Indiana primaries 2024: Spartz survives, big spenders prevail

We're tracking how female Democrats and Republicans are doing in Indiana's gubernatorial, Senate and House primaries. As I mentioned earlier, two out of the state's nine sitting House members are women, but the state has never had a female senator or governor.

Among Democrats, women are largely running in places where winning in November is a longshot; in many cases (like the gubernatorial race, and in the 2nd and 6th District), they were unopposed.

Among Republicans, Rep. Houchin has won reelection in the 9th District, and Rep. Spartz has won reelection too, in the 5th District, despite a well-funded challenge. In the 3rd District, Former Allen Circuit Court Judge Wendy Davis is trailing, but that race is still too close to call. And as we already reported, the sitting lieutenant governor, Suzanne Crouch, wasn't able to leverage that role into winning her party's nomination for governor.

—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor

ABC News is reporting that Spartz is projected to win the Republican primary in Indiana's 5th District. Spartz leads 39 percent to 33 percent over Goodrich with 92 percent of the expected vote reporting. It wasn't easy for "Hamlet from Hamilton" — Spartz announced in February 2023 that she wouldn't run for reelection, but changed her mind in February 2024 — but she now stands an excellent chance of returning to Congress in 2025 from her safely red seat.

—Geoffrey Skelley, 538

We're tracking how 11 candidates of color are performing in Indiana's gubernatorial, Senate and House primaries, and it appears that two are on their way to winning party nominations tonight. Democratic Rep. André Carson, of the Indianapolis-based 7th District, has 91 percent of the vote and is projected to win, according to reporting by ABC News. In the Democratic primary for Senate, clinical psychologist Valerie McCray is also projected to win, ABC News reports. She currently has 68 percent of the vote with 47 percent of the expected vote reporting — perhaps a bit of a surprise considering former state Rep. Marc Carmichael outraised her in that contest.

Beyond those two, however, it's looking unlikely any other candidates of color will find victory this evening. In the Democratic primary in the solidly red 4th District, insurance executive Rimpi Girn trails Derrick Holder, 63 percent to 37 percent, and ABC News reports that Holder is projected to win. In the 1st District, Mark Leyva and Ben Ruiz are behind Lake County Councilmember Randy Niemeyer by a significant margin in the GOP primary, with the winner set to take on Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan. And in the solidly blue 7th District, Gabe Whitley is in last place among the Republican contenders fighting for the right to likely lose to Carson.

—Geoffrey Skelley, 538

With 81 percent of the expected vote reporting in the GOP primary for Indiana’s 3rd District, things are extremely close and unpredictable. Stutzman has 23 percent of the vote, Smith has 22 percent, Davis has 19 percent and Zay has 18 percent. In terms of raw votes, Stutzman is just 398 votes ahead of Smith.

Stutzman’s lead is built on his strong showing in the northern part of the district, and the good news for him is that, according to the AP, two counties in that region are barely reporting any votes. But the largest number of outstanding votes is probably in Fort Wayne’s Allen County, where Smith is narrowly leading Stutzman. Very suspenseful!

—Nathaniel Rakich, 538