William Trent Van Haaften is a Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 politician from the state of Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

. He served as a member of the Indiana House of Representatives

Indiana House of Representatives

The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House members serve two-year terms without term limits...

, representing the 76th District, from 2004 until 2010. He was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for in the 2010 election.

Early life, education and career

Van Haaften is a lifelong resident of Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon, Indiana

Mount Vernon is a city in southern Indiana along the Ohio River and the county seat of Posey County. It is located in Black Township. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 6,687...

, west of Evansville. He graduated from Lake Forest College

Lake Forest College

Lake Forest College, founded in 1857, is a private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. The college has 1,500 students representing 47 states and 78 countries....

 and Drake University

Drake University

Drake University is a private, co-educational university located in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The institution offers a number of undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and pharmacy. Today, Drake is one of the twenty-five oldest law schools in the country....

 School of Law. Before his election to the state house, he was the prosecuting attorney for Posey County from 1995 to 2003.

Indiana State Representative

In November 2003, state representative Jonathan Weinzapfel

Jonathan Weinzapfel

Jonathan Weinzapfel is the 33rd mayor of Evansville, Indiana. He was elected in November 2003 and again in 2007. He is currently serving a four-year term that began January 1, 2008...

 resigned to become mayor of Evansville. Van Haaften won a December special election to fill out the remainder of Weinzapfel's term. He was elected in his own right in 2004, and was unopposed for reelection in 2006 and 2008.

He represented a district including most of western Evansville, as well as several suburban areas west of the city. While in the State House Van Haaften earned a reputation as a bi-partisan legislator helping Gov. Mitch Daniels pass one of the country's toughest anti-methamphetamine laws in 2005. Van Haaften served as Chairman of the House Public Policy Committee and as deputy speaker pro tempore.

2010 U.S. Representative campaign

Upon Sen. Evan Bayh's announcement he would not seek re-election in 2010, two-term Democratic incumbent Brad Ellsworth

Brad Ellsworth

John Bradley "Brad" Ellsworth is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2007 until 2011, and was the unsuccessful 2010 Democratic nominee for the United States Senate seat currently held by Dan Coats...

 decided to run for the United States Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 seat. Van Haaften easily won the nomination for Ellsworth's House seat.

Van Haaften was soundly defeated in the November election by Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 nominee Larry Bucshon

Larry Bucshon

Larry Dean Bucshon is a heart surgeon and the U.S. Representative for . He is a member of the Republican Party.- Early life, education, and early career :Bucshon was born on May 31, 1962 and raised in Kincaid, Illinois...

, winning only 37 percent of the vote. He even lost his own state house district.

External links

• Trent Van Haaften for U.S. Congress official campaign site
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org