Incumbent State Senators Dan Dernulc and Rick Niemeyer appear headed for defeat after Tuesday’s Republican primary.
With all precincts reporting, Dernulc, R-Highland, was trailing his Trump-backed opponent Trevor De Vries by more than 4,600 votes, 23% to 75%, while Niemeyer, R-Lowell, was losing by more than 750 votes to Jim Starkey, 43% to 57%. Vote tallies will remain unofficial until approved by the Lake County Election Board on May 15.
Statewide, several State Senate contests were characterized by more than $8 million in ad spending — even during Chicago Cubs games — after a majority of Republican senators voted down President Donald Trump’s redistricting plan in December, according to the Associated Press. On his Truth Social account, Trump endorsed primary challengers to seven sitting senators, including Dernulc’s opponent De Vries. While Niemeyer’s opponent Starkey wasn’t on the receiving end of a bump from Trump, he was visible on television and in mailboxes.
Elsewhere across Indiana, four other Trump-endorsed challengers toppled incumbents, with one losing and another too close to call.
When interviewed Wednesday morning, De Vries said, “God provided the results.”
Affordability is his top focus as he prepares for the November election, he said.
“The number one conversation we had on a daily basis was regarding things like NIPSCO and the concerns on how ratepayers are subsidizing these big corporations,” De Vries said.
Dernulc did not respond to multiple requests for comment Tuesday and Wednesday.
De Vries said Wednesday that he believes redistricting was not the priority on why people voted in the primary.
“I think the redistricting vote woke a lot of people up to realize that the people down at the statehouse had been asleep at the wheel,” he added. “People started digging into voting records, and we just started seeing their complacency in Indianapolis.”
During his campaign, Starkey said he had strong support in Lake County heading into Election Day and felt that voters wanted new Republican members in the legislature.
Starkey said voters seemed to respond to his message, which focused on addressing high energy costs and pushing back against the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, as well as addressing property taxes and benefits for corporations. NIPSCO customers have seen the highest increase in electricity bills — 27% — compared to any other area of the state, and the company has been the subject of multiple protests locally.
“People were ready for change, and the voters spoke,” Starkey said Wednesday morning.
He thanked Jesus Christ and his wife, Holly, for their support throughout the campaign.
Niemeyer, who faced a Republican primary challenger for the first time since 2014, voted against the redistricted maps because they didn’t come from party leadership and he didn’t understand why the First Congressional District was divided.
“The voters voted, and that’s what happened. That’s how the system works,” Niemeyer said Tuesday night.
Starkey will face Kate-Lynn Holley, a Democrat running unopposed, in November. It’s the first time running for a political office for Holley, a real estate agent.
“Nothing really changes if we keep the same people in the same positions,” Holley said in an April interview. “People deserve choice.”
In the general election, District 1 may be a much tighter race. The Democratic candidate, Scott Houldieson, was unchallenged and received 8,171 votes in the Democratic primary compared to the 9,034 votes received by the three Republican candidates. The seat was a Democratic stronghold, held for decades by State Sen. Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond, the father of current U.S. Rep. Frank J. Mrvan, D-Highland. After the 2020 census, Republicans redistricted and shifted the district south into more Republican areas like St. John, which opened up the seat to Dernulc winning in 2022.
Houldieson said in a Tuesday night news release that if elected in November, he’ll bring “a working-class voice” to the statehouse and prioritize restoring wages, strengthening workers’ rights and reining in corporate abuse.
“As your state senator, I’ll continue to stand with working people and fight systems that are rigged against them,” Houldieson said in a statement Tuesday night. “Indiana’s low wages and weak labor protections aren’t in place by accident. They’re in place due to bad policy choices. The good news is that together we can change them.”
