INDIANAPOLIS — Chad Kinsella remembers when his fellow Muncie residents used to vote for Democrats like former U.S. Senators Joe Donnelly and Evan Bayh. He remembers when people elected Democrats for county and city council seats.
But not anymore, noted the political science professor at Ball State University. Indiana Republicans won every local, state and federal race except one in November’s midterm election.
“Delaware County, where I am, used to be super purple,” Kinsella said. “But old Rust Belt places like Madison and Delaware counties have gone much more Republican over the last couple of years.”
Across the nation, the red wave predicted for the midterms didn’t happen. Democrats bucked long-time trends, maintaining control in the Senate by winning hotly contested races in states such as Pennsylvania and Arizona, and losing fewer seats in the House than expected.
But in Indiana, the red wave washed across the state unimpeded, clearing away any remnants of Hoosier land’s purple past.
Republicans not only won every state-level seat, but also won nearly every race in St. Joseph, Howard and Madison counties, where Democrats once had a winning chance. Republicans also easily maintained their supermajority in both chambers at the Statehouse.
Indiana hasn’t been this red since the 1950s, when for six years Republicans held every state and U.S. Senate seat, as well as nearly all of the state’s U.S. congressional seats. After the midterms, the state is set to match that record.
It begs the question: How did Indiana, once considered a battleground state, become a Republican stronghold?
Tom McDermott Jr., the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate who was handily defeated in November by incumbent Todd Young, has a theory: National Democrats have abandoned Hoosiers.
In his “Left of Center” podcast, the Hammond mayor argued he and other Democratic candidates were “sacrificial lambs” offered up by the party and its leader, President Joe Biden.
Read More: Midterms seal Indiana’s status as a Republican stronghold | State News