Indiana Republican who helped turn the 'Bloody 8th' to blood red will retire

Rep. Larry Bucshon, an Indiana Republican who flipped a once-competitive seat during the 2010 GOP wave, announced Monday that he would not seek an eighth term this year. The 8th District, which is based in the southwestern part of the state, favored Donald Trump 65-33 in 2020, so the winner of the May 7 GOP primary should have no trouble holding it. The candidate filing deadline is Feb. 9.

The 8th District, which was once nicknamed "The Bloody 8th" for its history of regularly ousting incumbents, was anything but a Republican bastion when Bucshon first sought it more than a decade ago.

Buchson, a political newcomer and physician who led a large regional cardiology practice, even began his race as the underdog when he decided to challenge two-term Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth: John McCain had managed to win the constituency just 51-47 in 2008, as Barack Obama was becoming the first Democratic presidential nominee to carry Indiana since 1964, and Ellsworth had won reelection that year 65-35.