Last Updated on January 18, 2018 by cassnetwork
INDIANAPOLIS – Congressman Luke Messer won today’s U.S. Senate Straw Poll at the Indiana Republican Party’s Congress of Counties, with six Republican candidates making their first joint election-year appearance. The straw poll concluded the two-day Congress of Counties conference, which brought together more than 500 Hoosiers from 70 Indiana counties – including candidates, volunteers and Republican Party leaders -– to receive training ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.
“Today’s straw poll shows that Hoosier Republicans are fired up about electing a U.S. Senator who will vote to cut taxes, reform health care and grow jobs in Indiana,” said Indiana Republican Party Chairman Kyle Hupfer. “Hoosiers are tired of hearing one Joe Donnelly in Indiana, and a vastly different Donnelly in Washington, where he consistently votes with Chuck Schumer and his fellow Democrats on the issues that matter most. We’re united as Republicans in our mission to send one of these candidates to Washington and make Joe Donnelly a one-term senator.”
The U.S. Senate candidates – former State Rep. Mike Braun (Jasper), Andrew Horning (Freedom), Mark Hurt (Kokomo), Congressman Luke Messer (Greensburg), Congressman Todd Rokita (Brownsburg) and Andrew Takami (New Albany) – each spoke for five to seven minutes prior to the vote of 326 registered straw poll voters.
In first place, Messer received 147 total votes. Rokita came in second, receiving 82 total votes, followed by Braun with 36 votes, Hurt with 29 votes, Takami with 20 votes and Horning with 12 votes.
The winner of the Republican primary will face off against U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly, who national media outlets have deemed among the most vulnerable U.S. Senators up for re-election in 2018.
The U.S. Senate Straw Poll concluded Congress of Counties, which also included breakout sessions and training opportunities to provide Indiana Republicans with important skills that will help them win elections at all levels across the state in 2018. It also included appearances from Senator Todd Young, Governor Eric Holcomb, Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch and the 2018 statewide team of Secretary of State Connie Lawson, Treasurer of State Kelly Mitchell and Auditor of State Tera Klutz.
SOURCE: News release from Indiana Republican State Committee