# Ben Smaltz

Ben Smaltz is a Republican member of the Indiana House for district 52.

- Party: Republican
- Seat: Indiana House, district 52
- Serving since: 2012-11-07
- Current term: IN 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/ea2c35cb-7071-43de-8dc6-e91756d03f11

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/ea2c35cb-7071-43de-8dc6-e91756d03f11 (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

100% of Smaltz’s itemized money in the 2026 cycle came from Indiana, in the top quarter of State House Republicans.

## What Smaltz says (IN 2025–26 session)

48 classified statements: 48 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State House Republicans average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Smaltz | State House Republicans average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 0.0% | 2.9% | 642 of 791 |
| Policy criticism | 4.2% | 9.3% | 489 of 791 |
| Policy discussion | 68.8% | 31.9% | 22 of 791 |
| Bipartisanship | 10.4% | 1.8% | 9 of 791 |
| Credit claiming | 56.3% | 12.7% | 2 of 791 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 1.4% | 618 of 791 |

Most discussed policy areas: Crime and Law Enforcement 39% (State House Republicans 11%); Economics and Public Finance 18% (State House Republicans 12%); Education 15% (State House Republicans 15%); Health 15% (State House Republicans 10%); Agriculture and Food 12% (State House Republicans 4.4%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score +0.49 (standard error 0.04), from 77 donors and 593 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 73% of State House Republicans score lower.

## Votes (IN 2025–26 session)

908 roll calls. Attendance 99.1% (Indiana House 91.6%). Party unity 98.0% (95.2%). 15 votes against the party majority.

Key votes:

- 2026-02-27 · voted yea · SB 199 - Behning · SB 199 Various education matters. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SB199/
- 2026-02-27 · voted yea · SB 14 - Teshka · SB 14 Pension matters. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SB14/
- 2026-02-27 · voted yea · SB 140 - Zimmerman · SB 140 Public safety. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SB140/
- 2026-02-27 · voted yea · HB 1200 - Pressel · HB 1200 Bureau of motor vehicles. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1200/
- 2026-02-27 · voted yea · SB 144 - Rowray · SB 144 Tobacco, e-liquid, and vapor devices. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SB144/
- 2026-02-27 · voted yea · HB 1343 - Bartels · HB 1343 Public safety matters. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1343/
- 2026-02-27 · voted yea · SB 4 - Snow · SB 4 Various fiscal matters. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SB4/
- 2026-02-27 · voted yea · HB 1268 - Bartels · HB 1268 Indiana defense matters. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1268/
- 2026-02-27 · voted yea · HB 1266 - Behning · HB 1266 Department of education and education matters. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1266/
- 2026-02-27 · voted yea · HB 1038 - Snow · HB 1038 Gaming matters. · pass · https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1038/

## Legislation (IN 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 16 bills: 16 reached committee, 9 passed one chamber, 6 passed both, 6 became law. Cosponsored 45. 56.3% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Indiana House 45.8%; rank 36 of 99).

Recent sponsored bills:

- HB 1429: Appraiser statute of limitations. (became law, 2026-02-24) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1429/
- HB 1381: Removal of city or town fiscal officer. (passed one chamber, 2026-02-02) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1381/
- HB 1384: Nonprofit hospital property taxes. (in committee, 2026-01-22) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1384/
- HB 1382: County option gasoline tax. (in committee, 2026-01-08) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1382/
- SB 176: Shooting ranges. (became law, 2026-03-05) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/SB176/
- HB 1032: Redistricting. (passed one chamber, 2025-12-11) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2026/HB1032/
- HB 1435: STEM enrollment. (in committee, 2025-01-21) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2025/HB1435/
- HB 1632: Health care entity mergers. (in committee, 2025-01-21) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2025/HB1632/
- HB 1434: Alcohol misuse prevention and treatment fund. (in committee, 2025-02-06) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2025/HB1434/
- HB 1687: Probation transfers for sex or violent offenders. (became law, 2025-04-16) https://openstates.org/in/bills/2025/HB1687/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $72.8K (State House Republicans median $33.7K). 100% 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.

- 2025-05-28 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/BenSmaltz/status/1927854279831720094
- 2025-05-26 · Post on X · https://x.com/BenSmaltz/status/1926989081084309789
- 2025-05-23 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/BenSmaltz/status/1926024475515982263
- 2025-05-21 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/BenSmaltz/status/1925299701986767251
- 2025-05-19 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/BenSmaltz/status/1924525435641045395
- 2025-05-15 · Post on X · https://x.com/BenSmaltz/status/1922986958361341999
- 2025-05-14 · Post on X · https://x.com/BenSmaltz/status/1922764993411317820
- 2025-05-12 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion · https://x.com/BenSmaltz/status/1922042734807789609
- 2025-05-11 · Post on X · https://x.com/BenSmaltz/status/1921536144312786950
- 2025-05-08 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/BenSmaltz/status/1920506616165577098

## Links

- Official site: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2024/legislators/legislator_ben_smaltz_1118
- X: https://x.com/BenSmaltz
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bsmaltz
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bensmaltz/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/data:image/png;base64
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.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

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/ea2c35cb-7071-43de-8dc6-e91756d03f11