Rep. Todd Young took home the Indiana GOP’s Senate nomination Tuesday, topping fellow Rep. Marlin Stutzman in a battle to succeed retiring Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Coats.
Heading into Tuesday, Young held the edge in polling, leading Stutzman by 8-12 points in recent polls and buoyed by support from Republican leadership and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
For Stutzman, it’s his second loss in a primary for the U.S. Senate. He lost a 2010 primary battle to Coats, who previously served in the Senate from 1989 until 1999. The conservative congressman had earned the backing from the likes of Carly Fiorina, Sen. Mike Lee and Sen. Rand Paul.
Stutzman also had declared that he would support either Donald Trump or Sen. Ted Cruz for the Republican nomination, with Young being less than supportive of the two candidates.
In the past, Tea Party candidates have seen success in primary elections only to fall in November. In 2012, Indiana Republicans backed Richard Mourdock over incumbent Sen. Richard Lugar. However, Mourdock fell to Joe Donnelly in the general election after making controversial comments about abortion and rape.
