Indiana primary election results: Mike Braun wins GOP governor primary, Jim Banks wins Senate primary
Indiana Republican Rep. Jim Banks won the state’s GOP Senate primary unopposed Tuesday, while Sen. Mike Braun won the nomination for governor.
Republican Sen. Mike Braun won the Republican nomination for governor of Indiana, NBC News projects, making him the favorite to succeed term-limited Gov. Eric Holcomb as Rep. Jim Banks secured the GOP nomination to succeed Braun in the Senate.
And in the House, NBC News projects Rep. Victoria Spartz saw off a Republican primary challenger for her seat, leading a slate of interesting congressional fights on the GOP side.
Braun jumped into the governor's race as the favorite, despite a crowded field that included former state Commerce Secretary Brad Chambers, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and businessman Eric Doden. After he won former President Donald Trump’s endorsement last fall, he had appeared to be the front-runner, but the large group of candidates and massive television spending injected uncertainty into the contest.
Both Chambers and Doden outspent Braun on the airwaves — candidates and outside groups spent more than $45 million on ads, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact. In some of the most recent ads, Braun and his allies aired a healthy slate of spots highlighting his Trump endorsement, Chambers tried to frame himself as an outsider, Doden criticized Braun as a creature of Washington, and Crouch emphasized her push to help save funding for disabled children.
And the race got messy — Braun and Doden got into a spat over support for police and the Black Lives Matter protests, and candidates got into a back-and-forth over how they’d stand up to China.
Rating: 5