(Southeastern IN) – The 2024 Indiana Primary Election is in the books, and it’s on to the General Election in November for Tuesday’s winners.
Among the contested Republican races in Ripley County, incumbent coroner Jason Bailey held off a challenge from Rodney Stepleton; Jeff Volz topped Trent Mozingo for County Commissioner District 2, while Roger Gullion won the Commissioner District 3 nod by the slimmest of margins – 50.41% to 49.49% – over Doug Rump, and the top three vote getters in the County Council At-Large race were Stephanie Back, Andrew Decker and Peg Ahlers.
And incumbent Don Foley won a three-way primary for Sunman Town Council Member 1.
Voter turnout in Ripley County was 18%. This was the first election in which vote centers were used in Ripley County.
One of the big GOP Primary races in Franklin County was for Circuit Court judge, where Alex Dudley knocked off longtime incumbent Steven Cox.
Other winners in Franklin County were Surveyor Rob Seig, who withstood a primary challenge and will face Democrat Howard Hughes in November; and Brian Patterson, Glen Bischoff and Carrol Lanning were the top three vote getters among seven candidates in the County Council At Large race.
In the Brookville Town Council races, incumbent John Estridge held off John Studt in Ward 1; Rebecca Beesley topped Dan Rottinghaus in Ward 3, and in Ward 5 it was Ethan Orschell over Dustin Dummel.
Twenty-five percent of registered voters cast ballots in Franklin County, which was also using the vote center system for the first time.
In Decatur County, longtime Greensburg firefighter Brian Wenning overwhelmingly took the three-way race for County Commissioner District 1 by garnering 70% of the vote over incumbent Tony Blodgett and county councilmember Melanie Nobbe.
In the County Commissioner District 3 GOP race, Gabriel Nobbe won a four-way race over incumbent Mark Koors, county councilmember Deanna Burkart and Nic Asher; the top three vote getters in the seven candidate County Council At-Large race were former commissioner and Democrat Rick Nobbe, Bill Metz and Ernie Gauck.
Voter turnout in Decatur Count was also 25%.
Fifteen percent of registered voters showed up in Dearborn County, where Wendy Beatty topped Meghan Keith in the Republican County Clerk’s race; incumbent Jim Thatcher beat Mike Lawrence in County Commissioner District 1; Duane Bischoff beat incumbent Allen Goodman and Dan Damico in the District 2 Commissioner’s race, and the top three emerging from the four-candidate County Council At-Large race were Mark Dole, Tim Doll and Glenn Wright.
And it was Doug Baker over Dave Hollen in the Dillsboro Town Council District 3 race.
It will be Mike Braun vs. Jennifer McCormick in this November’s race to succeed the term-limited Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb. Braun came out on top of the six-candidate Republican field while McCormick – the former Republican and State Superintendent of Public Instruction – was unopposed on the Democratic side.
Incumbent Alex Zimmerman knocked off Chad Meinders in the GOP House District 67 primary, while State Rep. Jennifer Meltzer easily won the Republican primary in House District 73 over Edward Comstock II. Meltzer will take on Democrat Hollie Payton in November.
Valerie McCray defeated Marc Carmichael for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Braun. She’ll face Republican Jim Banks in the fall. Banks ran unopposed.
Erin Houchin easily held off a challenge from Hugh Doty in the Ninth Congressional District Republican primary, while Democrats chose Tim Peck over D. Liam Dorris to face Houchin in November.
The complete rundown of results from Tuesday can be found on our Election Coverage tab.
