2010 Indiana's 3rd congressional district special election

The 2010 United States House of Representatives special election for Indiana's Third congressional district occurred on November 2, 2010, to elect the successor to Mark Souder (R) who resigned upon admitting to an extramarital affair. This election coincided with the regularly scheduled election.

2010 Indiana's 3rd congressional district election

November 2, 2010 (2010-11-02)

Nominee Marlin Stutzman Tom Hayhurst Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 115,415 60,880 Percentage 63% 33%

Indiana's 3rd congressional district at the time of the 2010 elections.

Representative before election Mark Souder Republican Elected Representative Marlin Stutzman Republican

Background

Two weeks after winning renomination, Souder resigned both from office as U.S. Representative and as the Republican nominee for the Third district following the revelation of an affair with Tracy Meadows Jackson, a married female staffer. Governor Mitch Daniels (R), in the interest of cutting the costs of holding the election, scheduled the special election to succeed him to occur on the same day as the general election.

Nominating caucuses

As per Indiana state law, the parties held caucuses within thirty days following Souder's resignation to choose their nominees for the special election.

Republican

Republicans held their caucus on June 12. State Senator Marlin Stutzman, the runner-up in the Republican U.S. Senatorial primary, won the nomination decisively in the second round over state Representative Randy Borror, car salesman Bob Thomas, Fort Wayne City Councilwoman Liz Brown, and Ryan Elijah.

Republican caucus results (round 1)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Marlin Stutzman	180	44.34
	Republican	Randy Borror	67	16.5
	Republican	Liz Brown	46	11.33
	Republican	Ryan Elijah	43	10.59
	Republican	Bob Thomas	21	5.17
	Republican	Robert Morris	16	3.94
	Republican	Wes Culver	11	2.71
	Republican	Dennis Wright	11	2.71
	Republican	Mike Foster	5	1.23
	Republican	Joseph Schomburg	4	.99
	Republican	Rachel Grubb	1	.25
	Republican	Lonnie Powell	1	.25
	Republican	Greg Dickman	0	0
	Republican	Richard Thonert	0	0
	Republican	Scott Welsh	0	0
Total votes			406	100

Republican caucus results (round 2)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Marlin Stutzman	229	57.25
	Republican	Randy Borror	69	17.25
	Republican	Ryan Elijah	46	11.5
	Republican	Liz Brown	39	9.75
	Republican	Bob Thomas	17	4.25
Total votes			400	100

Democratic

Democrats choose former Fort Wayne city councilman Tom Hayhurst, who had won the Democratic primary for the general election earlier, as their nominee for the special election.

Libertarian

Tea Party activist and ex-Republican Scott W. Wise, also their nominee for the general election, was chosen as the Libertarian nominee for the special election.

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Marlin Stutzman (R)	Tom Hayhurst (D)	Scott Wise (L)	Undecided
American Viewpoint	July 19–20, 2010	400	±4.9%	56%	29%	2%	n/a
SurveyUSA	October 21–25, 2010	400	±4.9%	57%	32%	7%	2%
Riggs Research	October 27–28, 2010	400	±4.9%	36%	40%	3%	n/a

Election results

Given the district's strong conservative bent, which at the time had a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+14, Stutzman, as predicted by many political prognosticators, handily won the simultaneous special and general elections in November.

Special election

2010 US House special election: Indiana 3

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Marlin Stutzman	115,415	62.65%	+7.61
	Democratic	Tom Hayhurst	60,880	33.05%	−6.65
	Libertarian	Scott W. Wise	7,914	4.3%	−.96
Majority			54,535	29.6%
Turnout			184,209

General election

v US House election: Indiana 3

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Marlin Stutzman	116,140	62.76%	+7.72%
	Democratic	Tom Hayhurst	61,267	33.11%	−6.59%
	Libertarian	Scott W. Wise	7,631	4.12%	−1.14%
	Write-In	Tom Metzger	10	.01%
	Write-In	Wes Stephens	1	.00%
Majority			54,873	29.65%
Turnout			185,049