Jefferson Shreve takes 6th District seat, heads to U.S. Congress

Businessman Jefferson Shreve claimed victory in the race for Indiana’s 6th Congressional District, a year after he lost his bid for Indianapolis mayor.

The Associated Press called the race for Shreve at 8:30 p.m. He defeated Democrat Cynthia “Cinde” Wirth and Libertarian candidate James Sceniak with more than 65% of the vote, according to unofficial results. Precincts are still reporting.

Shreve fills a seat freed up after Republican Rep. Greg Pence announced in January that he would not run for reelection.

After Shreve sold his business in 2022, he set his sights on politics and ran for mayor of Indianapolis a year later, against two-term incumbent Joe Hogsett. Shreve lost that race by more than 30,000 votes.

Shortly after his defeat in the mayoral election, Shreve announced his campaign for U.S. Congress, which proved to be a crowded race on the Republican ticket.

But Shreve won against the slew of current and former state lawmakers. Those included Rep. Mike Speedy (R-Indianapolis), Rep. Jeff Raatz (R-Richmond) and former state senator Bill Frazier. Speedy left his seat to run in the congressional race.

Like the majority of Indiana’s congressional seats, the 6th District was favored for Republicans. The 6th Congressional District includes southern parts of Marion County and covers a portion of central and eastern Indiana.

Shreve had not yet made a statement at the time of this reporting.

Shreve founded Bloomington-based Storage Express. His business was sold to a self-storage real estate investment trust in 2022, where Shreve stayed involved as a board member.

Prior to his notable mayoral race, Shreve served on the Indianapolis City-County Council. He also serves on the board and executive committee of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

Shreve aligns with most Republican priorities in Congress – from border security, to gun rights, to continued support for Israel amid the Israel-Hamas war.

According to his campaign website, Shreve says he is “ready to get to work” for voters by addressing “failed policies” that resulted in higher spending and inflation.

WFYI sought to speak with all three candidates for the 6th District about their priorities, but only Wirth participated. Shreve's campaign initially agreed to an interview but later canceled it.

This story will be updated.

Rachel Fradette is the WFYI Statehouse education reporter. Contact Rachel at rfradette@wfyi.org.