High voter turnout drove Indiana's blue wave
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Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
Voter turnout in Indiana was up in last week's election compared with the 2022 midterm elections.
Why it matters: The strong turnout, particularly in the state's largest counties, drove the blue wave that flipped long-held Republican seats up and down the ballot.
The big picture: Election results are still being finalized, but turnout was up around the country — driven partly by early voters.
- Turnout was the second-highest for a midterm election since 1914 — only slightly behind the 2018 midterms, during President Trump's first term — according to preliminary data from the University of Florida Election Lab.
Zoom in: Indiana's Election Division hasn't finished populating results for all counties, but an Axios Indianapolis analysis found that turnout was up over 2022 in the 10 counties with the most registered voters.
- Even with results missing for more than a dozen counties, turnout was up statewide.
By the numbers: In Marion County, turnout was up 7 percentage points, to 41%. Marion County had 261,823 voters — more than any other.
- Hamilton County had the second-highest turnout, with 150,804 voters. 52% of its registered voters turned out, up 4 points from 2022.
- Lake County was third, up 3 points from 2022 to 40%, with 146,971.
- Allen and St. Joseph counties were up 2 and 3 points, respectively.
Between the lines: Hamilton and Allen counties were among the 14 counties that flipped from red to blue this election, helping elect Democrat Beau Bayh to secretary of state and securing the party's first statewide win since 2012.
The bottom line: Even without a high-profile Senate race like those that drove the highest turnout in places like Michigan, Maine and Minnesota, Hoosier voters were motivated to show up this year.