2020 Indiana gubernatorial election

2020 Indiana gubernatorial election

← 2016 November 3, 2020 2024 →

Nominee Eric Holcomb Woody Myers Donald Rainwater Party Republican Democratic Libertarian Running mate Suzanne Crouch Linda Lawson William Henry Popular vote 1,706,739 968,106 345,569 Percentage 56.5% 32.1% 11.4%

County results Holcomb:      50-60%      60-70%      70-80% Myers:      50-60%

Governor before election Eric Holcomb Republican Elected Governor Eric Holcomb Republican

Elections in Indiana
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The 2020 Indiana gubernatorial election was won by incumbent Republican Eric Holcomb on November 3, 2020. The election was held concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

Holcomb was eligible to run for re-election to a second term in office, and announced his intention to do so on July 13, 2019 alongside his lieutenant governor, Suzanne Crouch.^[1] He faced Democrat Woody Myers, the former health commissioner of Indiana (and later, of New York City) and his running mate, Linda Lawson, the former minority leader of the Indiana House of Representatives, in addition to Libertarian Donald Rainwater, a U.S. Navy veteran and his running mate William Henry.^[2][3] Primary elections were held on June 2; Holcomb and Myers ran unopposed.

In the general election, Holcomb won re-election to a second term. Myers also became the first major party candidate to receive fewer than one million votes since Republican David McIntosh in 2000.^[4] The election was also notable for the strong performance of Libertarian candidate Donald Rainwater. Rainwater finished in second place, behind Holcomb and ahead of Myers, in over one-third of Indiana's counties, thirty three of ninety-two.^[5] The Associated Press’s large-scale pre-election survey found that Eric Holcomb won white Hoosiers 62–27%, while Myers won black Hoosiers 76–20%.^[6]

Republican primary[]

Candidates[]

Nominee[]

• Eric Holcomb, incumbent Governor of Indiana^[1]

• Running mate: Suzanne Crouch, incumbent Lieutenant Governor

Removed from ballot[]

• Brian Roth, businessman^{[7][8][9][10]}

Declined[]

• Curtis Hill, Attorney General of Indiana (running for re-election)^[11][12]

Results[]

Republican primary results^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Eric Holcomb (incumbent)	524,496	100.00%
Total votes			524,496	100.00%

Democratic primary[]

Candidates[]

Nominee[]

• Woody Myers, business executive and former Indiana Health Commissioner and New York City Health Commissioner^[14][15]

• Running mate: Linda Lawson, former Minority Leader of the Indiana House of Representatives^[16]

Withdrew[]

• Eddie Melton, state senator from the 3rd district^[17]
• Josh Owens, businessman, former chairman of the Indiana Charter School Board, and former Luke Messer congressional staffer (endorsed Myers)^[18]

Declined[]

• Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend and former 2020 presidential candidate^[19]
• Joe Donnelly, former U.S. Senator^[20]
• Greg Goodnight, former mayor of Kokomo^[20]
• John R. Gregg, former speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives, former state representative from the 45th district, and Democratic nominee for governor in 2012 and 2016^[19]
• Christina Hale, state representative from the 87th district and nominee for Lieutenant Governor in 2016^[19] (running for Indiana's 5th Congressional district)
• Baron Hill, former U.S. Representative from Indiana's 9th congressional district^[21] (endorsed Myers)
• Joe Hogsett, mayor of Indianapolis^[20]
• Karlee Macer, state representative from the 92nd district ^[22]
• Thomas McDermott Jr., mayor of Hammond^[20] (running for Indiana's 1st congressional district)
• Jonathan Weinzapfel, former mayor of Evansville (running for Attorney General)^[23]

Results[]

Democratic primary results^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Woody Myers	408,230	100.00%
Total votes			408,230	100.00%

Libertarian Party[]

Candidates[]

Nominee[]

• Donald Rainwater, U.S. Navy veteran and Libertarian candidate for Indiana State Senate in 2016 & for Indiana House of Representatives in 2018^[24][25]

• Running mate: William Henry

Eliminated at convention[]

• Bill Levin, Grand Poobah of the First Church of Cannabis of Indianapolis^[26]

General election[]

Predictions[]

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[27]	Safe R	October 23, 2020
Inside Elections[28]	Safe R	October 28, 2020
Sabato's Crystal Ball[29]	Safe R	November 2, 2020
Politico[30]	Likely R	November 2, 2020
Daily Kos[31]	Safe R	October 28, 2020
RCP[32]	Safe R	November 2, 2020
270towin[33]	Safe R	November 2, 2020

Endorsements[]

Polling[]

Graphical summary[]

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Eric Holcomb (R)	Woody Myers (D)	Donald Rainwater (L)	Other / Undecided
Cygnal	October 21–23, 2020	600 (LV)	± 4%	47%	29%	15%	10%[b]
Ragnar Research (R)	October 18–21, 2020	529 (LV)	± 4%	52%	26%	14%	8%[c]
SurveyUSA[A]	October 10–13, 2020	527 (LV)	± 5.2%	55%	25%	10%	11%[d]
BK Strategies (R)[B]	October 4–5, 2020	600 (LV)	± 4%	60%	21%	8%	11%
Change Research	September 3–7, 2020	1,033 (LV)	± 3.1%	36%	30%	24%	10%
BK Strategies (R)[B]	May 20–21, 2020	600 (LV)	± 4%	64%	21%	–	15%
Change Research	April 10–13, 2020	1,021 (LV)	± 3.1%	45%	25%	8%	22%[e]

Results[]

Holcomb won reelection by over 24 percentage points, the biggest margin of victory for an Indiana gubernatorial candidate since Evan Bayh in 1992 as well as the biggest ever for a Republican. Exit polls show Holcomb won over 30% of voters who voted for Democrat Joseph R. Biden Jr. for president. This is also one of the strongest performances for a third party candidate in a statewide election in Indiana, with Libertarian nominee Donald Rainwater receiving over 11% of the total vote. Rainwater outperformed Myers in several counties; his best performance was in Putnam County, where he received nearly 26% of the vote.

