FORT WAYNE – A former Republican prosecutor in Kosciusko County will seek the Democratic congressional nomination in the 3rd District.
David C. Kolbe, 57, an attorney in Warsaw, is the third person to file this week as a Democratic candidate with the Indiana secretary of state. He joins Fort Wayne residents John Forrest Roberson, 62, and Tommy A. Schrader, 49, on the May 8 primary ballot.
Kolbe was Kosciusko County prosecutor from 1995 through 1998. He said Friday in a telephone interview he became a Democrat in 2004 because he was unhappy with how the GOP had changed during the administration of then-President George W. Bush.
“Some of us say we didn’t leave the Republican Party, it left us,” Kolbe said.
“When we lose the middle class and the working class, we lose our status as the greatest country. The average person is suffering and will continue to do so if this agenda continues,” he said about legislation pushed by conservative Republicans that he believes has led to greater income disparity.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-3rd, has filed to run for a second two-year term in the heavily Republican 3rd District. He is so far unopposed for his party’s nomination.
Kolbe said he was not drafted as a candidate by the Indiana Democratic Party and that he has spoken to party people for years since he switched parties.
“I live it and breathe it,” said Kolbe, adding he has taught political science for 15 years at the IPFW satellite campus in Warsaw.
The deadline for congressional candidates to file for the primary election is Feb. 10.
