State lawmaker joins race for northwest Indiana congressional seat

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A state legislator is joining the field of candidates running for the northwestern Indiana congressional seat being given up by Democratic Rep. Pete Visclosky.

State Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon of Munster will leave the Legislature after six terms as she seeks the 2020 Democratic congressional nomination.

Reardon became the first Hispanic woman elected to the Legislature when she first won in 2006. She and three female legislative staffers have sued Republican state Attorney General Curtis Hill on allegations he drunkenly groped them during a 2018 party.

Visclosky announced Nov. 6 he isn’t seeking reelection in the heavily Democratic district where he’s won since 1984.

Other candidates already in the race include Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott and Valparaiso attorney Jim Harper, who was the 2018 Democratic Indiana secretary of state nominee.

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