Elections & Politics

Republicans in both the Indiana House and Senate retained their supermajorities in Tuesday night’s GOP wave.

House Republicans poured hundreds of thousands of dollars in the final weeks of the campaign into races in northwest Indiana.

They were concerned about losing at least two or three seats there, possibly even more.

When the dust settled, they’d lost only one – Democrat Mara Candelaria Reardon took back a seat from Republican Bill Fine she’d lost in 2014.

The House GOP will return in January with a 70-30 majority, down from 71-29.

Republican Sally Siegrist eked out a narrow win over Democrat Vicky Woeste in the race to represent West Lafayette in the state legislature.

Siegrist, a Tippecanoe County Councilor, will fill the seat vacated by departing four-term Republican Randy Truitt.

On Tuesday night, Siegrist’s jubilation was somewhat tempered when her County Council resignation was proffered for her to sign after her victory was announced.

“It is a little melancholy, to be leaving the council,” said Siegrist.

PRESIDENT

Trump/Pence (R):  48.59%

Clinton/Kaine (D): 43.05%

Johnson/Weld (L): 6.33%

U.S. SENATE

Todd Young (R): 47.72%

Evan Bayh (D): 45.86%

Lucy Brenton (L): 6.36%

GOVERNOR

Eric Holcomb (R): 48.09%

John Gregg (D): 48.21%

Rex Bell (L): 3.66%

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Curtis T. Hill, Jr. (R): 58.06%

Lorenzo Arredondo (D): 41.94%

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

Glenda Ritz (D): 51.84%

10:47 p.m. -- HOLCOMB GIVES VICTORY SPEECH AT GOP WATCH PARTY

GOP Indiana Lt. Governor Eric Holcomb beat challenger John Gregg to become the next governor. Holcomb talks at the Indiana GOP election watch party at the GW Marriot in Downtown Indianapolis, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016.

10:06 p.m. -- AP CALLS STATE SUPERINTENDENT RACE

McCormick defeated incumbent Glenda Ritz (D) for the superintendent seat.

9:51 p.m. -- TODD YOUNG GIVES U.S. SENATE VICTORY SPEECH

With nearly 32,600 ballots cast by the early voting deadline on Monday, Tippecanoe County was about 4,300 votes short of the early voting record set in 2008.

In the final four hours of early voting between 8 a.m. and noon, several hundred voters endured a 2 ½ hour wait in a line that line stretched from the sidewalk outside the county office building, up several flights of stairs to the election office on the third floor.

Courtney Stephenson says she has to work on Election Day, so she decided to wait her turn on Monday.

More Hoosiers have voted early this year than during the previous two Presidential elections.

And, state election officials expect that number will continue to climb until early voting ends at noon Monday.

Unlike absentee voting, any registered voter can vote early in-person for any reason. And Hoosiers are taking advantage of that by the thousands.

In 2008, more than 662,000 Hoosiers voted early.  By Friday afternoon, Indiana voters had exceeded that record by more than 2,000 people –nearly 14 percent of registered voters.