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Former member of Congress · last served 111th Congress

Official portrait of Rep. Steve Buyer

Steve Buyer

REPUBLICAN U.S. Representative · IndianaHouse 1993–2011 (IN-5, IN-4)

Stephen Buyer was a Republican U.S. representative from Indiana, first elected to Congress in 1993, who sponsored 2 bills that became law (103rd–111th Congress).

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129Bills & resolutions sponsored103rd–111th Congress (excludes amendments)
13Passed a chamberof 129 bills & resolutions sponsored
2Became law1 substantive + 1 ceremonial · 103rd–111th Congress
—Broke with partyNo roll calls in PORKER’s records (they start in 2011)
—Missed votesNo roll calls in PORKER’s records (they start in 2011)
—Pork: own shareFY2024 earmarks: not in office

How we count: “Broke with party” is a yes/no roll call where the member voted against most of their own party on that vote (party as recorded; even splits not counted). “Pork: own share” splits each earmark shared by several members evenly among them.

Recent votes

No recorded roll-call votes in PORKER’s records. Roll-call records start in 2011.

5 most recent bills

Top bills sponsored

Laws first, then bills that passed a chamber, were reported from committee, or drew the most cosponsors.

Elections Rep. Buyer has won

Rep. Buyer has won 9 U.S. House elections (1992–2008). Of the contested races, margins ran from 2.0 to 45.2 points.

010204060Margin of victory, points (axis starts at 0)1992, IN-5: won by 2.0 points1992IN-51994, IN-5: won by 41.2 points19941996, IN-5: won by 29.2 points19961998, IN-5: won by 26.5 points19982000, IN-5: won by 23.3 points20002002, IN-4: won by 45.2 points2002IN-42004, IN-4: won by 41.2 points20042006, IN-4: won by 24.8 points20062008, IN-4: won by 19.7 points2008
Democratic winRepublican winseat changed partyunopposed
Elections won9 in the data (1976–2024); losses are not listed
Closest win: 2.0 points1992, IN-5
Won an open seat or took one from the other party1 of 9 elections (open seat or changed party)
Seat history, Indiana’s 4th districtWinners, most recent three: Stephen Buyer (R) 2002–2008 → Todd Rokita (R) 2010–2016 → James R. Baird (R) 2018–2024. Elections shown, not terms; special elections not included.

Full election history for this seat →

Source: MIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. House V15 / U.S. Senate V8 (CC0), retrieved 2026-10-18; winners matched to member records by seat and term. Results run through the 2024 elections; nothing from 2026 is shown until it is certified. A margin is a fact about one election, never a score of how well a member represents anyone, and PORKER does not rank members by it.

How has Indiana’s 4th district done while Rep. Buyer served?

2005 to 2010 in IN-4: typical household income was down 9% after inflation, the share of people below the poverty line was up 3.3 points, and the share of workers looking for a job was up 2.8 points.

Typical household income · after inflationIN-4 $73.9KU.S. $72.4KIndiana $64.5K
IN-4: $81.2K in 2005 → $73.9K in 2010
IN-4 down 9%Indiana down 9%U.S. down 3%
Share of people below the poverty lineU.S. 15.3%Indiana 15.3%IN-4 12.6%
IN-4: 9.3% in 2005 → 12.6% in 2010
IN-4 up 3.3 pointsIndiana up 3.1 pointsU.S. up 2.0 points
Share of workers looking for a jobU.S. 10.8%Indiana 10.8%IN-4 8.9%
IN-4: 6.1% in 2005 → 8.9% in 2010
IN-4 up 2.8 pointsIndiana up 3.9 pointsU.S. up 3.9 points

Each mini chart has its own scale, fitted to its lines (it does not start at zero), so compare the numbers, not the heights. Teal = district, oxblood = state, grey = U.S.

While they served, not because of them. This shows what happened in Indiana’s 4th district during Buyer’s time representing it (2003 to 2011). It does not say what the member did or caused. It is not a score, and PORKER never ranks members on it.

One set of district lines. IN-4 was redrawn in 2012 and again in 2022 (the survey year the new lines first appear), but every survey year in Buyer’s term so far (2005 to 2010) uses the same lines, so they can be compared. The Census Bureau has no 2020 yearly estimate.

See the full 20-year record →Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year estimates (tables B19013, B17001, B23001) and BLS CPI-U-RS for inflation, retrieved October 18, 2026. “About the same” means the change is inside the 90% margins of error. Who held the seat: Congress.gov member service records, year level.

Official records on bills this member sponsored

111th Congress. What Congress.gov lists for the 21 bills sponsored.

RecordBillsSource
Bills sponsored21Source: Congress.gov member record, PORKER copy of October 26, 2026 ↗ See them →
With a sponsor’s constitutional-authority statement0None listed
With a CBO cost estimate listed2See the 2 →
With a committee report listed1See the 1 →
Evidence
How counted
Bills where this member is the lead (first-listed) sponsor in the 111th Congress, read from the stored Congress.gov bill records
Fields
cboCostEstimates, committeeReports, constitutionalAuthorityStatementText, notes
PORKER copy refreshed
October 26, 2026 (nightly)

Read this first. These are counts of records Congress.gov lists. Many bills never get a CBO estimate or a report, so a zero is not a mark against a member. We never show this as a score.

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Data as of Oct 26, 2026 · Sources: Congress.gov, Senate.gov, House Clerk, Appropriations Committee earmark tables. PORKER is non-partisan.