Seymour Republican Jim Lucas will continue to represent Indiana House District 69 thanks to the voters in the district that spans most of Jackson County and parts of Bartholomew, Jennings, Scott and Washington counties.
Lucas, who was first elected to the House on Nov. 7, 2012, outpolled his Democratic opponent, Chad Harmon of Seymour, by a final tally of 12,523 (74%) to 4,474 (26%). Lucas won Jackson County 7,122 votes (73.32%) to 2,591 (26.68%).
“Obviously, the people of southern Indiana like what I am doing,” Lucas said.
He said the margin of the win signals he should keep doing what he has been doing, especially since the district is completely different than what it was before redistricting after the 2020 census.
Before redistricting, House District 69 included North Vernon in Jennings County. It now includes Salem in Washington County.
In Bartholomew County, Lucas beat Harmon 277 to 62. District 69 includes just the portion of Wayne Township, including Jonesville.
Harmon said he was obviously disappointed with the outcome.
“But that’s why they have elections,” he said. “I accept that. The people of the district picked who they wanted to represent them.”
As for any future office runs, Harmon said it’s like playing golf because sometimes when he’s done, he swears he will never do it again, but it’s too early to tell right now.
He also said while campaigning, he saw a lot of issues he thinks he can help address.
A second House race involving Jackson County saw District 65 incumbent Chris May of Bedford defeating Democratic challenger Kevin Goodman, also of Bedford, by a 14,645 (78%) to 4,192 (22%) margin. The district includes Carr Township in Jackson County, which May won by a 297 (82.73%) to 62 (17.27%) margin.
Republican Dave Hall of Norman also won his race with Democrat Penny Githens of Bloomington for House District 62, which includes Owen, Pershing and Salt Creek townships in northwestern Jackson County. Hall won by a 12,067 (53%) to 10,824 (47%) margin and carried Jackson County by 878 votes (86.16%) to 141 (13.84%).
In the Indiana Ninth District Congressional race, Republican Erin Houchin of Salem finished with 136,448 (64%) votes, Democrat Matthew Fyfe of Greensburg had 69,746 (33%) and Libertarian Tonya L. Millis of Mitchell finished with 6,241 (3%).
In Jackson County, Houchin finished with 8,658 (77.32%) votes, Fyfe had 2,268 (20.25%) and Millis had 272 (2.43%).
Incumbent U.S. Senator Todd Young of Bloomington also won his race with 1,044,891 (59%) votes over Democrat Thomas McDermott Jr. 666,648 (38%) and Libertarian James Sceniak 61,188 (3%).
Young received 8,152 votes (76.67%) in Jackson County, while McDermott had 1,995 (19.76%) and Sceniak finished with 389 (3.57%).
Following a late update, the Jackson County Clerk’s Office reported 11,412 or 40.12% of the county’s 28,446 registered voters cast ballots during the election.