Indiana Tea Party Candidates Win!

Indiana currently has six Democrats and five Republicans in the US House and US Senate. It would be fantastic if they had eleven Republicans and zero Democrats after the 2010 General election, and while it is actually possible, I doubt we can be so lucky.

I am writing this piece to counter some of the articles I have ran across this morning about how the losses by Stutzman and Risk are signs of losses by the Tea Party people. There are three Tea Party winners in Indiana’s US House Districts one, two, and nine.

In the first congressional district Mark Leyva, a carpenter, is one of the organizers of the tea party movement in Lake County. Leyva said he’s confident this time he can defeat Pete Visclosky, who has faced recent ethics investigations concerning accusations the congressman directed government money to campaign supporters. The House Ethics Committee cleared Visclosky of any wrongdoing in February, but in 2009 Visclosky was named one of the “most corrupt” members of Congress by a government watchdog group. On the campaign trail, Leyva said Democratic voters tell him,

Pete’s got to go. He’s been there too long.

In the second congressional district a state legislator and staunch anti-abortion conservative, Jackie Walorski won Tuesday’s Republican primary with 61% of the vote. She is the favored candidate of the Tea Party movement who had this to say

This is our country. It is time we stand together and take it back. This Constitution that I have raised my right hand to defend is under direct assault and I will not stand for it.

In the ninth congressional district Attorney Todd Young of Bloomington won a close GOP contest. Todd is a Fair Tax supporter and a mainstay at tea parties. Nathan Gonzalez, political editor of The Rothenberg Political Report, a national, non-partisan newsletter covering congressional races, called Young’s victory an upset – even though he’d been campaigning vigorously since early last year.

It’s so hard to get known in this district and defeat the high name ID that Sodrel started with. A victory probably gives Young a boost going into the general election fight because he has defeated a former congressman.

I don’t think Hill is vulnerable because of a particular scandal or misstep. It’s because voters are concerned about the direction of the country, concerned about Washington D.C. and Democrats are in control of everything. That makes Hill vulnerable.

Cross-posted at RedState