Yesterday was Election Day Across the Hoosier State with several primaries being decided at local, state, and federal levels. Here’s a breakdown of last night’s races:
- On the Federal Level, the former 45th President of the United States Donald J. Trump beat out Nikki Haley for the GOP nominee by almost 80% of the vote. For the United States Senate in Indiana, Valeria McCray won the nomination for the Democratic Party. She will face off against Libertarian Party Nominee Andrew Horning and GOP Nominee Jim Banks who was unopposed for Mike Braun’s old seat that Braun gave up to run for Indiana Governor. For the House of Representatives 8th District, Dubois County’s own Mark Messmer won the GOP nomination in a runaway vote over Dr. Richard Moss and the 3rd place finisher John Hostettler. On the Democratic side of that 8th District Congressional race, Erik Hurt won the party nomination in another large margin victory over the 2nd place finisher Edward Sein.
- At the State Level, Mike Braun; another Dubois County Hoosier, earned the GOP Nominee for Indiana Governor. Braun celebrated his victory from the GOP Headquarters and had this to say following his victory: The race was closer than it seemed at times but ultimately Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch finished second in the voting with Brad Chambers coming in 3rd. Braun will now face former state superintendent Jennifer McCormick, the Democratic nominee who was unopposed, and Donald Rainwater who will be running for the Libertarian Party in the Fall General Election in November. Donald Rainwater also ran for Governor back in the 2020 General Election.
- Dubois County borders 8 counties: Crawford, Perry, Spencer, Martin, Daviess, Pike, Warrick, and Orange Counties. Many of these counties had races at the local levels and here’s a breakdown of these races panned out in the Tri-County area of Dubois, Perry, and Spencer Counties. In Dubois County, the only local election saw three GOP Nominees for County Council at Large: Mike Kluesner, Sonya Haas, and Doug Uebelhor. Dubois County saw a 24.6% voter turnout for a combined absentee and Election Day Voting. Spencer County saw a 21.49% voter turnout for absentee and Election Day Voting with a GOP Race for District 3 County Commissioner going to Malcolm “Mac” Webb over Thomas Brown by a wide margin. Spencer County also had three GOP Nominees for Council At Large: Aaron Benton, David Gogel, and Brian Greulich. There were no Democratic Nominees for either of those two races. Perry County Indiana had a 23.64% voter turnout from Election Day and absentee voting. Only three races were on the table in Perry County. The first two were the “Pick 3” County Council at Large that saw Democratic Nominees go to Joan Hess, Paul Malone, and Steve Owen. The Republican Nominees for the County Council at Large were David Etienne, Cory Filley, and Gale Garner. The biggest race in Perry County came down GOP Nominee for District 1 County Commissioner saw incumbent Randy Cole defeat former Tell City Mayor Jim Adams in a closely contested race that saw Cole get 1259 votes with a 52.85 % to Adams’ 1123 votes and 47.15% of the ballots.
- In Crawford County Indiana, four local races were held: For Coroner, the GOP nomination went to Allison Howell with 967 ballots cast and 75% of the vote over Jaydee Priddy who had 322 votes and 24.98% of the voting share. The Crawford County Council at Large on the GOP side saw 5 candidates in a “Pick Three” format. Bill Breeding, Linda Smith, and Craig Menke won nominations over Jerry Johnson and Martha Wright. The Surveyor for Crawford County race saw Reginald Timberlake take the Republican nomination with 963 ballots case and 74.19 % of the vote over Charles Wright’s 335 ballots cast and 25.81% of the voting share. The final race in Crawford County was for District 3 Commissioner on the GOP Ticket and saw Morton Dale with 809 votes and a 65.67% share win the party nomination over Francene Farmer’s 423 votes and a 34.33% share.
- In Pike County, four local races were held with a 27% voter turnout with absentee and Election Day Voting. On the Republican Ticket for 83rd Circuit Court Judge: Evan Biesterveld beat out Boyd Toler for the nomination by 1426 votes to 634, a 69.22% to 30.78% share. There was no candidate in this race for the Democrat ticket. Another GOP race without a Democratic opposition in this primary was for Pike County Coroner where Nicholas Henson beat out Jim Gladdish 1244-736, a 62.83% to 37.17% share of the votes. There were two sets of County Council at Large in a Pick Three format. In a closely contested race; the GOP nominations went to Greg Willis with 1303 votes, Jeff Harting with 1238 votes, and Eric Smith with 1227 votes all beating out Martha Query who finished in 4th place with 1017 votes. On the Democratic side of the Council at Large; Todd Meadors and Daren Cook received nominations with 276 and 155 votes respectively.
- Martin County, Indiana saw several local races without any contesting. Martin County received a 27.35% turnout from absentee and Election Day Voting. On the Democratic side of the coin, Michelle Norris won the nomination for County Auditor with no GOP nominee opposition. Several GOP Nominations were filled with no Democratic opposition running in the primary: Martin County Corner GOP nominee was won by Tony Abel, Recorder for Martin County was won by Sheri Crandall, Surveyor was won by Nathan Dale Hoffman, Treasurer was won by Rhonda Sanders, County Commissioner District 1 was one Retha Warner with over 48% of the vote over J. Cody Roush (36.42 %) and Kevin Boyd (15.45%). Martin County Commissioner District 3 saw Aaron “Moose” Summers win the GOP Nomination with 46% of the vote over John Daniel (27%) and Dana Strange (26%) while the Martin County Council at Large, another “Pick 3” saw Warren Albright (26%), Gerald Montgomery (25%), and Jim Woody (24%) win out over Stephen “Tex” Shout and Matthew Copeland.
- Warrick County saw numerous local races both contested and uncontested. You can view the full breakdown of those local races here: https://www.warrickcounty.gov/2024-election-results.
- The 2024 Primary Election Results in Daviess County are here: https://www.daviess.org/DocumentCenter/View/2222/Election-Summary-Report-PDF.
- We still have not received word on the Primary results from Orange County Indiana. We pass that information along once we get it.
It is important to note that yesterday’s primaries were for the Democrat and Republican parties only. If a candidate is an Independent, Libertarian, etc. they will have a chance to get put on the November General Election ballot this summer. As always you can visit https://indianavoters.in.gov/ for all your election information including where to vote, who is on your fall ballot, updating your voter information, and more.
