Politics of Indiana

Indianais rated R+11 on theCook Partisan Voting Index.The current governor of Indiana is RepublicanEric Holcomb,and Republicans holdsupermajoritiesin both chambers of theIndiana General Assembly.It has only supported aDemocratfor president four times since 1912—in the elections of 1932, 1936, 1964, and 2008. Historically, the state was a swing state, voting for the national winner all but four times from 1816 to 1912, with the exceptions of 1824, 1836, 1848, and 1876.

Nonetheless, half of Indiana's governors in the 20th century were Democrats. Indiana has also elected several Democrats to theU.S. Senatein recent years, withJoe Donnellyserving as a senator until 2019. Certain cities, too, tend to favor Democrats;Gary, Indianahas had a Democratic mayor for the last 77 years. While only five Democratic presidential nominees have carried Indiana since 1900, 11 Democratswere elected governorduring that time. BeforeMitch Danielsbecame governor in 2005, Democrats had held the office for 16 consecutive years. Since then, however, the office has been held consistently by Republicans. Democrats also generally held control of theIndiana House of Representativesduring the 1990s and 2000s as well.

Federal elections

Presidential elections

See also:United States presidential elections in Indiana

United States presidential election results for Indiana

Year	Republican/Whig		Democratic		Third party(ies)
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	1,729,863	56.91%	1,242,505	40.87%	67,413	2.22%
2016	1,557,286	56.42%	1,033,126	37.43%	169,963	6.16%
2012	1,422,872	54.04%	1,154,275	43.84%	55,996	2.13%
2008	1,345,648	48.81%	1,374,039	49.84%	36,971	1.34%
2004	1,479,438	59.94%	969,011	39.26%	19,553	0.79%
2000	1,245,836	56.65%	901,980	41.01%	51,486	2.34%
1996	1,006,693	47.13%	887,424	41.55%	241,725	11.32%
1992	989,375	42.91%	848,420	36.79%	468,076	20.30%
1988	1,297,763	59.84%	860,643	39.69%	10,215	0.47%
1984	1,377,230	61.67%	841,481	37.68%	14,358	0.64%
1980	1,255,656	56.01%	844,197	37.65%	142,180	6.34%
1976	1,183,958	53.32%	1,014,714	45.70%	21,690	0.98%
1972	1,405,154	66.11%	708,568	33.34%	11,807	0.56%
1968	1,067,885	50.29%	806,659	37.99%	249,053	11.73%
1964	911,118	43.56%	1,170,848	55.98%	9,640	0.46%
1960	1,175,120	55.03%	952,358	44.60%	7,882	0.37%
1956	1,182,811	59.90%	783,908	39.70%	7,888	0.40%
1952	1,136,259	58.11%	801,530	40.99%	17,536	0.90%
1948	821,079	49.58%	807,833	48.78%	27,302	1.65%
1944	875,891	52.38%	781,403	46.73%	14,797	0.88%
1940	899,466	50.45%	874,063	49.03%	9,218	0.52%
1936	691,570	41.89%	934,974	56.63%	24,353	1.48%
1932	677,184	42.94%	862,054	54.67%	37,689	2.39%
1928	848,290	59.68%	562,691	39.59%	10,333	0.73%
1924	703,042	55.25%	492,245	38.69%	77,103	6.06%
1920	696,370	55.14%	511,364	40.49%	55,230	4.37%
1916	341,005	47.44%	334,063	46.47%	43,780	6.09%
1912	151,267	23.11%	281,890	43.07%	221,317	33.82%
1908	348,993	48.40%	338,262	46.91%	33,871	4.70%
1904	368,289	53.99%	274,345	40.22%	39,551	5.80%
1900	336,063	50.60%	309,584	46.62%	18,447	2.78%
1896	323,754	50.82%	305,573	47.96%	7,792	1.22%
1892	255,615	46.17%	262,740	47.46%	35,258	6.37%
1888	263,361	49.05%	261,013	48.61%	12,575	2.34%
1884	238,489	48.15%	245,005	49.46%	11,838	2.39%
1880	232,164	49.33%	225,522	47.91%	12,986	2.76%
1876	208,011	47.39%	213,526	48.65%	17,374	3.96%
1872	186,147	53.00%	163,632	46.59%	1,417	0.40%
1868	176,552	51.39%	166,980	48.61%	0	0.00%
1864	150,422	53.60%	130,233	46.40%	0	0.00%
1860	139,033	51.09%	115,509	42.44%	17,601	6.47%
1856	94,375	40.09%	118,670	50.41%	22,386	9.51%
1852	80,901	44.17%	95,340	52.05%	6,929	3.78%
1848	69,907	45.77%	74,745	48.93%	8,100	5.30%
1844	67,867	48.42%	70,181	50.07%	2,106	1.50%
1840	65,302	55.86%	51,604	44.14%	0	0.00%
1836	41,281	55.97%	32,478	44.03%	0	0.00%

