Susan Brooks

Susan Lynn Brooks (née Wiant; born August 25, 1960) is an American prosecutor and politician.

She is a Republican and the former U.S. Representative for IN's 5th congressional district.

She practiced criminal defense law from 1985 to 1997.

She was appointed by Mayor Stephen Goldsmith in 1998 to be deputy mayor.

She monitored the police, fire, and emergency response activities.

She focused on crime, the criminal justice system, and social welfare issues.

She served on the following boards:

After she was deputy mayor, she joined the Indianapolis-based law firm of Ice Miller in the Government Services Practice Group.

In 1999, she was named Influential Woman of Indianapolis.

That year, she also earned a spot on Indianapolis Business Journal's 40 under 40 list in 1999.

In 2000, he prescribed six times more than the amount of Indiana's second highest prescriber of Oxy.

Brooks served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana from 2001 to 2007.

In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed her as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.

She earned an advisory-leadership role with two U.S. Attorneys General.

She focused on mortgage fraud, gun violence, drug trafficking, gangs, child exploitation, and identity theft.

In her first few weeks in office, she charged Dr. Randolph Lievertz of Indianapolis with illegally prescribing OxyContin.

She said he was by far the biggest prescriber of that drug under Indiana's Medicaid program.

She earned the Who's Who in Law in 2002, Super Lawyer from 2004 to 2008, and Indiana Lawyer Leadership in 2006.

In October 2007, she decided to resign her position as U.S. Attorney to become general counsel and senior vice president for workforce and economic development at the Ivy Tech Community College.

According to their website, "She is responsible for the leadership, direction and development of Ivy Tech's statewide strategies and programming in workforce development. She is an integral part of the state's strategic initiative to develop a trained workforce to attract and retain businesses in an effort to bolster the economic viability of the state."

In 2007, she earned the Sagamore of the Wabash. In 2008, she earned the Touchstone Award and for the second time earned Influential Woman of Indianapolis. In 2011, she also earned for the second time the Who's Who in Law.

In the 116th Congress, she was a co-chair of the House moderate Republican faction, the Tuesday Group, alongside John Katko and Fred Upton.

She is also recruitment chair for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

When she was U.S. Attorney, her Southern District covered two-thirds of Indiana, including the majority of the newly redrawn 5th District, after 2011 redistricting.

Fifteen-term Republican U.S. Congressman Dan Burton decided to retire.

Brooks entered a crowded seven-way primary—the real contest in this strongly Republican district.

She had actually entered the race before Burton's retirement.

New Jersey Governor and former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie endorsed and fundraised for Brooks.

She was elected in 2012.

The district includes the northern fifth of Indianapolis, as well as many of the city's affluent northern and eastern suburbs.

In May 2012, she won the Republican primary with 30% of the vote, just one point ahead of the second-place finisher and former U.S. Congressman David McIntosh.

With Brooks' election in November 2012, she became the second Republican woman elected to Congress from Indiana alongside Jackie Walorski (the last having been Cecil Harden, who served from 1949 to 1959) and sixth overall (Democrats having previously elected four: Virginia Jenckes from 1933 to 1939; Katie Hall from 1982 to 1985; Jill L. Long from 1989 to 1995 and Julia Carson from 1997 until her death in 2007).

Brooks won the 2012 election, defeating Democrat Scott Reske with 58% of the vote.

Brooks's vote to end the October 2013 government shutdown led members of the Tea Party to support David Stockdale's campaign for her seat.

She was a candidate to replace Mike Pence in the 2016 Indiana gubernatorial election after he withdrew from the race to be Donald Trump's running mate in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

However, Indiana Republicans gave the nomination to Eric Holcomb, Indiana's lieutenant governor and Pence's second in command during his administration, who was then elected governor.

On June 14, 2019, Brooks announced that she would not run for reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020.

Brooks was born to Robert and Marilyn Wiant in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

She was raised in Fort Wayne and graduated from Homestead High School.

She earned a B.A. degree from Miami University, Ohio, where she was a part of the sorority Alpha Omicron Pi, and her J.D. degree from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.