11/07/2008
In spite of a topsy-turvy election year, the NFIB/Indiana SAFE Trust fared better with our supported candidates than some might have predicted. Even in a challenging environment, the Indiana General Assembly remains nearly the same after Election Day.
This year saw a number of retirements and two deaths, but in spite of substantial turnover, the Senate remains at 33 Republicans and 17 Democrats; and the House is now 52-48 with the Democrats still holding the edge.
The following is a brief rundown on the performance of NFIB/Indiana supported candidates.
Governor
NFIB members endorsed the incumbent, Mitch Daniels. In a statewide survey in September, 93 percent of NFIB/Indiana members supported endorsing a candidate for governor. Ninety-two percent of these members supported Gov. Mitch Daniels for endorsement.
Gov. Daniels won reelection by a wide margin, winning more than 58 percent of the vote over Jill Long Thompson. Daniels won 79 of 92 counties and received 249,676 more votes than he did when he first ran for the office in 2004.
Senate
NFIB/Indiana supported 14 pro-small business senate candidates. All 14 NFIB candidates won their contests, with four winning open seats:
| District | Candidate name | Incumbent: yes/no/open |
| 5 | Ed Charbonneau | yes |
| 7 | Brandt Hershman | yes |
| 9 | Ryan Mishler | yes |
| 12 | Carlin Yoder | open |
| 13 | Marlin Stutzman | open |
| 16 | David Long | yes |
| 18 | Randall Head | open |
| 20 | Luke Kenley | yes |
| 24 | Connie Lawson | yes |
| 28 | Beverly Gard | yes |
| 30 | Teresa Lubbers | yes |
| 40 | Vi Simpson | yes |
| 42 | Jean Leising | open |
| 44 | Brent Steele | yes |
| Also receiving support, but not up for re-election until 2010: |
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| 14 | Denis Kruse | yes |
| 47 | Richard Young | yes |
| 48 | Lindel Hume | yes |
House
NFIB/Indiana supported 23 pro-small business candidates. As of this writing, 18 of those candidates have been elected. (Changes to results are still possible due to the review of provisional ballots and the potential for recounts in close races.) If results hold where they are, NFIB-supported candidates will have won 78 percent of the House races they were involved in this year.
The loss of Tim Harris was a huge blow to small business. Rep. Harris was the ranking member of the Small Business Committee and one the hardest working legislators in the statehouse. Tim Harris has been a tremendous friend to small business and a strong supporter of NFIB. Whenever asked, he was always available and eager to meet with our members. We will miss him in the General Assembly.
The 17 successful House candidates are as follows:
| District | Candidate name | Incumbent: yes/no/open |
| 4 | Ed Soliday | yes |
| 15 | Don Lehe | yes |
| 18 | David Wolkins | yes |
| 26 | Randy Truitt | open |
| 28 | Jeff Thompson | yes |
| 29 | Kathy Richardson | yes |
| 39 | Jerry Torr | yes |
| 40 | Greg Steuerwald | yes |
| 41 | Tim Brown | yes |
| 53 | Bob Cherry | yes |
| 63 | Mark Messmer | open |
| 78 | Suzanne Crouch | yes |
| 82 | Jeff Espich | yes |
| 83 | Matt Bell | yes |
| 84 | Randy Borror | yes |
| 87 | Cindy Noe | yes |
| 88 | Brian Bosma | yes |
| 90 | Mike Murphy | yes |
| The five NFIB/Indiana-supported candidates who lost are as follows: |
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| 19 | Bill Johnson | open |
| 31 | Tim Harris | yes |
| 44 | Amos Thomas | yes |
| 89 | Chris Swatts | open |
| 97 | John Elrod | yes |
For a few short hours on Election Day, the Republicans appeared poised to take back the House. Harris and Kelly Gaskill (District 37) were predicted winners by a number of news organizations to have won their respective races. But as precincts began to tally the hundreds of absentee ballots, the vast majority turned out to be for their opponents. This phenomenon is being attributed to the many first-time voters who were brought into the process by interest in the presidential election.
Ultimately, the Indiana House of Representatives remains close. Surely there will be a lot of interest in House races in two years. And two years will be here before you know it.
