What Went Down During Ohio’s And Indiana’s Primary Elections
As Jacob mentioned, Houchin is leading for the GOP race in Indiana’s 9th District. And as I wrote at the start of the live blog tonight, 24 percent of the GOP candidates in Indiana are women (compared with just 9 percent of Democratic candidates). That is a pretty good showing for a party where women are still just a small share of their overall caucus. Tonight, two female incumbents, Victoria Spartz (Indiana’s 5th) and Jackie Walorski (Indiana’s 2nd), have secured their nomination already, and with Houchin leading, as well as Angela Grabovsky in Indiana’s 7th District, Indiana Republicans will have several women competing in November.
How female candidates are doing tonight
Women running for Senate, House and governor in Indiana and Ohio and their results in the Democratic and Republican primaries, as of 9:17 p.m. Eastern
| CANDIDATE | OFFICE | PARTY | % REPORTING | VOTE SHARE | STATUS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jennifer-Ruth Green | IN-01 | R | 10% | 36.6% | Leading |
| Blair E. Milo | IN-01 | R | 10 | 23.0 | Trailing |
| Jackie Walorski* | IN-02 | R | 45 | 100.0 | ✓ Won |
| Jeannine Lee Lake | IN-05 | D | 42 | 59.3 | Leading |
| Victoria Spartz* | IN-05 | R | 24 | 100.0 | ✓ Won |
| Cynthia “Cinde” Wirth | IN-06 | D | 31 | 72.8 | ✓ Won |
| Angela Grabovsky | IN-07 | R | 20 | 53.1 | Leading |
| Jennifer Pace | IN-07 | R | 20 | 12.7 | Trailing |
| Erin Houchin | IN-09 | R | 61 | 36.5 | Leading |
| Jenn Giroux | OH-01 | R | 23 | 0.0 | ✗ Lost |
| Samantha Meadows | OH-02 | D | 22 | 70.6 | Leading |
| Joyce Beatty* | OH-03 | D | 25 | 100.0 | ✓ Won |
| Tamie Wilson | OH-04 | D | 15 | 50.1 | Leading |
| Shawna Roberts | OH-06 | D | 25 | 35.0 | Leading |
| Vanessa Enoch | OH-08 | D | 10 | 100.0 | ✓ Won |
| Marcy Kaptur* | OH-09 | D | 5 | 100.0 | ✓ Won |
| Theresa Gavarone | OH-09 | R | 8 | 37.0 | Leading |
| Beth Deck | OH-09 | R | 8 | 5.6 | Trailing |
| Shontel Brown* | OH-11 | D | 14 | 70.1 | Leading |
| Nina Turner | OH-11 | D | 14 | 29.9 | Trailing |
| Amy Rippel-Elton | OH-12 | D | 26 | 52.8 | Leading |
| Emilia Sykes | OH-13 | D | 16 | 100.0 | ✓ Won |
| Madison Gesiotto Gilbert | OH-13 | R | 10 | 30.5 | Leading |
| Janet Folger Porter | OH-13 | R | 10 | 18.0 | Trailing |
| Nan Whaley | OH Gov. | D | 45 | 66.0 | ✓ Won |
| Morgan Harper | OH Sen. | D | 45 | 16.6 | ✗ Lost |
| Traci “TJ” Johnson | OH Sen. | D | 45 | 12.0 | ✗ Lost |
| Jane Timken | OH Sen. | R | 45 | 7.0 | Trailing |
With 45 percent of the expected vote in, it looks like DeWine has dropped below 50 percent in his primary. He’ll still win but so far it’s not a rousing endorsement for the embattled governor. And it’s an indicator that if he had faced an opponent more formidable than Renacci (like, say, one of the half-dozen hopefuls who spent millions of their own money on losing Senate bids), this night could have gone very differently for him.
In the GOP primary in Indiana’s 1st District, Green has the lead with about a third of votes reporting. This race has attracted a number of Big Lie believers. We couldn’t find a clear position on the Big Lie for Green, and Milo also hasn’t been firm — though a local news site said Milo had “expressed Trump-like doubts” about the 2020 election.
Two other candidates in this race have more overtly embraced the Big Lie: Ben Ruiz and Mark Levya. When our colleagues at ABC News reached out to Levya’s campaign to ask whether he believed the 2020 election was illegitimate, he replied (in all caps): “YES AND THE TRUTH WILL SOON COME OUT!”
There’s also one candidate who has clearly stated that he accepts the outcome of the 2020 election, Martin Lucas, who told us: “The Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl. Joe Biden beat Donald Trump for the presidency. Both statements are historical facts. I do not believe Donald Trump won the 2020 election. I do not believe the election was illegitimate.”