Indiana’s top Republican legislative leadership remained unchanged after House and Senate caucuses met Wednesday in Indianapolis to vote on top brass.
Lawmakers cast their own internal ballots one day after the state’s GOP appeared likely to maintain its longstanding supermajorities in both chambers.
Most races were called in Republicans’ favor by Wednesday, but a handful with razor-thin margins were still too close to call more than a day after polls closed.
The stronghold will continue to stymie Hoosier Democrats’ legislative influence.
Going into Election Day, Democrats held 30 seats in the 100-person House and needed four more to break the Republican supermajority. Only 10 Democrats serve in the 50-member Senate, meaning they’d need seven more to gain power.
Preliminary results showed Republicans had earned enough apparent victories to retain at least 67 seats in the 100-member House, and 40 of the 50 seats in the Senate.
The GOP supermajority means that Republicans don’t need Democrats present to conduct business, like passing bills.
GOP majority leadership unchanged
In the upper chamber, Sen. Rodric Bray, R-Martinsville, will remain president pro tempore and Sen. Chris Garten, R-Charlestown, will remain majority floor leader. Additionally, GOP Sen. Travis Holdman, of Markle, will remain majority caucus chair.
“It is not lost on me that the position of Senate President Pro Tempore is a job that carries a tremendous amount of responsibility, and I am extremely grateful to the members of my caucus who have placed their faith in me to lead this esteemed body,” Bray said in a statement. “I’m also pleased to continue to have Sens. Holdman and Garten on the leadership team, who have proven themselves to be level-headed and practical leaders in the Senate. My caucus is full of talented leaders, and we are ready to get back to the Statehouse on behalf of Hoosiers as we undertake crafting the state’s next budget in the 2025 session.”
Separately, Indiana House Republicans re-elected Rep. Todd Huston, of Fishers, to serve a second full term as speaker. He was first elected as speaker in March 2020 to fill the remaining term of retiring House Speaker Brian Bosma.
House Republicans on Wednesday also re-elected Rep. Greg Steuerwald, of Avon, as majority caucus chair, along with Rep. Matt Lehman, of Berne, as majority floor leader and Caroline Spotts as House clerk.
“It was another great night for Indiana Republicans. Going into the night, we felt good. Overall, it was just fantastic,” Huston told the Indiana Capital Chronicle Wednesday afternoon.
He said the upcoming 2025 session will prioritize the next two-year state budget and likely see lawmakers deal with “everything from education funding to infrastructure to Medicaid.”
Both Bray and Huston are expected to be confirmed by their respective chambers on Organization Day — set for Nov. 19 — which marks the ceremonial start to the 2025 legislative session.
Indiana House Democrats also reelected Rep. Phil GiaQuinta, D-Fort Wayne, to serve as the Indiana House Democratic Leader. This will be GiaQuinta’s fourth term as leader, having first assumed the position in 2018.
GiaQuinta will serve alongside State Rep. Cherrish Pryor (D-Indianapolis) and State Rep. Carey Hamilton (D-Indianapolis), who were reelected as Minority Floor Leader and Minority Caucus Chair, respectively.
“Given state and national election outcomes for Democrats, I’m proud we defended all 30 of our incumbent seats. I always say that House Democrats are pragmatic problem solvers,”GiaQuinta said. “Our constituents clearly understand that we approach our work in the legislature by putting solutions before partisanship – and that will be no different this upcoming legislative session.”
Some Statehouse races still undecided
House Republicans, who entered the 2024 election cycle with a 70-30 House margin, secured a supermajority for the seventh straight election.
All 100 seats in the chamber were up for grabs. Nearly two dozen Republicans ran unopposed, as did a dozen Democrats.
In House District 61 — which includes portions of Brown, Jackson and Monroe counties — incumbent Dave Hall, a Republican, continued as of late Wednesday to hold a slim lead over Democrat Thomas Horrocks, with 51% of the vote compared to Horrocks’ 49%, according to the Associated Press. Hall won the seat with less than 100 votes in 2022.
Preliminary results also show Democratic Reps. Pat Boy and Chuck Moseley both with narrow victories in unexpectedly close races.
Boy, of Michigan City, led Republican Joel Florek at 50.8% to 49.2% of the vote with about 89% of the vote counted. Wednesday tallies showed Moseley, of Portage, earned 52.1% of votes to claim victory over Republican Jeff Larson.
In southern Indiana’s House District 71, Democrat incumbent Wendy Dant Chesser had 50% of the vote and was leading Republican Scott Hawkins’ 46% as of Wednesday with about 89% of the vote counted. Libertarian Gregory Hertzsch had about 4% of the vote in that race.
The seat was previously held by former Democratic state Rep. Rita Fleming, who resigned following Indiana’s May primary. Hawkins is running for the seat a second time after losing narrowly to Fleming in 2022.
And in central Indiana, Democratic Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn narrowly won a second term in her district, which covers parts of northern Indianapolis, Fishers and Carmel.
Garcia Wilburn received 52% of the vote over Republican Patricia Bratton, besting her margin in the 2022 election.
Additionally called Wednesday was the race for House District 39, which outgoing Republican Rep. Jerry Torr held since 1996. Vote totals indicated that Republican Danny Lopez defeated Democrat Matt McNally with 54% of the vote to 46% of the vote.
Meanwhile, incumbent Rep. Becky Cash, a Republican, led by just 66 votes over Democrat challenger Tiffany Stoner at 4 p.m. Thursday with an estimated 99% of ballots counted. Voters in Boone and Hendricks counties favored Cash with 50.1% over Stoner’s 49.9%.
When asked on Wednesday, Huston acknowledged the close race but maintained that “we feel good about it.” He said, too, he’s confident that the caucus will retain its 70-30 margin in the House.
No state Senate seats changed parties in Tuesday’s election, meaning Republicans will keep their dominating 40-10 majority in the chamber.