There are two massive 20-candidate races for two open congressional seats in Indiana.
Indiana’s June 2 primary elections will have essentially no bearing on the presidential race, but in two congressional districts, both Democrats and Republicans hope to capitalize on the retirements of long-serving members of the House of Representatives to flip seats held for decades by the opposite party.
In the largely Democratic 1st District, which contains much of the Chicago exurbs in the northwest area of the state,14 Democrats and six Republicans are running to replace retiring incumbent Peter Visclosky (D-IN), who has been in office since 1984. The state’s 5th District features 15 Republicans and five Democrats competing for the seat left open by incumbent Republican Rep. Susan Brooks who decided not to run for a fifth term.
A large percentage of voters in the state’s primary — which was delayed in March due to the pandemic — are expected to vote by mail. Voters weren’t required to state a reason for requesting an absentee ballot, and state election officials reported last week that they had received over 545,935 applications to vote by mail before the May 21 deadline. That’s a dramatic increase from the mere 53,818 mail-in absentee ballots that were cast in the 2016 primary.
Polls close in Indiana at 6 p.m. Eastern; Vox will have live results for the state’s races in partnership with Decision Desk below. As they come in, here’s what you need to know about the 1st and 5th districts — two races to watch:
The 1st District hasn’t elected a Republican since 1930, and it is rated as “solid Democratic” by the Cook Political Report. But it includes all of Porter and part of LaPorte counties, both of which went for Obama in 2012 but flipped to Trump in 2016, so Republicans are hopeful they can make the race competitive this fall.
While there’s little polling for either the Democratic or Republican races, the sheer size of the 20-person field is emblematic of the once-in-a-generation opportunity offered by the retirement of a man who held the seat for 36 years.
On the Democratic side, Hammond, Indiana, mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. jumped in the race on the day Visclosky announced his retirement.
