Republicans maintain stronghold on Indiana’s congressional seats

Republicans maintained their dominant hold on Indiana U.S. congressional seats Tuesday, winning seven of the nine races.

Incumbents Victoria Spartz, Jim Baird, Erin Houchin and Rudy Yakym were joined by newcomers Jefferson Shreve, Marlin Stutzman and Mark Messmer as GOP winners.

Andre Carson and Frank Mrvan, both incumbents, were the lone Democratic winners.

District 1

Republicans were hoping to score a victory in a northwest Indiana seat that has been a Democratic stronghold since the 1930s. But incumbent Frank Mrvan held on against Republican challenger Randy Niemeyer, a member of the Lake County Council and co-owner of a trucking business.

The Associated Press declared Mrvan the winner at 1:22 a.m., with Mrvan winning by 6 percentage points.

2nd District

Republican Rudy Yakym won his second term in Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District in northern Indiana.

Yakym was ahead with nearly 62% of the vote in defeating Democrat Lori Camp, a diving coach and IT professional.

Yakym is a conservative who pledged to work on “shrinking the bloated federal bureaucracy” and otherwise limiting the government’s reach.

The district includes South Bend, Mishawaka, Elkhart, LaPorte, Wabash, Plymouth and Peru.

3rd District

Republican Marlin Stutzman easily won his race in the 3rd District. He’ll succeed Jim Banks, who was elected to U.S. Senate on Tuesday after serving four terms in the House.

Stutzman, who previously held the seat from 2010 to 2017, reclaimed it with a win over educator and nonprofit executive Kiley Adolph, a Democrat. Stutzman led the race with 65% of the vote with 93% of ballots counted.

The district covers much of northeast Indiana, including Fort Wayne.

4th District

Republican Rep. Jim Baird won reelection in Indiana’s 4th Congressional District.

The Associated Press called the race at 8:48 p.m. Tuesday with Baird carrying 66% of the vote, with 57% of ballots counted.

Baird, a decorated Army veteran who lost an arm during the Vietnam War, won his fourth term in the House. He defeated Democrat Derrick Holder, a Marine Corps veteran.

Baird, who owns a farming operation and two other small businesses, joined dozens of other Republicans in signing a brief in Texas’ lawsuit challenging the 2020 election results and has voted to support Israel.

Holder campaigned on support for health care access, veterans’ affairs, agriculture and increased education funding, particularly for infrastructure.

Baird was previously elected in 2018 and 2020. His district covers much of Boone, Hendricks and Morgan counties.

5th District

Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz won reelection in Indiana’s 5th Congressional District.

Spartz won a third term over Democrat Deborah Pickett. A certified public accountant, Spartz is a fiscal conservative who believes federal spending should be cut.

Spartz, who immigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine 20 years ago, said she believes the country’s current immigration process is “too expensive and bureaucratic.”

With 93% of ballots counted, Spartz had claimed 57% of the votes.

The district covers the north side of Indianapolis as well as its eastern and northern suburbs, including Carmel, Anderson, Noblesville, Fishers, Marion and parts of Kokomo.

6th District

Republican Jefferson Shreve won election to the U.S. House seat representing Indiana’s 6th District.

Shreve, a former member of the Indianapolis City Council who was defeated in the city’s mayoral election last year, defeated teacher Cynthia Wirth, a Democrat.

Wirth unsuccessfully ran for the seat in 2022 against Republican incumbent Rep. Greg Pence, the older brother of former Vice President Mike Pence.

Greg Pence chose not to seek a fourth term.

Shreve campaigned on a platform of finishing the U.S.-Mexican border wall to stem illegal migration and said excessive federal spending is driving inflation.

With 78% of ballots counted, Shreve had received almost 64% of the vote.

The district includes much of eastern and southeastern Indiana, including Greenfield, Shelbyville, Muncie and Columbus.

7th District

Andre Carson will continue to represent the 7th District, which covers the lower four-fifths of Marion County. He claimed more than 68% of the vote with 76% of ballots counted.

Carson has served in the U.S. House since winning a 2008 special election to succeed his late grandmother, Julia Carson.

He defeated Republican John Schmitz in the 7th District, which includes much of Indianapolis.

A senior House Intelligence Committee member, Carson was intimately involved in the first open hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon in a half-century. He is one of three Muslims in Congress.

Schmitz proposed lowering the price of gas by opening pipelines closed by the current administration, buying more Canadian oil and suspending gasoline taxes for a year.

In his victory speech Tuesday night, Carson referenced ongoing conflicts outside of the U.S.

“We want to free Gaza. We want to free Sudan. We want to free Indianapolis,” Carson said. “But we can only do that when we realize that our party is the party of America’s future.”

8th District

Mark Messmer, the former Indiana state Senate majority leader, won a seat in Congress on Tuesday, defeating Democrat Erik Hurt for the 8th District post.

Messmer resigned from his state Senate post in September to focus on winning the seat vacated by retiring seven-term U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon.

Messmer campaigned on deporting anyone who is in the country illegally, supporting Israel and promoting blockchain technology development without a central bank-issued cryptocurrency.

With more than 80% of ballots counted, Messmer had captured nearly 69% of the vote.

Based in southwest and west-central Indiana, the district includes Evansville, Jasper, Terre Haute and Vincennes.

9th District

Republican Rep. Erin Houchin won reelection to the U.S. House on Tuesday in the 9th Congressional District.

The first-term conservative defeated Timothy Peck, an emergency room physician who has created three mission-based health technology companies.

The AP declared Houchin the winner at 10:17 p.m. when she had about 65% of the vote.

Houchin, a former state senator, campaigned on securing the U.S.-Mexico border, support for Israel, cutting federal spending, opposing abortion rights, and promoting the Parents Bill of Rights on education.

The district stretches from the south suburbs of Indianapolis to the southern border of Indiana. Its largest city is Bloomington.