# Chris Garten Chris Garten is a Republican member of the Indiana Senate for district 45. - Party: Republican - Seat: Indiana Senate, district 45 - Serving since: 2018-11-07 - Current term: IN 2025–26 session - Open States ID: ocd-person/dc07e0d2-7372-46c2-967c-878ec522879d Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/dc07e0d2-7372-46c2-967c-878ec522879d (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set]. ## Headline Garten reported $1.5M in the 2026 cycle, in the top 5% of State Senate Republicans (median $46.2K). ## What Garten says (IN 2025–26 session) 9 classified statements: 9 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State Senate Republicans average; rank 1 is the highest rate. | Label | Garten | State Senate Republicans average | Rank | |---|---|---|---| | Personal attacks | 0.0% | 2.3% | 273 of 355 | | Policy criticism | 0.0% | 9.5% | 331 of 355 | | Policy discussion | 22.2% | 37.3% | 266 of 355 | | Bipartisanship | 0.0% | 2.3% | 311 of 355 | | Credit claiming | 22.2% | 15.4% | 92 of 355 | | Extreme labels | 0.0% | 1.3% | 261 of 355 | Most discussed policy areas: Government Operations and Politics 100% (State Senate Republicans 17%); Economics and Public Finance 50% (State Senate Republicans 12%); Agriculture and Food 0% (State Senate Republicans 6.2%); Armed Forces and National Security 0% (State Senate Republicans 6.5%); Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues 0% (State Senate Republicans 5.0%). ## Ideology (CSIP) CSIP score +0.60 (standard error 0.03), from 144 donors and 672 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 83% of State Senate Republicans score lower. ## Votes (IN 2025–26 session) 790 roll calls. Attendance 82% (Indiana Senate 94.7%). Party unity 98.4% (91.0%). 20 votes against the party majority. Key votes: - 2026-02-27 · voted yea · SB 140 - Becker · SB 140 Public safety. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SB140/ - 2026-02-27 · voted yea · HB 1115 - Deery · HB 1115 Homeowners association governance. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1115/ - 2026-02-27 · voted yea · SB 14 - Rogers · SB 14 Pension matters. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SB14/ - 2026-02-27 · voted yea · HB 1200 - Crider · HB 1200 Bureau of motor vehicles. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1200/ - 2026-02-27 · voted yea · SB 179 - Crider · SB 179 Indiana department of transportation. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SB179/ - 2026-02-27 · voted yea · SB 80 - Freeman · SB 80 Code publication. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SB80/ - 2026-02-27 · voted yea · HB 1408 - Raatz · HB 1408 Education matters. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1408/ - 2026-02-27 · voted yea · HB 1406 - Holdman · HB 1406 Tax and fiscal matters. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1406/ - 2026-02-27 · voted yea · HB 1277 - Crider · HB 1277 Health and human services matters. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1277/ - 2026-02-27 · voted yea · SB 239 - Rogers · SB 239 Various education matters. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SB239/ ## Legislation (IN 2025–26 session) Sponsored 58 bills: 58 reached committee, 54 passed one chamber, 33 passed both, 26 became law. Cosponsored 58. 93.1% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Indiana Senate 66.7%; rank 3 of 49). Recent sponsored bills: - HCR 20: Honoring Sergeant Terry Frye. (passed both chambers, 2026-02-18) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HCR20/ - SR 36: Honoring the 2026 Senate Majority Caucus interns. (passed one chamber, 2026-02-10) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SR36/ - SCR 22: Recognizing the ILYAC. (passed both chambers, 2026-02-11) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SCR22/ - HCR 16: Recognizing and honoring volunteer firefighters with 50 years or more of services. (passed both chambers, 2026-02-06) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HCR16/ - SB 226: Indiana department of administration. (became law, 2026-03-05) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SB226/ - HB 1417: Causes of action and damages. (passed one chamber, 2026-02-19) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1417/ - HB 1003: Boards and commissions. (became law, 2026-03-12) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1003/ - SB 215: Gender matters. (in committee, 2026-01-08) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SB215/ - SB 4: Various fiscal matters. (became law, 2026-03-05) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SB4/ - SB 275: FSSA fiscal matters. (passed both chambers, 2026-02-25) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SB275/ ## Campaign money (2026 cycle) Itemized receipts $1.5M (State Senate Republicans median $46.2K). 69% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors. ## Recent statements Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only. - 2026-09-10 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/gartenforsenate/status/2098088321159201256 - 2026-07-02 · Post on X · https://x.com/gartenforsenate/status/2072765483057569963 - 2026-03-25 · Post on X · labels: credit claiming · https://x.com/gartenforsenate/status/2036908238008967601 - 2025-10-22 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/gartenforsenate/status/1981120599046111472 - 2025-06-15 · Post on X · https://x.com/gartenforsenate/status/1934297323582177695 - 2025-06-15 · Post on X · https://x.com/gartenforsenate/status/1934297442025079025 - 2025-04-26 · Post on X · https://x.com/gartenforsenate/status/1916126354195812860 - 2025-04-05 · Post on X · https://x.com/gartenforsenate/status/1908604885177638956 - 2025-03-02 · Post on X · https://x.com/gartenforsenate/status/1896032896097661054 ## Links - Official site: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2023/legislators/legislator_chris_garten_1 - Campaign site: https://gartenforsenate.com/ - X: https://x.com/gartenforsenate - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gartenforsenate/ - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/senatorgarten/ - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-garten-87803679/ Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/dc07e0d2-7372-46c2-967c-878ec522879d