FORT WAYNE – It appears Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-3rd, will have an election challenger in the fall.
John Forrest Roberson, 62, and Tommy A. Schrader, 49, both residents of Fort Wayne, filed this week with the Indiana secretary of state as candidates in the Democratic primary election for the 3rd District congressional seat.
Schrader won a City Council at-large nomination last May. He later was removed from the general-election ballot by the Allen County Election Board after acknowledging he was registered to vote in Green Bay, Wis., and had voted in a primary there.
Schrader said Wednesday he is running for Congress to get back at the Allen County Democratic Party for seeking his removal from the ballot.
“They need to be taught a lesson,” he said. “People voted for me. I won the primary.”
Schrader, who finished third out of five candidates for three at-large nominations, said he opposes abortion rights and is “more of a conservative.”
Roberson said he is a retired truck driver, an Army combat veteran of the Vietnam War and a former Fort Wayne police officer. Roberson was fired by the police department in 1999 after an 18-year career in which he was disciplined 28 times.
Asked whether his firing would affect his chances to be nominated, he said, “I will let the people decide that.”
