2026-11-10T10:00:15.692Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
印第安纳州卡梅尔市讯——
J.D. 福特拿下了这个曾经是 barn-red（ barn-red为美国政治术语，指强烈倾向共和党的选区）的选区，该选区位于美国最可靠的共和党州之一。如今，和全国众多即将上任的同僚一样，这位出人意料的中期选举胜出者正思考如何避免成为一名仅有一届任期的国会议员。
福特在印第安纳州第5选区击败了共和党众议员维多利亚·斯帕茨——该选区范围从印第安纳波利斯东北部的富裕郊区延伸至中部地区的乡村农场地带以及旧汽车工业城镇。2024年，唐纳德·特朗普总统在此地以17个百分点的优势胜出，而斯帕茨的表现比特朗普更胜一筹，获胜幅度接近19个百分点。
这并非福特第一次出人意料的胜利：这位担任了两届的州参议员在2018年创下了历史纪录——他在2014年以微弱差距落败后，第二次参选成功，击败了州议会中最保守的议员之一，成为印第安纳州首位公开出柜的 LGBTQ（性少数群体）州议员。
在最新胜选数日，他位于卡梅尔的竞选总部接受CNN采访时，44岁的福特表示，他击败了一整套“包罗万象”的文化攻击，因为该选区各地选民都对生活成本高企、共和党人纵容腐败的现象感到愤怒，同时也对斯帕茨糟糕的选民服务不满。
尽管特朗普的关税对柴油和化肥价格的影响在乡村地区最为严重，但福特表示，选民提出的问题在整个选区都较为相似。
“人们会走到我面前说：‘我一辈子都是共和党人，但这次我要投票给你。’这对我来说是一种荣誉，我不会轻视这份认可。”福特说道。
“我和任何愿意和我交谈的人都谈过，”他说，“我听到他们说的是：‘我想要一个能接我电话、能亲自到场、讲求务实的人。’”
克服共和党选区重划的不利局面
不久前，斯帕茨的席位在民主党眼中还是有胜算的。2020年，克里斯蒂娜·黑尔曾以微弱差距接近胜选，最终仅以4个百分点落败，而那次选举中斯帕茨成为了首位出生于乌克兰的国会议员。然而次年，共和党重新划分了选区，剔除了印第安纳波利斯部分区域，划入了一大片乡村地带——这一调整旨在让该选区超出此前民主党原本有机会胜出的范围，使其难以被民主党拿下。
但早在2025年3月——也就是特朗普第二个任期开始两个月后，就出现了斯帕茨可能面临挑战的迹象。在一次市政厅会议上，她因捍卫由埃隆·马斯克领导的政府效率部，遭到了听众的起哄和“做好你的工作”的口号声。
次月，她因表示乌克兰应向俄罗斯割让领土以结束莫斯科对其母国的入侵而引发国际关注。
一位几乎无人知晓、未获任何资金支持的名叫斯科特·金的候选人，在今年的共和党初选中获得了40%的选票，与此同时，福特在一场有七名候选人的民主党初选中脱颖而出。10月，无党派的库克政治报告将该选区的选举态势调整为“倾向共和党”——这表明民主党可争取的选区范围正在扩大。
上周落败后不久，斯帕茨发表声明，将自己的失利归咎于印第安纳波利斯郊区不断变化的政治格局——在特朗普执政时期，这些郊区和全美各地郊区一样，一直呈倾向民主党的趋势。
“大量自由派选民涌入了汉密尔顿县，这个曾经是全国前20位最保守的县之一的地方因此变蓝了，而印第安纳州农村选民的数量不足以抵消这一变化。”斯帕茨表示，“民主党在广告宣传上的投入远超我们，并且开展了非常不诚实的竞选活动，但我敦促我的支持者不要气馁。我们也许不能赢得每一场战斗，但我们终将赢得这场战争！”
尽管与2024年的民主党候选人相比，福特在汉密尔顿县取得了显著进展，但他在选区其他区域也表现出色，部分农村县的得票率增幅达到了两位数。
福特现在即将成为印第安纳州国会代表团中首位公开出柜的 LGBTQ 成员。他表示，他意识到这一里程碑的意义，并为此“感到非常自豪”。
但他很快补充道：“我其实不会以此为荣……因为，你知道，我不希望人们因此评判我。我希望人们根据我的内心、我的工作态度，以及我将如何代表他们来评判我。”
尽管福特已经担任了八年州议员，但他宣誓就职成为国会议员的那天，将是他首次处于议会多数派。
他表示自己“愿意与任何人合作”，并且打算保持务实。“如果这对选区有利，我会投票支持；如果对选区不利，我会挺身而出，与之抗争，”他说。
福特要保住选区、让任期超过一届所面临的挑战不容小觑。他肯定会成为共和党的重点攻击目标：福特的胜选幅度仅有3个百分点，而在2028年，随着总统选举级别的投票率到来，政治环境哪怕只是对民主党稍微不利，都可能让他的连任希望化为泡影。
福特表示，他认为自己的连任之路在于做好选民服务。
他的政治生涯始于在俄亥俄州的一名大学实习生，当时他为时任州参议员马克·丹工作，还学到了重要的一课。
和大多数州议员一样，丹会推动通过一些无争议的决议，表彰当地居民。福特表示，之后丹会亲自将这些决议送到受表彰的居民手中。
“我见过人们的反应，他们真的像圣诞树一样绽放出喜悦，因为你的政府里有人认可你的儿子获得鹰级童子军称号，或者认可你的纪念日之类的事情，”福特说。
“我们生活在这样一个环境里，人们觉得当选官员没有在关注他们。他们不在乎。他们不听。”他说，“但当有人亲自到场，亲手送上这类东西时——就像我会做的那样——人们就会觉得：‘好的，这是一种不同类型的当选官员，对吧？’”
A trailblazing Indiana Democrat’s next mission: Figuring out how to represent Republicans
2026-11-10T10:00:15.692Z / CNN
Carmel, Indiana—
J.D. Ford flipped a barn-red district in one of the nation’s most reliably Republican states. Now, like many of his soon-to-be colleagues across the country, the unlikely Democratic midterm winner is thinking about how to keep from becoming a one-term congressman.
