Republican Eric Holcomb has won the Indiana governor’s race, a little more than three months after replacing Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence as the GOP nominee.
Holcomb was little known around the state when he became the Republican candidate in July, about five months after Pence appointed the former state GOP chairman as lieutenant governor.
Holcomb defeated Democrat John Gregg, who narrowly lost the 2012 gubernatorial race to Pence.
Gregg’s campaign aimed to link Holcomb to controversies during Pence’s term such as Indiana’s 2015 religious-objections law that sparked a national uproar from gay-rights supporters.
Holcomb touted the state’s improved fiscal condition under Republican governors the past 12 years. Holcomb largely avoided mentioning Pence’s name, instead citing his time as a top aide to Pence’s popular predecessor, Mitch Daniels.
U.S. Rep. Todd Young kept an Indiana Senate seat in Republican hands by defeating Democrat Evan Bayh, handing the former two-term senator and two-term governor his first election defeat.
Young, a three-term congressman from southeastern Indiana, will succeed retiring Republican Sen. Dan Coats, who won the seat six years ago after Bayh said he decided not to seek re-election because he was tired of Washington partisanship and gridlock.
Young was the heavy favorite to keep the seat in GOP hands in the reliably red state until Bayh’s surprise announcement July 13 he would run. He made the decision following a recruitment push by national Democrats to help in the effort to try to regain control of the Senate.
Republican prosecutor Curtis Hill from northern Indiana’s Elkhart County has won Indiana’s race for attorney general.
The 55-year-old Hill beat retired Lake County Circuit Court judge Lorenzo Arredondo, a 75-year-old Democrat.
The two men sought to succeed Attorney General Greg Zoeller, who did not seek a third term after losing May’s Republican primary for a U.S. House seat.
Republicans have held the statewide post since 2001. The duties of the state attorney general’s office include defending Indiana when it’s sued, serving as the legal adviser to state agencies and approving state contracts.
Hill will be the first African-American man to serve as Indiana’s attorney general. Two black women, both Democrats, have previously held the post.
Republican Jennifer McCormick won against incumbent Glenda Ritz in the race for Indiana superintendent of public instruction.
Jennifer McCormick (Photo supplied/Yorktown Schools)
Republican Donald Trump has won the presidential contest in Indiana, with home-state Gov. Mike Pence on the ticket as his running mate.
Republican Donald Trump has won the presidential contest in Indiana, with home-state Gov. Mike Pence on the ticket as his running mate.
Trump topped Democrat Hillary Clinton to become the 12th Republican to carry Indiana in the last 13 presidential elections. The victory gives Trump Indiana’s 11 electoral votes.
Neither candidate paid much attention to Indiana during the campaign. Trump essentially clinched the Republican nomination with his victory in Indiana’s May primary.
Trump was heavily favored to win Indiana even before he picked Pence as his vice presidential candidate just before the GOP convention in July.