Former governor and U.S. SenatorEvan Bayhannounced in 2006 his plans for a presidential exploratory committee.Hisfatherwas a three-term senator who was turned out of office in the 1980Reagan Revolutionby conservative Republican (and futureVice President)Dan Quayle,a native ofHuntingtonin the northeastern portion of the state. However, Bayh announced that he would not be seeking the Presidency on December 16, 2006.

In the2008 presidential election,Barack Obamacarried the state by 1.03%,which was the first time in 44 years that aDemocratwon Indiana's electoral votes, and to date, the last.

Congress

Seven of thedistrictsfavor the Republican Party according to the CPVI rankings; there are currently seven Republicans serving as representatives and two Democrats. Historically, Republicans have been strongest in the eastern and central portions of the state, while Democrats have been strongest in the northwestern part of the state. Occasionally, certain counties in the southern part of the state will vote Democratic.Marion County,Indiana's most populated county, supported the Republican candidates from 1968 to 2000, before backing the Democrats in the 2004 and 2008 elections. Indiana's second most populated county,Lake County,is a strong supporter of the Democratic party that has not voted for a Republican since 1972.

The state's U.S. Senators are Sen.Todd Young(Republican) and Sen.Mike Braun(Republican). In 2006, then-senior Sen.Richard Lugar(Republican) won reelection to a sixth term with 87% of the vote against no major-party opposition. In 2010, Sen. Coats won reelection to a third non-consecutive term with 55% of the vote against Democratic CongressmanBrad EllsworthandLibertarianbusiness owner and teacher Rebecca Sink-Burris.

Senator Lugar lost in the 2012 Republican primary to the state treasurer of Indiana,Richard Mourdock,who had been favored by theTea Party movement.Joe Donnellydefeated Mourdock in the general election.He later lost re-election in2018to former state representative Mike Braun.

Indiana's delegationto theUnited States House of Representativesis not completely Republican either. Instead, it has generally served as a bellwether for the political movement of the nation. For instance, Democrats held the majority of seats until the 1994 Republican Revolution, when Republicans took a majority. This continued until 2006, when three Republican congressmen were defeated in Indiana; (Chris Chocola,John HostettlerandMike Sodrel), giving the Democrats a majority of the delegation again.

Historically, Republicans have been strongest in the eastern and central portions of the state, as well as the suburbs of the state's major cities. Democrats have been strongest in the northwestern and southern parts of the state along with the major cities. However, outside ofIndianapolis,theChicago suburbs,andBloomington,the state's Democrats tend to be somewhat more conservative than their counterparts in the rest of the country, especially on social issues.

Federal representation

Indiana currently has 9House districtsIn the 118th Congress, 2 of Indiana's seats are held by Democrats and 7 are held by Republicans. There are as follows:

• Indiana's 1st congressional districtrepresented byFrank J. Mrvan(D)
• Indiana's 2nd congressional districtrepresented byRudy Yakym(R)
• Indiana's 3rd congressional districtrepresented byJim Banks(R)
• Indiana's 4th congressional districtrepresented byJim Baird(R)
• Indiana's 5th congressional districtrepresented byVictoria Spartz(R)
• Indiana's 6th congressional districtrepresented byGreg Pence(R)
• Indiana's 7th congressional districtrepresented byAndre Carson(D)
• Indiana's 8th congressional districtrepresented byLarry Bucshon(R)
• Indiana's 9th congressional districtrepresented byErin Houchin(R)

Indiana's two United States Senators are RepublicansTodd YoungandMike Braun,serving since 2017 and 2019, respectively.

Indiana is part of theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of Indianaand theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of Indianain the federal judiciary. The district's cases are appealed to the Chicago-basedUnited States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

See also

• Governor of Indiana
• Indiana General Assembly
• Indiana Supreme Court
• Constitution of Indiana
• Political party strength in Indiana