New senator chosen in caucus

Greg Goode will replace outgoing state Sen. Jon Ford in Senate District 38 after winning a Saturday morning caucus vote.

Goode defeated former state lawmaker John Waterman, who had hoped to return to the Senate chamber. The vote was 56-18,  according to WTWO/WAWV.

Ford, R-Terre Haute, resigned from his seat in the Indiana Senate “to pursue new professional endeavors” effective Oct. 16. It comes less than a year after he was re-elected to another four-year term.

Goode spent more than 10 years as Executive Director of Government Relations and University Communications for Indiana State University before leaving in January to be state director for Republican U.S. Sen. Todd Young. 

Ford introduced and endorsed Goode for the seat.

“State Senator Jon Ford is a tremendous leader and incredibly effective legislator. I am deeply grateful for his support as well as the support from the precinct leaders who elected me,” Goode told the Capital Chronicle. “I am committed to working hard and in bi-partisan ways to honor Senator Ford’s legacy of pragmatic policy decisions that will keep Indiana strong and successful.”

Ford served in the Indiana Senate since 2014. He was re-elected to the District 38 seat — which represents Vigo and Clay counties and a portion of Sullivan County — in 2018, and again in 2022.

The seat is one of a handful recently filled by a caucus of precinct committeemen.