid to the families of service members killed on active duty. The legislation would increase the current death gratuity of $100,000 to $200,000. Under the bill, at least 60% of the benefit would be paid to the surviving spouse. Service members could choose how the remaining 40% would be disbursed. The bill would also cap death benefits for members of Congress at $74,000. This would result in a payment of about $100,000 less than would be paid under the current system.

Health care

Walorski voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

Economy

Walorski advocated privatizing Social Security. In March 2010, she said, "I think the one thing we have to do is the thing that Bush actually tried to do a couple years ago, which is privatize Social Security and allow people to invest in their own retirement."

Walorski voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

In 2018, Walorski said she opposed the Trump tariffs on goods imported from American allies. She said that such duties threaten American businesses and workers. These include a 25% tariff on steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum. Walorski also asked that the system for granting exclusions for certain kinds of products be accelerated.

Abortion

In 2013, Walorski expressed support for a ban on late-term abortions.

In October 2017, Walorski asked the Indiana State Department of Health to deny an application to open an abortion clinic in South Bend, saying the clinic would undermine efforts to reduce the number of abortions in the area.

Interest group ratings

Walorski was given a "D" rating in 2016 from marijuana legalization advocacy group NORML for her voting history regarding cannabis-related causes.

Walorski had a 63% rating from Heritage Action for America based on her conservative voting record.

Immigration

Walorski supported Trump's 2017 executive order to impose a temporary ban on entry to the U.S. to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, saying she believed it would "allow our national security officials to examine the vetting process and strengthen safeguards to prevent terrorists from entering our homeland."

Texas v. Pennsylvania

In December 2020, Walorski was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.

Personal life and death

In 1995, Walorski married Dean Swihart, a schoolteacher in Mishawaka. She resided in Jimtown, an unincorporated suburban community west of Elkhart, and was a member of South Gate Church, an Assemblies of God megachurch in South Bend.

On August 3, 2022, four people, including Walorski, were killed near Nappanee, Indiana, when a vehicle traveling northbound on State Road 19 veered left and collided head-on with Walorski's vehicle, which had been traveling southbound. The driver of the other vehicle and two additional passengers in the congresswoman's vehicle were also killed: Walorski's communications director, Emma Thomson, and her district director, Zachery Potts. The collision occurred near the intersection with State Road 119.

Honors

Walorski was awarded the following foreign honor:

• Commander of the Order of the Star of Romania, Romania (June 8, 2017)

Electoral history

Indiana House of Representatives, 21st District, 2004

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Jackie Walorski	13,745	64%
	Democratic	Carl H. Kaser	7,728	36%
Turnout			21,437
	Republican hold		Swing

Indiana House of Representatives, 21st District, 2006

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Jackie Walorski	8,899	53%
	Democratic	Robert Kovach	7,980	47%
Turnout			16,879
	Republican hold		Swing

Indiana House of Representatives, 21st District, 2008

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Jackie Walorski	17,605	99%
	N/A	Clyde James (Write-in)	232	1%
Turnout			17,837
	Republican hold		Swing

2010

Indiana's 2nd congressional district election, 2010

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Joe Donnelly (incumbent)	91,341	48%
	Republican	Jackie Walorski	88,803	47%
	Libertarian	Mark Vogel	9,447	5%
Turnout			189,591	41%
	Democratic hold		Swing

Indiana's 2nd congressional district election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Jackie Walorski	134,033	49%
	Democratic	Brendan Mullen	130,113	48%
	Libertarian	Joe Ruiz	9,326	3%
	N/A	Kenneth R. Luntz, Jr. (Write-in)	3	0%
Turnout			273,475	56%
	Republican gain from Democratic		Swing

Indiana's 2nd congressional district election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Jackie Walorski (incumbent)	85,119	59%
	Democratic	Joe Bock	55,331	38%
	Libertarian	Jeff Petermann	3,992	3%
Turnout			144,442
	Republican hold		Swing

Indiana's 2nd congressional district election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Jackie Walorski (incumbent)	164,355	59%
	Democratic	Lynn Coleman	102,401	37%
	Libertarian	Ron Cenkush	10,601	4%
Turnout			277,357
	Republican hold		Swing

Indiana's 2nd congressional district election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Jackie Walorski (incumbent)	125,499	55%
	Democratic	Mel Hall	103,363	45%
	No party	Richard Wolf (Write-in)	27	0%
Turnout			228,889
	Republican hold		Swing

Indiana's 2nd congressional district, 2020
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jackie Walorski (incumbent)	183,601	61.5
	Democratic	Pat Hackett	114,967	38.5
Total votes			298,568	100.0
	Republican hold

See also

• Women in the United States House of Representatives

External links

• Jackie Walorski at Curlie
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Project Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at The Library of Congress

Indiana House of Representatives
Preceded by Richard W. Mangus	Member of the Indiana House of Representatives from the 21st district 2005–2010	Succeeded by Timothy Wesco
United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Joe Donnelly	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 2nd congressional district 2013–2022	Succeeded by TBD

113th	Senate: ▌D. Coats (R) ▌J. Donnelly (D)	House: ▌P. Visclosky (D) ▌A. Carson (D) ▌M. Stutzman (R) ▌L. Bucshon (R) ▌T. Rokita (R) ▌T. Young (R) ▌S. Brooks (R) ▌L. Messer (R) ▌J. Walorski (R)
114th	Senate: ▌D. Coats (R) ▌J. Donnelly (D)	House: ▌P. Visclosky (D) ▌A. Carson (D) ▌M. Stutzman (R) ▌L. Bucshon (R) ▌T. Rokita (R) ▌T. Young (R) ▌S. Brooks (R) ▌L. Messer (R) ▌J. Walorski (R)
115th	Senate: ▌J. Donnelly (D) ▌T. Young (R)	House: ▌P. Visclosky (D) ▌A. Carson (D) ▌L. Bucshon (R) ▌T. Rokita (R) ▌S. Brooks (R) ▌L. Messer (R) ▌J. Walorski (R) ▌J. Banks (R) ▌T. Hollingsworth (R)
116th	Senate: ▌T. Young (R) ▌M. Braun (R)	House: ▌P. Visclosky (D) ▌A. Carson (D) ▌L. Bucshon (R) ▌S. Brooks (R) ▌J. Walorski (R) ▌J. Banks (R) ▌T. Hollingsworth (R) ▌J. Baird (R) ▌G. Pence (R)
117th	Senate: ▌T. Young (R) ▌M. Braun (R)	House: ▌A. Carson (D) ▌L. Bucshon (R) ▌J. Walorski (R) ▌J. Banks (R) ▌T. Hollingsworth (R) ▌J. Baird (R) ▌G. Pence (R) ▌F. Mrvan (D) ▌V. Spartz (R)