34 Facts About Mark Souder

Mark Edward Souder was an American politician and businessman from Indiana.

Mark Souder was elected to his congressional seat in 1994, and remained in office until he resigned in May 2010, after admitting to an affair with a female staff member.

Mark Souder was a member of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ.

From 1974 to 1976, Souder served as marketing manager for Gabbort's Furniture.

Mark Souder served as an aide for United States Representative Dan Coats from 1983 to 1984; as minority staff director of the House Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families from 1985 to 1988; and again as an aide for Coats from 1988 to 1993, staying with Coats when the latter became a United States Senator in 1989.

Mark Souder was a staff director on the United States House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families.

Mark Souder was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Republican in November 1994, defeating Coats' successor in Congress, Democrat Jill Long, in that year's national Republican landslide.

Mark Souder was re-elected in every election thereafter until his resignation in 2010.

Mark Souder originally ran on a signed pledge with America that he would not serve more than two additional terms.

Mark Souder was regarded as a staunch advocate of abstinence education and family values.

Mark Souder was the Ranking Member on the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border, Maritime, and Global Counterterrorism.

Mark Souder was a senior member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House Education and Labor Committee.

Mark Souder was co-founder and co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Drug Policy.

Until the start of the 110th Congress, Mark Souder was chairman of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources.

In November 1997, Mark Souder was one of eighteen Republicans in the House to co-sponsor a resolution by Bob Barr that sought to launch an impeachment inquiry against President Bill Clinton.

On October 8,1998, Mark Souder voted in favor of legislation that was passed to open an impeachment inquiry.

On December 19,1998, Mark Souder voted in favor of one of the four proposed articles of impeachment against Clinton.

The only article of impeachment that Mark Souder voted in favor of adopting was the third article, which charged Clinton with obstruction of justice.

Mark Souder authored much of this law, which targets meth trafficking at local and state, national, and international levels.

In December 2006, Bush signed into law the ONDCP Reauthorization Act, which Mark Souder had authored and introduced.

On May 18,2010, Mark Souder announced he would resign from Congress effective Friday, May 21, after admitting to an affair with Tracy Meadows Jackson, a married female staffer.

Mark Souder deviated from his written statement when reading it aloud to the Fort Wayne press later in the morning to explain why, unlike many legislators admitting adultery, he did not have his wife of 30 years at his side:.

Mark Souder said that an actual voting record in Congress is more valuable than claimed positions on issues.

Mark Souder authored and advocated for the 1998 Aid Elimination Penalty, an amendment to the Higher Education Act.

In early 2006, Mark Souder added to a bill about the office of the drug czar, a provision calling for the fungus Fusarium oxysporum to be used as a biological control agent against drug crops in foreign countries.

In October 2007, in the Fort Wayne, Indiana mayoral race, Mark Souder endorsed fellow Republican Matt Kelty.

Mark Souder withdrew his official support for Kelty in October 2007 because of Kelty's campaign finance law problems and a birthday cake frosted with a crude joke which was given to Kelty by several Republicans and garnered controversy.

Mark Souder served four terms representing Indiana's 4th congressional district.

In 2002, after redistricting based on the 2000 census, Mark Souder was elected to represent Indiana's 3rd congressional district.

In 2008, Mark Souder was re-elected to an eighth term in the US House.

Mark Souder's resignation prompted the 2010 Indiana's 3rd congressional district special election, which coincided with that year's regular elections.

Mark Souder co-wrote a book about the history of local television in Fort Wayne, which was published in 2021.

Mark Souder wrote columns for the website Howey Politics Indiana.

Mark Souder died of the disease on September 26,2022, at age 72.