New House minority leader Terry Goodin is a socially conservative Democrat from rural Indiana

Indiana House Democrats narrowly selected a socially conservative representative from rural Indiana to be their new minority leader during a private meeting Monday.

Rep. Terry Goodin, a veteran lawmaker and superintendent of a Southern Indiana school district, will succeed Rep. Scott Pelath, who resigned the post earlier this month citing a desire to spend more time with his family.

In Goodin, Democrats chose one of their caucus's leading voices on education, but also someone who has taken a number of socially conservative positions over the years, sometimes putting him at odds with a majority of House Democrats.

Goodin beat out several other Democrats who had expressed interest in the position. In the end, the decision came down to Goodin or Rep. Phil GiaQuinta, a Fort Wayne lawmaker known for his fundraising prowess.

Goodin won by a one-vote margin, 15-14, with a coalition of supporters that included several veteran lawmakers and members of the black caucus, according to several sources.

Goodin, who was first elected in 2000, said his strategy as minority leader will be to narrow down the caucus’s focus, instead of having a “nuclear bomb approach” and seeing “what sticks.”

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“We’re going to be very focused as we move forward because the constituents that we represent have been very clear with us, 'Here’s what we’d like the state of Indiana to become to make our lives easier and more importantly allow our children to have better lives than what we have,'” Goodin said.

Focusing on ending gerrymandering will be one of his main priorities, he said.

Less clear is what Goodin's selection will mean when it comes to hot-button social issues, given his record of supporting Republican positions on issues such as gay marriage and gun rights.

He voted with a majority of lawmakers for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in 2011. When the measure came up for a vote again in 2014, nearly every Democrat and voted against it, but Goodin was excused and did not vote on it.

In 2015, he proposed drug testing welfare recipients after an opioid epidemic in his native Scott County led to what was at the time the nation's largest HIV outbreak in recent years.

Goodin later backed away from the proposal, but only after the House approved it. The testing provision was ultimately removed from the bill during the House-Senate reconciliation process.

More recently, Goodin was coauthor of a law earlier this year that allows victims of domestic violence to carry a gun temporarily without a permit. Most Democrats voted against the bill, fearing it would do more harm than good.

Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, has been on the other side of most of those issues. But he said he isn't concerned about those differences.

"I think he’ll continue to vote how he has voted, and I’ll continue to vote how I have voted," DeLaney said.

He said Goodin's experience in public education and his stance on redistricting are qualities Democrats can get behind.

A resident of Austin, Goodin boasts a strong resume on education issues. He leads Crothersville Community Schools in addition to raising beef cattle on his family's farm, has a doctorate in education from Indiana University and has served as a member of the budget-writing Ways and Means Committee, where school funding is a top issue.

That background could be useful in an atmosphere where Republican-led changes have contributed to a series of rapid adjustments to Indiana's educational standards, controversy over the state's standardized tests and funding shifts from traditional public schools to charter and private schools.

Goodin has generally sided with his fellow Democrats and supporters of traditional public schools during those debates.

In 2015, he voted against a bill that stripped the state superintendent of education of her statutory position as chair of the State Board of Education. Democrats saw the bill as an attack on then-Superintendent Glenda Ritz, one of the few state-wide Democratic officeholders.

Goodin also sided with the majority of Democrats this past legislative session by voting against a bill that would make it easier for failing charter schools to renew their charters.

"He’s been one of our leading voices of sanity on the education debate at the Statehouse," said Rep. Dan Forestal, D-Indianapolis. "We've been moving at a breakneck speed. Goodin has said we need to see where things are before we keep teachers hopping from one foot to another."

He acknowledged that Goodin "is a little more on the conservative side," but said that wouldn't "necessarily be a bad thing."

"He's a great public speaker, he’s an advocate for education, particularly public education, so he’s got a lot of qualities that will serve our caucus well," he said.

House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said he looks forward to working with Goodin, and boasted Indiana's track record of "reaching across the aisle."

“Unlike Washington, D.C., here in Indiana, the vast majority of successful legislation passes the General Assembly with bipartisan authorship, sponsorship and support," Bosma said. "Hoosier legislators have a long track record of reaching across the aisle to find common ground on many issues and we look forward to continuing that work with the new minority leader..."

Goodin replaces Pelath, a Michigan City representative elected in 1998, who has led the Democrat caucus since 2012.

Pelath said he wants to spend more time with his wife and their baby boy, and said his decision to step down was not a sudden one.

“Immediately after the past election, I confided to many of you that I was not going to do this forever," Pelath said in a letter to the caucus last week. "And after several months of repressed doubts, soul-searching, and discussions with my family that time has come – as it does for most of us."

Pelath's last day was Organization Day, the ceremonial start of the 2018 legislative session. Lawmakers will re-convene on Jan. 3.

Call IndyStar reporter Kaitlin Lange at (317) 432-9270. Follow her on Twitter: @kaitlin_lange.

Call IndyStar reporter Tony Cook at (317) 444-6081. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.