Richard Mourdock

Mourdock resigned from his position as treasurer on August 29, 2014, effective immediately. Governor Mike Pence appointed chief financial officer and chief operating officer of the Indiana Finance Authority Daniel Huge to serve as interim treasurer. Mourdock's resignation came on the last day that state employees could retire before cuts to pension benefits took effect in September 2014.

On May 8, 2012, Mourdock defeated Lugar in the primary, capturing just over 60% of the vote. Mourdock's victory was attributed in part to voter dissatisfaction with Lugar's moderate record as well as his absence from Indiana; he had not had a residence in the state since 1977. During his concession speech, Lugar criticized Mourdock for having an "unrelenting partisan mindset" and predicted he would be an ineffective legislator; Mourdock, in turn, praised Lugar's record of public service. Indiana political analyst Brian Howey ascribed Mourdock's primary win to Republican voters' belief that Lugar was too old and that he had been in Congress too long. Howey also said that "Just 15% ... voted for Mourdock because of his Tea Party ideology."

As a candidate for Congress in 1992, Mourdock supported legal abortion in the case of some "crisis pregnancies", but did not believe abortion should be used as a form of birth control. During his 2012 U.S. Senate race, he reiterated that he opposes abortion except to save the life of the mother. At an October 23, 2012, candidate debate, Mourdock explained why he is opposed to abortion even when the pregnancy is the result of rape:

In February 2012, Mourdock told the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that bipartisanship has nearly bankrupted the country, and that confrontation, not collegiality was needed. In an interview on MSNBC in May 2012 Mourdock said, "bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view...If we win the House, Senate, and White House, bipartisanship means they have to come our way". In the same interview he said, "To me, the highlight of politics, frankly, is to inflict my opinion on someone else." Republican 2012 Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan later expressed his disagreement with Mourdock's statement, saying, "I obviously don't agree with that."

On February 22, 2011, Mourdock announced he would challenge incumbent U.S. Senator Richard Lugar in the 2012 Republican primary. At the announcement, Mourdock criticized Lugar for his support of the auto bailouts, his votes in favor of the DREAM Act and the START treaty and his opposition to earmark reform. He said Indiana needed a senator who would return home to hold town halls, and not "a globe-trotting Senator", like Lugar. Mourdock later criticized Lugar's record on bipartisanship, his authorship of the 1991 Nunn-Lugar Act to secure and dismantle weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union, and the 2006 expansion of the legislation to cover conventional weapons stockpiles and secure loose nukes. He called Lugar "President Obama's favorite Republican", referring to an October 2008 MSNBC article titled, "Barack Obama's favorite Republican?", which had described Lugar as a "loyal Republican" while reporting on a 10-day international trip Lugar and then-Senator Obama had taken in 2005 to inspect weapons sites.

At the time he announced his candidacy, Mourdock released a list of 12 Republican state central committee members and 67 GOP county chairs who endorsed him; he soon began gathering tea party support as well. He spoke at over two dozen local tea party gatherings across Indiana where he gained name recognition and support. At a 2011 local tea party convention in Greenfield, Indiana, Mourdock received 96 of the 97 straw poll votes cast. In the week before the primary, political action groups such as FreedomWorks, the NRA, National Right to Life, and 45 local tea party groups held a get-out-the-vote rally for Mourdock that was attended by 500 tea party members along with Reverend C.L. Bryant and FOX News political commentator Michelle Malkin. Mourdock addressed the rally praising the support he had been given by FreedomWorks and similar groups, and adding that the tea party movement was very much alive "showing up to work for campaigns."

Mourdock was re-elected in November 2010 against naval officer Pete Buttigieg, 62%–38%, receiving more than 1,000,000 votes.

In 2006, he ran for Indiana treasurer, winning most of the counties in the northern portion of the state, and defeating Michael W. Griffin, 52%–48%. Mourdock began his first four-year term in February 2007. In 2009, in his role as state treasurer, he sued to stop the federal bailout of Chrysler, contending that the bailout plan violated U.S. bankruptcy law by giving more funds to unsecured creditors than it did secured creditors including three Indiana pension funds. Though the suit was unsuccessful, it helped Mourdock gain national recognition.

From 1995 to 2002, Mourdock served two terms as an elected member of Vanderburgh County Board of Commissioners, the county's executive governing body. In 2002, Mourdock sought the Republican nomination for Indiana Secretary of State—a position chosen at the party's convention. In the three-way contest, Mourdock and fellow conservative Mike Delph split the conservative vote, with the result that the more moderate Todd Rokita won the nomination In 2004, Mourdock unsuccessfully sought a seat on the Vanderburgh County Council.

Mourdock ran in 1988, 1990 and 1992 for the U.S. House of Representatives, seeking to represent Indiana's 8th congressional district. In 1988, he was defeated in the Republican primary. In 1990 and 1992, he won the Republican nomination but was defeated by Democrat Frank McCloskey in the general election, 55–45% and 53–45%, respectively.

After completing his education, Mourdock took a position as a field geologist with AMAX Coal Company and was working as Surface Mine Geology Project Coordinator the time of his departure from the company in 1979. From 1979 to 1984, Mourdock was employed by Standard Oil of Ohio as a senior geologist and ultimately became chief geologist for the company. In 1984, Mourdock accepted a position with Koester Companies in Evansville, Indiana. For sixteen years, Mourdock served as Vice President of the company's coal subsidiary and eventually became Vice President of Business Development for the parent company. In addition, Mourdock served as a trustee for the company's employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). After leaving Koester, Mourdock founded and ran his own environmental consulting business, R. E. Mourdock & Associates.

Mourdock was born in Wauseon, Ohio, the son of Dolores Elaine (Bobel) and David Lee Mourdock. He grew up in Bucyrus, Ohio. His father worked as an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper. Richard graduated from Wynford High School in Bucyrus in 1969, earned a Bachelor of Science in natural systems from Defiance College in 1973 and a Master of Arts in geology from Ball State University in 1975.

Mourdock is a pilot, motorcyclist, and avid runner who has completed nine marathons, including one on his 60th birthday. He began entering marathons at age 49. He formerly built open-wheel modified race cars and raced them on dirt roads. He is a history buff who has been a speaker on the subjects of early U.S. politics and Abraham Lincoln. Mourdock is a longtime active member of the non-denominational evangelical Christian Fellowship Church in Evansville and made a number of Christian missionary trips through his church to Bolivia. He resides in Darmstadt, Indiana, a small town near Evansville, with his wife Marilyn.

Richard Earl Mourdock (born October 8, 1951) is an American politician who served as treasurer of the state of Indiana from 2007 to 2014. Running with the support of the Tea Party movement, he defeated six-term incumbent U.S. Senator Richard Lugar in the May 2012 Republican primary election. He lost the November 6, 2012 general election for Lugar's seat to Democratic congressman Joe Donnelly.