Q&A with Mark Messmer, Indiana’s 8th congressional district representative-elect
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In November, Mark Messmer was elected to represent Indiana’s 8th congressional district after Larry Bucshon announced his retirement in early 2024. Messmer, a Jasper native, previously represented Indiana Senate District 48 for 10 years and Indiana House District 63 for six years.
Messmer spoke with Inside INdiana Business about his business background, why he got involved in politics and the issues he plans to bring to Congress that affect his southwest Indiana constituents.
Tell me about your background before you ran for public office.
I graduated from Purdue University with a mechanical engineering degree in 1985. My first year out of school, I worked for Dow Chemical in Midland, Michigan for about nine months. Then I moved to Mt. Vernon, Indiana, and worked for an engineering company called John Brown Engineering. I did a lot of work at the GE plastics plant at the time, which is now SABIC, and a lot of work at the Alcoa plant.
I came back to Jasper in the summer of 1988 and joined our family business, Messmer Mechanical. Mom and Dad owned the company at the time, and my older brother and myself were part owners. About 20 years ago, we finished the buying the company from our parents.
We do a lot of commercial and industrial plumbing and HVAC work within an hour and a half of Jasper. We have about 50 employees, and we do a lot of projects with customers that are design build in nature, where I do the mechanical engineering design for heating and cooling systems and plumbing systems.
Why did you run for Indiana’s 8th congressional district?
When I started in politics in 2008, my entry into state level politics all centered around the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. Crane was on the closure list that year up until the final day of the BRAC process, and our family business has done work at Crane for about 40 years. I knew the magnitude of their importance to the economy of southern Indiana.
The primary reason they were on the closure list was lack of interstate access to the base because they then stored about one third of all the conventional ammunition for all the military sectors at Crane. Now it’s about a fourth.
The Department of Defense said there had been talk of building I-69 for probably 30 years at that point, and there was too much at stake with getting hundreds of trucks in and out every day up and down U.S. 231 to get to either I-70 or I-64. Without a commitment and defined timeline when that would happen, the base would be closed when the next BRAC came along.
Gov. Mitch Daniels committed to I-69 in May of 2005. He said in the next legislative session, they would put together a funding package, the Major Moves legislation that they passed in 2006, to fund construction of I-69.
The person who was my state representative at the time voted no, knowing what was at stake. He was more interested in playing political games with the governor than doing what was right for the district that he represented. It was too late to file for the 2006 race that year, so I said, “If he survives 2006, I’m planning on running in 2008,” and I won that race.
From the beginning, I had a desire to seek federal office, but I waited until Larry Bucshon’s retirement to make the switch. I have a keen interest in defense policy at the federal level. I did everything I could in 16 years to create the most positive environment for defense investment in our state. I headed up the defense industry caucus within the General Assembly, chaired that caucus and carried any defense-related legislation during my time in the House and Senate.
What issues are you most passionate about?
There are overarching issues that I feel confident the voters have spoken loudly on. The top line issues of border security, getting control of our immigration processes and cleaning up the mess on the southern border. That’s a high priority for President-elect Trump, and the Republicans in the House all ran on that and spending controls, reducing our deficit spending and trying to get a grip on the continually growing national debt.
Crane has a heavy footprint in the strategic defense program, the nuclear-launched missile defense systems that the military relies on for national security. They’re the center of support. All the electronic warfare systems, radars, radar jammers that the Navy ships and Navy planes use are sustained and designed there. So I’ll do anything I can do to help support projects that will have a good shot at landing assignments at Crane.
I’m actively seeking a role in the House Armed Services Committee to position myself best to advocate for those policies.
Are other Indiana issues you want to bring before Congress?
Transportation infrastructure is a key issue for our state and the 8th district. The I-69 bridge with the highway bill next year, the goal would be to help get funding for the connecting bridge between Indiana and Kentucky in that road bill next year. And then I-70, three lanes east and west touch the north part of my district. This is a critical infrastructure development piece that Indiana will be looking for some help in the highway bill next year as well.
I have interest in the agriculture community and making sure we don’t have to have another extension of the farm bill next year to help bring stability not only to the programs that support the agriculture community but all of the food assistance programs in that farm bill as well. Agriculture development in the 8th district and Indiana as a whole is a key economic driver.
What challenges do you expect to face in Congress?
With Republicans being in control of the House, Senate and presidency, there should be a much more cooperative effort between House and Senate priorities to get legislation moved. But as always, with the filibuster of 60 votes in the Senate, it’s going to require bipartisan efforts to get anything significant accomplished.
How have things progressed since Election Day?
They flew all the new members out to Washington for new member orientation, and that was like drinking from the fire hose. But they did a good job of breaking the job down into every function that we do: district offices, congressional staffing, the legislative process, the mechanics of how bills get drafted and how bills get filed.
I also spent a lot of time with the Republican Conference and going through leadership elections and getting acquainted with House leadership members. The group that does the committee assignments and chairman assignments is called the Steering Committee, so going through learning the process of advocating for the positions you want with the Steering Committee and introducing ourselves to Steering Committee members and electing freshman representatives.
A lot of time was spent networking, breaking our roles down and learning about security measures that we’ll need to take into consideration within our homes, district offices and Washington. Very comprehensive but very informative. I came back home and settled down with the family for a bit. I’m going to try from now until the end of the year to be with my family as much as I can to enjoy the final days of regular life before things kick in in January.
Earlier, you mentioned Rep. Bucshon, who held the 8th district seat for more than a decade. How does it feel to follow in his footsteps?
Larry did an excellent job representing our district. His experience on healthcare issues will be hard to replace within the halls of Congress. But there were some new doctors elected this year who are going to be ready to take the mantle of covering the issues that he covered.
Larry was very helpful to me in navigating my way through the primary and through the fall and helping to introduce me to other members of the House and leadership folks. He’ll continue to reach out. I think he’s going to try to advocate for healthcare policy issues going forward next year. I’ll probably keep his phone number close at hand for advice and guidance.
I feel humbled and honored that the folks of the district supported me to get me across the finish line in November. I’m gratified and excited about the opportunity.