Voters will head the polls in Indiana for state and congressional primaries Tuesday, where most of the action will be in GOP primaries up and down the ballot.
The winners of the open Republican primaries for governor and Senate will be favored to take those offices in the November general election. The governor’s race also presents an early test of former President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
The Indiana primaries also feature open contests in three ruby-red House seats that are likely to send the GOP nominees to Congress next year. And one Republican congresswoman is facing a challenge from her right, centered in part on aid for Ukraine.
Indiana is home to just one competitive House race in the general election, with three Republicans competing to take on Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan.
Polls close at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET across the state, part of which is in the Central time zone. Here are three things to watch in Indiana on Tuesday.
A battle over ‘America first’
GOP Rep. Victoria Spartz initially planned to retire this year, but she reversed course right before the state’s filing deadline and decided to run for a third term in the 5th District outside Indianapolis. But some Republicans who had been running to succeed her stayed in the race.
Her chief opponent is state Rep. Chuck Goodrich, who has largely self-funded his campaign, blanketing the airwaves with ads attacking Spartz in part for her support for aid for Ukraine, claiming she does not sufficiently support Trump’s “America first” agenda.
Spartz, who was born in Ukraine, was a vocal supporter of aid when Russia invaded the country more than two years ago. But she has also sharply criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and opposed the most recent aid package for the country.
There are multiple candidates in the primary who could split the anti-Spartz vote, but the race could be an early test for how divisions over Ukraine aid are affecting GOP primaries.
A test (and an easy win) for Trump’s endorsement
Trump has taken sides in the two statewide GOP primaries for Senate and governor, both open contests. GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb cannot run for re-election due to term limits, and Republican Sen. Mike Braun’s decision to run for governor opened up his Senate seat.
The top statewide race on the ballot is the primary for governor, and it has seen a massive amount of spending. Trump is backing Braun, the one-term senator and former businessman who is leaving Washington at the end of the year. But he’s facing competition from a crowded field that includes former state commerce Secretary Brad Chambers, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and businessman Eric Doden. And there’s been a hail of ad spending in the race — more than $44.7 million, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact, as candidates and outside groups duke it out on the airwaves.
In the Senate primary, Trump is backing Rep. Jim Banks, the former head of the conservative Republican Study Committee who was among the Republicans tapped by then-Republican leader Kevin McCarthy to serve on the House’s Jan. 6 committee (before Banks’ appointment was overruled by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi).
Banks voted against certifying the 2020 Electoral College result and signed onto an unsuccessful Texas lawsuit challenging Joe Biden’s victory in a handful of battleground states.
While businessman and farmer John Rust had poured in $2.6 million of his own money into a challenge, he was kicked off the ballot over his party affiliation, leaving Banks running in the primary unopposed.
Two former congressmen eye comebacks
Two former Indiana House members are looking to return to Congress, but they’re facing a barrage of ad spending from groups looking to block their comebacks in deeply Republican districts.
Former Rep. Marlin Stutzman, who left Congress to make an unsuccessful Senate run in 2016, is running in the 3rd District to replace Banks. And while he’s received support from the political arm of the House Freedom Caucus and from Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul, Stutzman has also faced some opposition. A group called America Leads Action Inc., which has targeted other candidates aligned with the Freedom Caucus, has launched ads against Stutzman.
Winning for Women Action Fund, which supports female Republican candidates, has also hit the airwaves to support Judge Wendy Davis. Businessman Tim Smith, who is self-funding his campaign, has outspent all candidates and outside groups on the airwaves, per the ad tracking firm AdImpact.
Smith and Davis have also both drawn attacks from the conservative Club for Growth Action. The group’s PAC has not endorsed in the race, but the PAC did back Stutzman in his 2016 Senate run.
Meanwhile, in Indiana’s 8th District, a crowded field of Republicans are competing to replace retiring GOP Rep. Larry Bucshon. Most outside groups engaged in the race have been focused on former Rep. John Hostettler, who left the House nearly two decades ago. Hostettler has drawn the ire of two pro-Israel groups, the Republican Jewish Coalition and United Democracy Project, as well as America Leads Action. But Hostettler has also gotten some air cover from a super PAC tied to Paul, who appeared in an ad supporting the former congressman.
The Republican Jewish Coalition is instead backing state Sen. Mark Messmer, who has also gotten support from an allied super PAC. The other top fundraisers include surgeon Richard Moss and Army Reservist Dominick Kavanaugh.
Republicans will also select a likely new member of Congress in Indiana’s red 6th District, where GOP Rep. Greg Pence is retiring. Outside groups have not engaged in that primary, but self-funding candidates, including former Indianapolis City Council member Jefferson Shreve, state Rep. Mike Speedy and businessman Jamison Carrier, have blanketed the airwaves, per AdImpact.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
