[5] Washburne was reelected to his seat in the Indiana House of Representatives in 2014 after running unopposed in the republican primary and in the general election.
In 2012, Washburne defeated James Amick in the republican primary election and won the 64th district seat against democratic opponent Mark Norton.
Indiana House of Representatives, District 64, Election Results, November 6, 2012[6] Washburne spent the 2015 legislative session pushing for more severe capital punishments for specific aggravators as chair of the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee.
Senate Bill 385,[7] which passed the Senate and has moved on to the House, would allow for defendants to receive the death penalty or a conviction of life without parole if they are charged of committing murder on a school grounds or in a place of religious worship.
Washburne, who is a strong supporter of capital punishment, says that both of those situations warrant being added to the list of aggravators, which already includes defendants charged with dismembering a body.