The 2018 United States Senate election in Indiana took place on November 6, 2018, along with other elections to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

and

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic Senator

Joe Donnelly Joseph Simon Donnelly Sr. (born September 29, 1955) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2013 and as a United States Senate, U.S. Senator from 2013 to 2019. A member of t ...

ran for re-election to a second term, however, he lost in the general election to Republican

Mike Braun Michael Braun (born March 24, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the 52nd governor of Indiana since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he served from 2019 to 2025 as a United States senator from Indiana and from 2 ...

by a margin of 6%. This was the second consecutive election for this seat in which the incumbent was defeated and/or the seat flipped parties. This was one of ten Democratic-held Senate seats up for election in a state won by

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

in the

2016 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kiri ...

. In 2017, ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

'' described the race as "possibly the GOP's best opportunity to seize a Senate seat from Democrats" in the 2018 elections. The primary election was held on May 8, 2018. In October 2018,

RealClearPolitics RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American political news website and polling data aggregator. It was founded in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. It features selected polit ...

rated the race a toss-up between the Democratic and Republican nominees, with the Libertarian receiving a poll average of 6%. Instead of running for a second senatorial term in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, Braun campaigned successfully to become

Governor of Indiana The governor of Indiana is the head of government of the U.S. state of Indiana. The governor is elected to a four-year term and is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of the functions of many agencies of the Indiana state gover ...

Background

In 2012,

was elected to the Senate with 50% of the vote to Republican nominee

Richard Mourdock Richard Earl Mourdock (born October 8, 1951) is an American politician who served as treasurer of the state of Indiana from 2007 to 2014. Running with the support of the Tea Party movement, he defeated six-term incumbent U.S. Senator Richard L ...

's 44%. In the 2016 presidential election, Republican nominee

won

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

with about 56.5% of the vote to Democratic nominee

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

's 37.5%.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

, incumbent U.S. senator

Withdrew

* Martin Del Rio, Iraq War veteran

Endorsements

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

, businessman and former state representative

Eliminated in the primary election

Luke Messer Allen Lucas Messer (born February 27, 1969) is an American politician and lobbyist who represented Indiana's 6th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019. He is a member of the Republican Party. Bor ...

, U.S. representative *

Todd Rokita Theodore Edward Rokita ( ; born February 9, 1970) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 44th and current Indiana Attorney General, Attorney General of Indiana. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives fro ...

, U.S. representative

Declined

Jim Banks James Edward Banks (born July 16, 1979) is an American politician and naval officer serving since 2025 as the junior United States senator from Indiana. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. representative for from 2017 to 2025 a ...

, U.S. representative *

Susan Brooks Susan Lynn Brooks (née Wiant) (born August 25, 1960) is an American prosecutor and politician. She is a Republican and the former U.S. Representative for . She was elected in 2012. The district includes the northern fifth of Indianapolis, as w ...

, U.S. representative (endorsed Luke Messer) * Mike Delph, state senator (endorsed Todd Rokita) *

Jackie Walorski Jacqueline Renae Walorski (, August 17, 1963 – August 3, 2022) was an American politician who served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for Indiana's 2nd congressional district from 2013 until her death in 2022. ...

, U.S. representative

Withdrawn

* Terry Henderson, businessman (endorsed Mike Braun) * Andy Horning, Libertarian nominee for the U.S. Senate in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and Libertarian nominee for

IN-08 Indiana's 8th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Indiana. Based in southwest and west central Indiana, the district is anchored in Evansville and also includes Jasper, Princeton, Terre Haute, Vincennes, and ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

* Mark Hurt, attorney and former congressional aide * Andrew Takami, director of Purdue Polytechnic New Albany (endorsed Luke Messer)

Endorsements

Polling

Results

Independent

Candidates

Declared

* James Johnson Jr.

General election

Candidates

, businessman and former state representative (R) * Lucy Brenton (L) *

, incumbent (D) * James Johnson Jr. (I)

Debates

Complete video of debate
October 8, 2018

Predictions

Fundraising

Endorsements

Polling

Graphical summary
with Todd Rokita
with Luke Messer
with generic Republican

Results

2018 Indiana Senate Election by State House Districts

On November 6, 2018, Braun won the general election. He swept southern Indiana, the exurbs of Indianapolis, and most other rural areas in the state. Donnelly ran well behind his 2012 vote totals, winning only in Indianapolis, the university centers (Bloomington, Terre Haute, West Lafayette, South Bend), and the suburbs of Chicago in Northwest Indiana.

By county

Source

=Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

= *

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States * Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer Places in the United States Populated places * Madi ...

(largest city: Anderson) * Spencer (largest city:

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

) * Starke (largest city: Knox) * Vanderburgh (largest city:

Evansville Evansville is a city in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 118,414 at the 2020 census, it is Indiana's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the most populous city in S ...

) *

Scott Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Sas ...

(largest city: Scottsburg) * Blackford (largest city: Hartford City) *

Clark Clark is an English language surname with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland, ultimately derived from the Latin ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educated ...

(largest city: Jeffersonville) * Crawford (largest city: Marengo) * Floyd (largest city: New Albany) * Jefferson (largest city:

) * Fayette (largest city:

Connersville Connersville is a city in Fayette County, Indiana, United States, east by southeast of Indianapolis. The population was 13,324 at the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of and the only incorporated town in the county. The city is in t ...

) *

Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

(largest city: New Castle) *

Howard Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ...

(largest city: Kokomo) * Wayne (largest city:

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

) *

Vermillion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color family and pigment most often used between antiquity and the 19th century from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide). It is synonymous with red orange, which often takes a modern ...

(largest city: Clinton) *

Perry Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England (particularly Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire), parts of South Wales, France (especially Normandy and Anjou), Canada, Austral ...

(largest city: Tell City) *

Sullivan Sullivan may refer to: People Characters * Chloe Sullivan, from the television series ''Smallville'' * Colin Sullivan, a character in the film ''The Departed'', played by Matt Damon * Harry Sullivan (''Doctor Who''), from the British science f ...

(largest city:

)

By congressional district

Braun won six of nine congressional districts, with Donnelly winning the other three, including one held by a Republican.https://davesredistricting.org/maps#viewmap::930472f1-d096-42c0-9e38-10f463ecdb89

Voter demographics

Notes

References

External links

Candidates
at

Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is an American non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected offic ...

Candidates
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Campaign finance
at FEC
Campaign finance
at

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks and publishes data on campaign finance and lobbying, including a revolving door database which documents the individuals who have worked in both the public sector an ...

GOP Primary Debate
February 20, 2018 Official campaign websites
Mike Braun (R) for SenateLucy Brenton (L) for SenateJoe Donnelly (D) for Senate
{{2018 United States elections

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...