2010 Indiana's 3rd congressional district special election

Last updated

2010 Indiana's 3rd congressional district election
Flag of Indiana.svg
←  2008 November 2, 2010 (2010-11-02) 2010 (regular)  →
  Marlin Stutzman.jpg Tom Hayhurst crop.png
Nominee Marlin Stutzman Tom Hayhurst
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote115,41560,880
Percentage63%33%
IN03 109.gif
Indiana's 3rd congressional district at the time of the 2010 elections.
Representative before election

Mark Souder
Republican

Elected Representative

Marlin Stutzman
Republican

The 2010 United States House of Representatives special election for Indiana's Third congressional district occurred on November 2, 2010, to elect the successor to Mark Souder (R) who resigned upon admitting to an extramarital affair. This election coincided with the regularly scheduled election.

Contents

Background

Two weeks after winning renomination, Souder resigned both from office as U.S. Representative and as the Republican nominee for the Third district following the revelation of an affair with Tracy Meadows Jackson, a married female staffer. [1] Governor Mitch Daniels (R), in the interest of cutting the costs of holding the election, scheduled the special election to succeed him to occur on the same day as the general election. [2]

Nominating caucuses

As per Indiana state law, the parties held caucuses within thirty days following Souder's resignation to choose their nominees for the special election. [3]

Republican

Republicans held their caucus on June 12. State Senator Marlin Stutzman, the runner-up in the Republican U.S. Senatorial primary, won the nomination decisively in the second round over state Representative Randy Borror, car salesman Bob Thomas, Fort Wayne City Councilwoman Liz Brown, and Ryan Elijah.

Republican caucus results (round 1) [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Marlin Stutzman 18044.34
Republican Randy Borror 6716.5
Republican Liz Brown4611.33
Republican Ryan Elijah 4310.59
Republican Bob Thomas215.17
Republican Robert Morris163.94
Republican Wes Culver 112.71
Republican Dennis Wright 112.71
Republican Mike Foster51.23
Republican Joseph Schomburg 4.99
Republican Rachel Grubb 1.25
Republican Lonnie Powell 1.25
Republican Greg Dickman 00
Republican Richard Thonert 00
Republican Scott Welsh 00
Total votes406 100
Republican caucus results (round 2) [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Marlin Stutzman22957.25
Republican Randy Borror 6917.25
Republican Ryan Elijah 4611.5
Republican Liz Brown399.75
Republican Bob Thomas174.25
Total votes400 100

Democratic

Democrats choose former Fort Wayne city councilman Tom Hayhurst, who had won the Democratic primary for the general election earlier, as their nominee for the special election.

Libertarian

Tea Party activist and ex-Republican Scott W. Wise, also their nominee for the general election, was chosen as the Libertarian nominee for the special election.

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Marlin Stutzman (R)Tom Hayhurst (D)Scott Wise (L)Undecided
American Viewpoint [5] July 19–20, 2010400±4.9%56%29%2%n/a
SurveyUSA [6] October 21–25, 2010400±4.9%57%32%7%2%
Riggs Research [7] October 27–28, 2010400±4.9%36%40%3%n/a

Election results

Given the district's strong conservative bent, which at the time had a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+14, Stutzman, as predicted by many political prognosticators, handily won the simultaneous special and general elections in November.

Special election

2010 US House special election: Indiana 3 [8]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Republican Marlin Stutzman 115,41562.65%+7.61
Democratic Tom Hayhurst 60,88033.05%−6.65
Libertarian Scott W. Wise7,9144.3%−.96
Majority 54,53529.6%
Turnout 184,209

General election

v US House election: Indiana 3 [9]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Republican Marlin Stutzman 116,14062.76%+7.72%
Democratic Tom Hayhurst 61,26733.11%−6.59%
Libertarian Scott W. Wise7,6314.12%−1.14%
Write-In Tom Metzger 10.01%
Write-In Wes Stephens1.00%
Majority 54,87329.65%
Turnout 185,049

References

  1. ↑ Indiana Rep. Souder says he'll resign over affair May 18, 2010, Associated Press.
  2. ↑ "Special congressional election set for Nov. 2 | the Journal Gazette | Fort Wayne, IN". Archived from the original on July 31, 2010. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Our Campaigns - IN District 03 - R Replacement Convention Race - Jun 12, 2010". www.ourcampaigns.com.
  4. ↑ "Stutzman wins Republican caucus | the Journal Gazette". Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved January 12, 2012.
  5. ↑ American Viewpoint
  6. ↑ SurveyUSA
  7. ↑ Riggs Research
  8. ↑ "Our Campaigns - IN - District 03 - Special Election Race - Nov 02, 2010". www.ourcampaigns.com.
  9. ↑ General elections 2010
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.