Senator Richard Lugar, who served almost four decades as an Indiana Senator, was defeated in Tuesday’s Republican primary by his Tea Party-backed opponent, Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock.
With 99 percent of the vote in, Lugar trailed Mourdock 60 percent to 40 percent.
Lugar, who was accused of being too moderate, was expected to lose after many conservative figureheads endorsed and supported Mourdock. Lugar was also criticized for not actually have been living in Indiana for quite some time. He was also found guilty of using taxpayer money for hotel rooms.
The Tea Party-aligned group FreedomWorks held “activist training” sessions and made phone calls on Mourdock’s behalf while the Club for Growth spent more that 1.4 million during the campaign.
Conservatives across the board were excited about Mourdock’s primary win, including David Bossie, the President of Citizens United released this statement:
President Obama, in contrast, issued a statement lamenting Lugar’s loss: “While Dick and I didn’t always agree on everything, I found during my time in the Senate that he was often willing to reach across the aisle and get things done.”
Mourdock will face Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly in November.
