Indiana primaries 2024: Spartz survives, big spenders prevail
538 tracked several establishment-versus-insurgent GOP primaries.
Tuesday saw the resolution of several major Republican primaries in Indiana: Voters selected the men who will likely become the state’s next U.S. senator and governor, and three open U.S. House seats were the canvas for fierce primary battles between the establishment and populist wings of the GOP. A maverick Republican incumbent also successfully defended her seat after waffling over her decision to seek reelection.
538 reporters and contributors broke down the election results as they came in with live updates, analysis and commentary. Read our full live blog below.
Latest headlines:
- ABC News reports Jefferson Shreve is projected to win the nomination in the 6th District
- The AP made a call in Indiana’s 3rd
- Spartz projected to win renomination in 5th District, ABC News reports
- ABC News is now reporting that Mark Messmer is projected to win the 8th District GOP primary
- ABC News is now reporting that Braun is projected to win the GOP gubernatorial primary
Associated Press projects Braun the winner in GOP gubernatorial primary
The AP has projected the Republican primary in the Indiana governor’s race for Braun, who will likely win the general election in November. ABC News is not reporting a projection in the race yet, but Braun is ahead with 38 percent of the vote with about 15 percent of the expected vote reporting.
—Monica Potts, 538
Shreve’s support is both deep and broad
Yeah, Jacob, and according to The New York Times’s map of the results in Indiana’s 6th, Shreve is doing quite well in the district’s non-Indianapolis counties. That’s a good sign for Shreve and a bad sign for Carrier because Shreve is from Indianapolis, while Carrier is not; if Carrier is going to win, he probably needs to do better in those counties. Furthermore, Shreve is doing much better in those counties than his Indianapolis neighbor, Speedy. We don’t yet know how Indianapolis’s Marion County voted, but Speedy will need to have crushed it there if he is going to overcome Shreve’s advantage in the outlying counties.
—Nathaniel Rakich, 538
Polls are now closed everywhere in Indiana
Most of Indiana's polls closed at 6 p.m. Eastern, but two parts of the state are in the Central Time Zone and just had their polls close at 7 p.m. Eastern: the northwestern corner of the state (Chicago metro/areas around Gary) and the southwestern corner (Evansville).
—Geoffrey Skelley, 538
Early returns in the 6th District
We’ve gotten a trickle of votes counted in the 6th District, which includes suburbs and rural areas east of Indianapolis. With 15 percent of the expected vote reporting, Jefferson Shreve, who has dipped into his considerable pockets to self fund a bid to the tune of $4.5 million is ahead with 30 percent, while car dealership consultant Jamison Carrier is in second with 24 percent.
—Jacob Rubashkin, Inside Elections
Tracking anti-abortion candidates in Indiana
Tonight we'll be tracking how anti-abortion candidates fare in Indiana's Senate, House and gubernatorial races.
Of the state's nine congressional seats, four have crowded Republican primary fields. Multiple Republican candidates in those races fall under our definition of being anti-abortion, as do four of the six Republicans running for for governor and Banks, the sole Republican candidate for Senate.
Indiana's Republican-led legislature passed a near-total abortion ban in 2022, and polls showed such an extreme ban was unpopular; Indiana voters are broadly supportive of abortion rights. But the state's Republicans didn't pay an electoral price for enacting the ban in the November 2022 elections, so we'll see how these candidates fare tonight and in November.
—Monica Potts, 538