Indiana’s primary elections were held Tuesday, and more Statehouse incumbents were facing challenges this year than in any election since 2008.
According to St. Joseph County’s final unofficial results, state Rep. Jake Teshka defeated both of his opponents in the Republican primary.
Teshka will face Democrat Ross Deal this fall for the District 7 state House seat. Teshka defeated Deal in 2020 and flipped the long-Democratic 7th District.
Republican incumbent Rep. Timothy Wesco also defeated his primary challenger, Stephen Gray. Wesco is currently running unopposed in District 21, which covers parts of Elkhart and St. Joseph County.
St. Joseph County’s 1st Commissioner District was an open race this year after incumbent Andy Kostielney announced that he wouldn’t seek re-election.
Donald Westerhausen handily defeated Mike McManus for the Democratic nomination, and Carl Baxmeyer defeated Robert “Butch” Wood for the GOP nomination.
St. Joseph County Councilman Richard Pfeil lost the Republican nomination to Dan Schaetzle. Pfeil represents Council District C, which covers parts of Granger.
According to Elkhart County’s unofficial results, Republican Bob Barnes narrowly beat Frank Lucchese for the District 1 County Commissioner nomination. Lucchese has represented the district for more than 15 years.
And according to the state election website, Republican Representative Craig Snow beat Representative Curt Nisly for the District 22 state House nomination.
Indiana’s redistricting process drew the two Kosciusko County incumbents into the same district this year. Snow has represented House District 18 since 2020, and Nisly has represented District 22 since 2014.
The primary race for U.S. Senate was uncontested in Indiana, as was the primary for U.S. Congressional District 2, which covers most of the WVPE listening area.
Thomas McDermott is the Democratic Senate candidate, and will be facing Republican Senator Todd Young in the general election this fall. Young has represented Indiana in the Senate since 2017.
Goshen Democrat Paul Steury is the Democratic candidate for Congressional District 2. He’ll be facing Republican Congresswoman Jackie Walorski, who was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2012.
In Northwest Indiana, Jennifer-Ruth Green defeated six primary opponents — including former La Porte Mayor Blair Milo — for the 1st Congressional District’s Republican nomination. Incumbent Congressman Frank Mrvan defeated Richard Fantin for the Democratic nomination.
In Southwest Michigan, several communities voted on ballot funding issues.
In Edwardsburg, a proposal to renew an 18-mile levy appears to have passed with an unofficial return of 439 residents voting yes to extend and 121 voting no.
Voters in Sturgis passed a renewal of a street and sidewalk improvement mileage with unofficial result of 502 yes to 256 no.
Voters in Constantine appear to have voted down a $38.8 million bond issue with unofficial returns of 754 no to 442 yes. And in Coldwater, voters rejected a $53 million bond issue to modernize schools. The unofficial result was 1,989 no to 1,781 yes.
The general elections will be held Tuesday, Nov. 8.
This story has been updated.
Contact Gemma at gdicarlo@wvpe.org or follow her on Twitter at @gemma_dicarlo. Contact Kent at kfulmer@wvpe.org.
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