Ford ousted Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz in Indiana’s 5th District — terrain that stretches from the wealthy suburbs northeast of Indianapolis into farm country and old automotive industrial towns in the state’s north-central region. President Donald Trump won there by 17 percentage points in 2024, and Spartz outperformed him, winning by nearly 19 points.
This isn’t Ford’s first surprise victory: The two-term state senator made history in 2018 — his second try, after a close miss in 2014 — by ousting one of the body’s most conservative members and becoming Indiana’s first out LGBTQ state lawmaker.
In an interview at his campaign headquarters in Carmel days after his latest win, Ford, 44, told CNN he beat the entire “kitchen sink” of cultural attacks because voters across the district were outraged by the cost of living what they saw as Republicans enabling corruption — and annoyed by Spartz’s poor constituent services.
And while the impact of Trump’s tariffs on the price of diesel and fertilizer are most acute in farm country, Ford said the issues voters raised were similar across the district.
“People would come up to me and say, ‘I have been a lifelong Republican, and I’m voting for you.’ That’s a badge of honor for me. And I don’t take that lightly,” Ford said.
“I talked to anybody who’d be willing to talk to me,” he said. “What I heard them say was, ‘I want someone who’s going to take my phone calls. I want someone who’s going to show up. I want someone who’s going to be pragmatic.’”
Overcoming a GOP gerrymander
Not long ago, Spartz’s seat looked winnable for Democrats. Christina Hale came close in 2020, losing by 4 points in an election in which Spartz became the first Ukrainian-born member of Congress. The next year, however, Republicans redrew the district to shed parts of Indianapolis and incorporate a large, rural swath — aiming to put the district out of Democrats’ reach with the kind of territory they struggled to win before last week.
But as early as March 2025 — two months after the start of Trump’s second term — signs that Spartz might be vulnerable began to emerge. At a town hall, she faced jeers and chants of “Do your job” when she defended the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.
The next month, she made waves internationally when she suggested that Ukraine should cede territory to Russia to end Moscow’s invasion of her native country.
A virtually unknown candidate named Scott King, who did not raise money, received 40% of the vote against Spartz in this year’s GOP primary, as Ford emerged from a seven-way Democratic contest. In October, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted the race to “lean Republican” — an indication of a broadening Democratic playing field.
Shortly after losing last week, Spartz issued a statement blaming her loss on the changing political landscape of the Indianapolis suburbs — which have been trending in Democrats’ favor, much like suburbs across the United States, through the Trump era.
“An influx of liberal voters has turned Hamilton County, once one of the top 20 most conservative counties in the country, blue — with not enough rural Indiana voters to offset those numbers,” Spartz said. “Democrats significantly outspent us and ran a very dishonest campaign, but I urge my supporters not to get discouraged. We may not win every battle, but WE WILL WIN THE WAR!”
Though Ford made big strides in Hamilton County compared with the 2024 Democratic candidate, he also improved across the rest of the district, including double-digit percentage gains in some rural counties.
Ford is now set to become the first out LGBTQ member of Indiana’s congressional delegation. He said he recognizes the significance of the milestone and is “very proud of that.”
But he quickly added: “I don’t really boast about that … because, you know, I don’t want people to judge me on that. I want people to judge me on my heart and my work ethic and how I’m going to represent them.”
Though Ford has been a state lawmaker for eight years, the day he is sworn in to Congress will be the first time he’s in a legislative majority.
He said he “will work with anyone,” though, and he intends to be pragmatic. “If it’s a good deal for the district, I’m going to vote for it. If it’s a bad deal for them, I’m going to stand up and I’m going to fight it,” he said.
The math Ford faces in retaining his district past his first term is daunting. He is sure to be a top Republican target: Ford won by just 3 percentage points — and in 2028, with presidential-level turnout, a political environment even slightly less favorable for Democrats could doom his chances.
Ford said he believes his path to reelection runs through constituent services.
He began his political career as a college intern in Ohio, where he worked for then-state Sen. Marc Dann, and said he learned an important lesson.
Dann, like most state legislators, would shepherd to passage noncontroversial resolutions honoring constituents. Then, Ford said, Dann hand-delivered those resolutions to the constituents they honored.
“I would see how people would literally light up like a Christmas tree, because here you have someone in in your government recognizing your son for being an Eagle Scout or your anniversary or something,” Ford said.
“We live in an environment where people feel like elected officials aren’t paying attention. They don’t care. They don’t listen,” he said. “But then when you have someone show up and they’re hand-delivering something — which is what I would do — people are like, ‘OK, he’s a different kind of elected official, right?’”
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