Indiana is a red state, and a deeply red one. Republicans hold the governorship, both U.S. Senate seats, seven of nine U.S. House seats, and supermajorities in both chambers of the state legislature. Donald Trump carried the state by nearly 19 points in 2024, and Indiana has voted Republican in every presidential election since 2000 except one.
How Indiana Votes for President
The presidential numbers tell the story cleanly. In 2024, Trump defeated Kamala Harris 58.6% to 39.7% and took all 11 of Indiana’s electoral votes.1Politico. Indiana 2024 Election Results In 2020, he beat Joe Biden by roughly 16 points, 1,729,857 votes to 1,242,498.2Federal Election Commission. Federal Elections 2020 Republican margins in the state have been comfortable and consistent for a quarter century.
The one exception in modern memory was 2008, when Barack Obama edged John McCain by 28,391 votes, a margin of 1.03 points. Obama was the first Democrat to carry Indiana since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. His win rested on huge turnout in Marion County (Indianapolis) and Lake County (Gary), which together netted him about 315,000 votes, along with recession-era economic anxiety and a ground operation that outspent McCain by nearly $2 million in the state.3Elections Daily. How President Obama Pulled Off the Shock of the 2008 Election in Indiana Every presidential election since has broken Republican by double digits.
Who Holds Power in Indiana
Republicans control the state government end to end. In the Indiana House they hold 69 of 100 seats; in the state Senate, 40 of 50.4National Conference of State Legislatures. State Partisan Composition Those are supermajorities, meaning legislation can pass without a single Democratic vote. Republican Mike Braun won the 2024 governor’s race with 54.4% to Democrat Jennifer McCormick’s 41.1%.5Politico. Indiana Governor Election Results
At the federal level, both U.S. senators, Todd Young and Jim Banks, are Republicans, and seven of the state’s nine U.S. House members are Republicans. The two Democratic representatives are Frank Mrvan in the 1st District, anchored by Gary in northwest Indiana, and André Carson in the 7th District, covering Indianapolis.6GovTrack. Members of Congress From Indiana There are no Democrats holding statewide office in Indiana.
Where Democrats Still Win
Democratic strength is real but geographically narrow. In 2024, Kamala Harris carried just four of Indiana’s 92 counties: Marion (Indianapolis) with 62.9%, Monroe (Bloomington) with 62.8%, Lake (Gary) with 52.1%, and St. Joseph (South Bend) with 49.8%.7BBC. Indiana 2024 Presidential Results Her margins in all four were tighter than Biden’s had been in 2020.8Axios. Indiana Election Analysis: Trump-Harris
Elsewhere, the ground has moved the other way. Democrats have lost the once-competitive steel communities of northwest Indiana and the ancestrally Democratic counties of the southern and southwestern parts of the state.9Split Ticket. Indiana Realignment Between 2016 and 2024, 74% of Indiana’s counties shifted further Republican.8Axios. Indiana Election Analysis: Trump-Harris
The Suburbs Are the Trend to Watch
The one clear counter-current is in the Indianapolis suburbs, especially Hamilton County. Long one of the most reliably Republican suburban counties in the Midwest, Hamilton County has moved steadily leftward: Democratic presidential vote share climbed from 37% in 2016 to 45% in 2020 to 46% in 2024. Harris actually carried the cities of Carmel and Fishers in 2024, and Republican candidates lost most local school board races in those communities.10WFYI. Hamilton County Indiana Purple: Trump-Harris Population growth, an influx of college-educated residents, and anti-Trump sentiment among suburban voters have all been cited as drivers.11WISH-TV. Voting Trends Hamilton County 2024
Even so, Trump still won Hamilton County overall by 6 points in 2024, and Republicans continue to dominate down-ballot races there. The suburban shift mirrors a national pattern in which college-educated voters have moved toward Democrats while rural and working-class white voters have moved toward Republicans. Indiana’s rural population is large enough that the trade has been a net gain for the GOP.
Indiana Was Not Always Deep Red
The current lopsidedness is a fairly recent development. Democrats held the Indiana governor’s office for 16 consecutive years under Evan Bayh (1989–1997), Frank O’Bannon (1997–2003), and Joe Kernan (2003–2005).12National Governors Association. Former Governors: Indiana Bayh later won two U.S. Senate races, and O’Bannon was reelected in 2000 before dying in office in September 2003.13State of Indiana. Frank O’Bannon
Democrat Joe Donnelly won a U.S. Senate seat in 2012 after his Republican opponent Richard Mourdock made controversial comments about rape and pregnancy.14LPM. Donnelly Defeats Mourdock for Indiana Senate Seat Donnelly then lost to Mike Braun in 2018, 54% to 42%, and no Democrat has held statewide office in Indiana since.15IndyStar. Indiana Senate Race: Donnelly-Braun Results Bayh’s own comeback bid in the 2016 Senate race ended in defeat by Todd Young, his first electoral loss in 30 years.16WFYI. In Senate Loss, Bayh Couldn’t Overcome Modern Image Among Voters
For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, Indiana had genuine two-party competition, and Democrats governed the state frequently.12National Governors Association. Former Governors: Indiana The current era of Republican dominance is the product of the national partisan realignment that accelerated in the 2010s, as Indiana’s large rural and working-class white population sorted into the GOP and Democratic strength consolidated into a few urban centers too small to offset the shift statewide.