Rudy Yakym III (R) reacts to a comment by Warsaw City Councilman Jack Wilhite Thursday, Aug. 18, at a gathering at Downtown Eatery and Spirits in Warsaw. Also pictured are Kosciusko County Republican Chairman Mike Ragan (L) and Amy Roe, a member of the Republican Women’s Club. Yakym is running for Congress. InkFreeNews photo by Dan Spalding.

By Dan Spalding
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — As numerous candidates crisis-crossed Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District Thursday, Aug. 18, ahead of two Republican caucuses Saturday to replace U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski, one of the candidates squeezed in a few minutes between events.

Rudy Yakym III, a former financial advisor to Walorski who has been endorsed in his run by Walorski’s husband, Dean Swihart, answered a few quick questions outside of Downtown Eatery and Spirits in Warsaw shortly before heading to Mayor Joe Thallemer’s office for a quick chat.

Yakym works as director of growth initiatives at Kem Krest in Elkhart. He served as Walorski’s finance director in 2012 and has since served as an advisor to each of her campaigns.

In a matter of days, Yakym assembled a volunteer staff of 60, has a campaign manager, created a campaign website and a brochure.

Given the endorsement and quick action, it’s expected he could be one of the stronger candidates in a field of 12.

On his website, Yakym pledges to finish the work that “Jackie started.”

He said he’s still reeling from Walorski’s death but is humbled by Swihart’s endorsement.

He said he wants to use his business experience to help rectify the bad economic policies set by President Joe Biden.

“The other reason I’m running for this seat (and) something I want to do is to take conservative Christian evangelical values to Washington, D.C., I’m unashamedly pro-life, unashamedly pro-Israel and I’m not afraid to stand up to the woke movement,” he said.

He said he wants to work to reign in federal spending and reduce the federal deficit.

Given the political tumult across the nation involving the 2020 presidential election and Jan. 6, InkFreeNews asked several questions about current events.

Yakym said he helped raise money in north central Indiana for President Donald Trump and continues to stand with him.

“The policies of the president clearly and demonstrably moved our country forward,” he said.

He avoided answering whether he thinks Joe Biden was legitimately elected. Instead, he said Americans deserve to know why some judges did not thoroughly review the election results.

Asked about Jan. 6 violence in Washington, he said many were upset with the election results.

“Jan. 6 was a terrible day in our country. There were a lot of people who were quite upset with the election results. It’s an unfortunate position that our country was in at that time, but right now, the time is to move forward and fight the Biden-Pelosi agenda,” he said.