WASHINGTON (WANE) -- Tobey Schwartz has been lifelong friends with Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-IN-3, but said they almost never talk politics. "We talk about the glory days," he laughed. By "glory days", he meant back when the pair of second cousins was on the same basketball team for a small Christian high school in Sturgis, Michigan, just over the Indiana line. Everyone made the team; coaches couldn't be picky with a graduating class of eight students. Stutzman was sworn in Friday as a member of the 119th Congress, where he will once again represent northeast Indiana, as he did for most of the 2010s. Schwartz planned to be a businessman, while Stutzman wanted to be a farmer. Both men married and moved to Indiana. Politics entered the discussion after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. "It struck a chord with him," said Schwartz, "and he said, 'I'm gonna do something' and he ran for state rep." That launched Stutzman into the Indiana Statehouse, then Congress, then an unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate, private life, and then his 2024 election wins, recently in November and earlier in May, which was a bruising, crowded and expensive primary. Stutzman spent over $1 million on the primary race, as did two of his seven opponents. In addition, Stutzman withstood $1.8 million in spending against him by the super-PAC America Leads Action, according to the Federal Election Commission. America Leads Action was led by establishment Republicans, still upset with more conservative members, such as Stutzman, who ousted then-Speaker John Boehner in 2015. Despite that, Stutzman had a reputation to be willing, when needed, to work across the aisle with Democrats, drawing the praise of former Indiana Senator Joe Donnelly, the last Democratic candidate to win a statewide election, which was in 2012. "Marlin and I really worked a lot together," Donnelly told WANE 15, citing the successful passage of the Right To Try Act. That willingness to cooperate was a hopeful sign to Jill Long Thompson, the last Democratic House member from Northeast Indiana, and the editor of Across the Aisle: Why Bipartisanship Works for America. "It's very clear, the research shows, that the best decision making, whether it's corporate America or public policy, is decision making that incorporates the input of a diversified group of people with diversified experiences," she told WANE 15. Long Thomson acknowledged that too much bipartisanship could result in a primary challenger to the "more extreme" right of Stutzman. Despite not knowing Stutzman personally, Long Thompson was encouraged by his reputation. "It is my understanding that he is a genuinely thoughtful person and I think that he can set an example." Stutzman replaced Jim Banks, who was elected to the U.S. Senate. WANE 15 is scheduled to talk with Banks on Monday in Washington.