WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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Indiana will be the first indication of whether or not the “blue wave” is coming to Congress after today’s midterm elections.
Indiana is the first of eight states with contentious US Senate battles to begin posting election results after polls begin to close at 6 p.m.
The Senate race between incumbent Democrat Joe Donnelly and Republican Mike Braun, one of the most closely watched races in the nation, will begin to see results before other contested battles across the country.
Returns for most of the state will begin to be counted at 6 p.m.
Republicans currently hold a majority in the House and Senate, but Democrats are hopeful that a “blue wave,” a surge of voters unsatisfied with President Donald Trump and other Republicans, will turn that tide.
There are 10 Senate seats contested, and eight of those races are highly competitive. Statistics and analytics website FiveThirtyEight predicts that Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives and Republicans retain control of the US Senate.
Other competitive Senate races won’t see returns until hours after Indiana. In Florida, where incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson is battling Republican and former governor Rick Scott, results will begin to be counted at 7 p.m. FiveThirtyEight has Nelson as the likely victor.
In Texas, where Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke is running against Republican incumbent Ted Cruz, results won’t be counted until 8 p.m. FiveThirtyEight has Cruz at an almost 80 percent chance of winning.
In Missouri, where incumbent Claire McCaskill is running against Republican challenger Josh Hawley, FiveThirtyEight predicts a four in seven chance of a McCaskill victory. But, like Texas, results won’t begin to be counted until 8 p.m.
In Arizona, where Republican Martha McSally and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema are competing for the seat vacated by retiring senator Jeff Flake, won’t be counted until 9 p.m. Sinema has a five in eight chance of winning, according to FiveThirtyEight.
One of the later races to see results counted is North Dakota. Starting at 10 p.m., votes will be counted in the race between incumbent Heidi Heitkamp and challenger Kevin Cramer. Heitkamp’s seat is considered the most vulnerable Democratic seat in the Senate, and FiveThirtyEight has her at a one in four chance of winning.
But before all of those races see results, Indiana’s up first.
FiveThirtyEight labels the Indiana Senate race as leaning Democrat, predicting a five in seven chance that Donnelly will hold onto his seat. This is despite his being a Democrat in a state Trump won by 19 percentage points in 2016, the home state of Vice President Mike Pence.
It’s a race that’s been put on the national stage in part because of big-name guests on the campaign trail. In the last few days, Trump has made appearances at rallies in Southport, Indianapolis and Fort Wayne to campaign for Republican challenger Braun. Pence has also stumped for Braun in the past in addition to appearing in campaign ads accusing Donnelly of “cozying up to the radical left.”
Donnelly, who is considered a centrist, was endorsed by former President Barack Obama in Gary on Sunday.
