Primary challenge coming for Alting in Senate District 22
Richard Bagsby aims for Lafayette Republican Ron Alting, saying the longest-serving member of the Indiana Senate is not conservative enough: ‘We definitely need new blood.’
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PRIMARY CHALLENGE COMING FOR ALTING IN SENATE DISTRICT 22
State Sen. Ron Alting, a Lafayette Republican and longest-serving member of the Indiana Senate, will face a primary in May 2026.
Richard Bagsby, owner of Tee Off Golf in Lafayette and minister from the eastern edge of Tippecanoe County, officially kicked off a campaign this week, saying Alting isn’t conservative enough for the Lafayette-based Senate District 22.
Bagsby, 42, ran in Indiana House District 41 in 2022, finishing third in a Republican primary that went to eventual state Rep. Mark Genda, a Frankfort Republican now serving his second term in the General Assembly.
Bagsby said this week that he considered challenging Alting in 2022 but opted to run for what then was an open House District 41 seat.
“We definitely need new blood and a fresh pair of eyes representing District 22, especially since it’s changed over from the West Side to more of the east side,” Bagsby said. “I think it’s more of a conservative district. And nothing disparaging against Mr. Alting … but a politician is identified by his voting record. And looking at Mr. Alting’s voting record, especially in the last eight years, I don’t think it reflects the sentiment of our district.”
Alting said he would “welcome anyone who wants to step into the public arena.”
“That’s what a healthy democracy is about,” Alting said Tuesday. “I’ve always focused on serving the people of District 22 with respect, common sense and a steady hand. I’ll continue to do the work I’ve been elected to do — listening, showing up and delivering results that matter to the people of Tippecanoe and Carroll counties.”
Alting ran unopposed in 2022, winning his seventh term in the Indiana Senate and the first in a district that pulled him from West Lafayette and instead added Carroll County to the Lafayette side of Tippecanoe County. Alting, first elected in 1998 when he was a Lafayette City Council member, is the longest-serving member of the Indiana Senate.
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Bagsby said he had issues with Alting’s vote in 2022 against Senate Bill 1, Indiana’s near-total ban on abortion, and his takes on LGBTQ issues, including a vote against a 2022 bill that aimed to ban transgender athletes from participating in girls sports.
In each of those cases, Alting argued that the bills went too far. On the first, Alting said he was pro-life but that exemptions for abortions for women who were raped or victims of incest were too restrictive and amounted to “an attack on all women.” On the second one, Alting pointed to the fact that the IHSAA already had a policy in place to address the question about participation in sports; in 2025, Alting voted for a bill that banned transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports at the college level.
Bagsby said he also had issues with how the General Assembly’s property tax debate turned out during the 2025 session, saying he would have pushed for deeper cuts for homeowners. (Bagsby gave credit to Alting for voting against the final measure; Alting explained at the time that he thought the measure was a matter of the Statehouse passing the buck for covering basic services, including firefighting and trash pickup, to local governments, making them the bad guys on taxes.)
Bagsby also took issue with attempts to give the state, not local governments, regulatory control over some large-scale infrastructure projects, such as solar farms. (Alting voted against Senate Bill 425, which offered a way around local zoning and permits for energy projects.)
“I would be pushing for girding up our conservatism inside of the (Republican) caucus,” Bagsby said. “I think we have rank and file members of the caucus that want to do the right thing, but I believe they're being, you know, pressured from the top. … I want to get to the bottom of that.”
Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith introduced Bagsby during a campaign announcement over the weekend at Gathering Acres Event Center south of Lafayette.
Bagsby said he and Beckwith – a Noblesville pastor who ran an unconventional and successful bid for the lieutenant governor nomination in 2024 and has been a lightning rod in attempts to push the Statehouse further to the right – had been friends for years.
“I like to say, Micah and I, we’re brothers from another mother,” Bagsby said. “It doesn't mean that we align on everything. But as far as bringing unity to the party, as far as building that bridge between the people and our representatives and making sure our representatives stay in touch with the people? Yeah, I 100% align with him on that.”
Bagsby has been quietly campaigning since the start of the year.
“Maybe it’s time to retire,” Bagsby said of Alting. “I mean, I have a great golf range that he can come to. My partner, he’s a certified instructor. I think Sen. Alting does know how to play golf and does golf outings. We have good barbecue, and we can definitely entertain him there. And, hey, he doesn’t have to sit in the hot seat anymore.”
The primary will be May 5, 2026.
THIS AND THAT/OTHER READS …
I don’t know, I’m still working on a Rubik’s Cube from 11th grade. But this is cool, a Guinness World Record for “fastest robot to solve a puzzle cube,” via that Purdubik’s Cube out of the Elmore School or Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue. Purdue has this video look at how the team – including students Junpei Ota, Aden Hurd, Matthew Patrohay and Alex Berta and mentor Nak-seung Patrick Hyun, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering – pulled off a time of 0.103 seconds. Don’t blink.
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We really don't need a local "Micah Beckwith".
Gerrymandering puts too much power in the hands of primary voters, and the result is always extremism. Hopefully Alting fends off this guy.