State Sen. Chris Garten, R-Charlestown, has resigned as Senate Majority Floor Leader effective immediately, stepping down from the No. 2 post in the Senate Republican caucus amid lingering fallout from last year’s failed redistricting fight.
Garten announced the move in a letter to Senate colleagues dated June 4, 2026, saying he had submitted his resignation to Senate President Pro Tem Rod Bray. He indicated he intends to speak with members individually but wanted to notify the full caucus as soon as the change was official.
Garten, who represents Senate District 45, will remain in the Senate. He has held the floor leader position since August 2022, when Bray appointed him — making Garten, at the time, the state’s first freshman-term senator to hold the role.
In the letter, Garten framed his departure as a matter of strategic alignment, writing that serving as floor leader requires close alignment with the current direction of Senate leadership, an alignment he said he no longer maintains. He wrote that continuing in the role without unequivocal support for that direction would be a disservice to the office, to leadership and to the caucus.
The letter did not name a specific dispute. But Garten was among the most vocal Senate supporters of the congressional redistricting effort that the chamber rejected in December, a vote widely credited to Bray and one that drew public criticism from President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Gov. Mike Braun. Garten voted in favor of the redraw; the Senate defeated it 31-19, with 21 Republicans joining all 10 Democrats in opposition.
The redistricting collapse reshaped the chamber. In the May 5 primary, Trump-backed challengers ousted six incumbent Republican senators who had opposed the redraw, a result that left Bray’s hold on the top job an open question heading into 2027. In the wake of the primary, Garten had been floated as a potential challenger to Bray for president pro tem. He declined interview requests at the time.
Garten struck a measured but pointed tone in closing, saying he leaves the post with pride and what he called complete peace of mind, and noting that throughout his tenure he had voiced his honest assessment even when it challenged the status quo. He said his commitment to the caucus and to conservative values remains unwavering and signaled he intends to keep advancing conservative priorities from outside leadership.
Neither Bray’s office nor Garten’s office immediately announced a successor as floor leader. The position manages the flow of legislation on the Senate floor and is a key part of the majority’s leadership team alongside the president pro tem and majority caucus chair.
Garten is up for reelection in November. A Marine Corps veteran and small-business owner from southern Indiana, he was first elected to the Senate in 2018.
