Republican representative Todd Young will defeat former senator Evan Bayh in the Indiana Senate race, NBC News reported just short of 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, giving the GOP a crucial hold early in its quest to maintain a majority in the upper chamber.
With 41 percent of the vote reporting, Young led Bayh 54 to 41 percent, seeming to track the results of the presidential race. Donald Trump was declared the victor in the Hoosier state immediately after 7 p.m. on the East Coast; he led Hillary Clinton 60 to 36 percent at the time of publication.
Univision appeared to be the first news outlet to call the race for Young, currently serving out his third House term, at 7:05 p.m.
The contest was a must-get for Republicans to retain Senate control. With a 54-46 advantage, Indiana was one of four toss-up seats the party was defending, in addition to Missouri, North Carolina, and New Hampshire. It quickly became one of the safer bets as the race neared its close, after Bayh battled a bevy of negative news stories about his unofficial lobbying work and his lengthy non-Indiana residency after leaving the Senate in 2010.
The Democrat entered the race belatedly in July as a potential white knight for his party, as he rode his name recognition, his family’s good reputation, and his moderate political image to an early lead—a far cry from what election observers expected after Young was slated to face off against former Democratic representative Baron Hill, who Young beat handily in his first House race. He defeated Hill by 10 percentage points, 52 to 42 percent, in 2010.
Young has since established himself as a center-right wonk on Capitol Hill through his work on the House Ways & Means Committee. He ran against Bayh’s complicated support of Obamacare in the Senate showdown, as well as his opponent’s personal and professional baggage. While their faceoff took on a negative tone, Young managed to avoid any significant errors on the campaign trail to take the attention off of Bayh. Public surveys tightened in the final weeks, and the Republican eventually seized a five-point lead in a local poll conducted by WTHR and Howey Politics.
Young continued that momentum through Election Day. He will replace the outgoing Republican Dan Coats, who actually returned to the Senate, himself, in 2010 after a 12-year absence. The person who took over for Coats in January 1999: Evan Bayh.
