Todd Young

Todd Young (born August 24, 1972, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S.) is an American politician who was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Republican in 2016 and began representing Indiana in that body the following year. He previously was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (2011–17).

Young was born in Pennsylvania but moved to suburban Indianapolis, Indiana, while still a child. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the navy and soon earned an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. There he was a varsity soccer player and graduated with honours in 1995. Young subsequently received a commission in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he specialized in antiterrorism and counter-narcotics trafficking work.

Young left the service in 2000, with the rank of captain, to undertake graduate studies, earning degrees from the University of Chicago (M.B.A., 2000) and the University of London (M.A., 2001). He then worked at the conservative Heritage Foundation and at the office of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar. After returning to Indiana in 2003, Young served as an instructor in public administration and as a management consultant with a specialization in delivering government services at the local and state level. During this time he met his future wife, Jenny Tucker, a niece of former U.S. vice president Dan Quayle; the couple later had four children. In 2004 Young was a member of the campaign team serving Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels.

In 2006 Young earned a law degree from Indiana University, and he subsequently entered legal practice in Paoli, a small town in the southern portion of the state. Four years later he ran for the U.S. House of Representatives from the Ninth District. Easily defeating his Democratic opponent, Young was swept in as part of the Tea Party’s nationwide campaign, which gave a decidedly conservative cast to the 112th Congress. Young, however, soon ran athwart of the caucus by crossing the aisle to work with Democratic representatives on a number of issues, including proposals to end a budget-related shutdown of the federal government. In addition, Young sponsored legislation that accommodated numerous provisions of the much-debated Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. His overall voting record was considered moderate within the broader context of party politics, resulting in efforts to unseat him from the right.

Despite opposition, Young readily won reelection three times before entering the 2016 race to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Dan Coats. He faced a longtime, popular Indiana politician, Evan Bayh, who had name recognition throughout the state. Even so, with financial support from conservative donor organizations nationwide, Young won the U.S. Senate race by a 10-point margin.