Election night is behind us. The votes have been counted and most of the races have been called. When the dust finally settled, Hoosiers were left with a lot to talk about.
Major results:
The Senate race between incumbent Joe Donnelly (D) and challenger Mike Braun (R) was the main reason the nation was paying Indiana close attention. Late polls showed that Donnelly had a significant lead over Braun. The polls didn’t hold up.
Braun defeated Donnelly by around 10 points.
While Democrats were not exactly banking on any red-state Senate victories, his loss was notable for the fact that he was one of the “must wins” for Democrats if they planned to flip the Senate. Donnelly’s loss along with the losses of Heidi Heitkamp, Claire McCaskill, and in all likelihood Bill Nelson sealed the Democrats fate in the Senate.
Most of the other elections went exactly the way they were predicted with the incumbent retaining or the person leading in the polls eventually taking the race.
Local education:
On the hyperlocal level, all eyes were on education. The Indianapolis Public Schools referendums and school board elections had been a topic of contentious debate.
IPS asked for a total of $272 million in two separate referendums. Both of them passed by a large margin.
In regard to the school board races, two incumbents fell to challengers. Mary Ann Sullivan was defeated by former IPS teacher Susan Collins. Dorene Rodriguez Hoops was soundly defeated by Taria Slack. This is significant because this could put a dent in the current school choice direction of the district.