Indiana gubernatorial election, 2020^[44][45]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Eric Holcomb (incumbent)	1,706,739	56.51%	+5.13%
	Democratic	Woody Myers	968,106	32.05%	-13.37%
	Libertarian	Donald Rainwater	345,569	11.44%	+8.24%
Total votes			3,020,414	100.00%
Turnout			3,068,542	64.58%
Registered electors			4,751,708
	Republican hold

Results by county[]

Vote breakdown by county^[44]

	Holcomb/Crouch Republican		Myers/Lawson Democratic		Rainwater/Henry Libertarian		Total
County	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes
Adams	9,441	66.7%	2,143	15.1%	2,570	18.2%	14,154
Allen	98,406	58.5%	53,895	32.0%	16,011	9.5%	168,312
Bartholomew	21,959	60.9%	9,013	25.0%	5,065	14.1%	36,037
Benton	2,815	68.7%	671	16.4%	614	15.0%	4,100
Blackford	3,333	63.1%	933	17.7%	1,017	19.3%	5,283
Boone	23,737	61.7%	9,661	25.1%	5,094	13.2%	38,492
Brown	4,953	55.3%	2,381	26.6%	1,623	18.1%	8,957
Carroll	6,077	63.9%	1,569	16.5%	1,864	19.6%	9,510
Cass	8,833	58.3%	3,373	22.3%	2,940	19.4%	15,146
Clark	34,669	60.4%	19,077	33.2%	3,680	6.4%	57,426
Clay	8,164	67.0%	1,780	14.6%	2,242	18.4%	12,186
Clinton	7,971	61.8%	2,406	18.7%	2,514	19.5%	12,891
Crawford	3,064	63.1%	1,242	25.6%	553	11.4%	4,859
Daviess	8,313	70.1%	1,531	12.9%	2,016	17.0%	11,860
Dearborn	18,353	72.6%	4,559	18.0%	2,383	9.4%	25,295
Decatur	7,911	64.5%	1,562	12.7%	2,787	22.7%	12,260
Dekalb	13,042	66.9%	3,293	16.9%	3,158	16.2%	19,493
Delaware	26,829	56.0%	15,638	32.6%	5,482	11.4%	47,949
Dubois	14,403	66.7%	4,586	21.2%	2,599	12.0%	21,588
Elkhart	46,223	62.1%	20,512	27.6%	7,690	10.3%	74,425
Fayette	6,933	69.0%	1,707	17.0%	1,414	14.1%	10,054
Floyd	24,972	60.0%	14,948	35.9%	1,669	4.0%	41,589
Fountain	5,189	65.3%	1,150	14.5%	1,613	20.3%	7,952
Franklin	8,633	73.0%	1,690	14.3%	1,499	12.7%	11,822
Fulton	5,436	59.6%	1,603	17.6%	2,084	22.8%	9,123
Gibson	11,607	72.0%	2,990	18.5%	1,533	9.5%	16,130
Grant	16,847	62.3%	5,849	21.6%	4,325	16.0%	27,021
Greene	9,579	65.2%	2,511	17.1%	2,604	17.7%	14,694
Hamilton	117,749	60.8%	58,714	30.3%	17,121	8.8%	193,584
Hancock	25,647	59.9%	8,538	19.9%	8,624	20.1%	42,809
Harrison	14,083	69.7%	4,514	22.3%	1,602	7.9%	20,199
Hendricks	50,697	57.5%	23,179	26.3%	14,246	16.2%	88,122
Henry	12,491	59.3%	4,128	19.6%	4,442	21.1%	21,061
Howard	24,359	60.1%	9,871	24.3%	6,317	15.6%	40,547
Huntington	11,759	66.3%	2,804	15.8%	3,168	17.9%	17,731
Jackson	11,714	61.2%	3,234	16.9%	4,188	21.9%	19,136
Jasper	10,378	67.5%	2,904	18.9%	2,089	13.6%	15,371
Jay	5,227	62.2%	1,240	14.8%	1,938	23.1%	8,405
Jefferson	9,076	62.4%	3,711	25.5%	1,750	12.0%	14,537
Jennings	7,547	62.1%	1,930	15.9%	2,676	22.0%	12,153
Johnson	47,467	61.4%	17,630	22.8%	12,177	15.8%	77,274
Knox	11,210	70.8%	2,809	17.7%	1,821	11.5%	15,840
Kosciusko	23,029	64.6%	5,784	16.2%	6,845	19.2%	35,658
Lagrange	7,520	71.1%	1,690	16.0%	1,365	12.9%	10,575
Lake	94,841	43.7%	112,352	51.7%	10,039	4.6%	217,232
LaPorte	26,129	53.7%	18,133	37.3%	4,356	9.0%	48,618
Lawrence	13,371	64.1%	3,616	17.3%	3,881	18.6%	20,868
Madison	29,434	56.8%	14,254	27.5%	8,118	15.7%	51,806
Marion	152,405	39.0%	203,475	52.1%	34,974	8.9%	390,854
Marshall	13,145	66.4%	4,025	20.3%	2,634	13.3%	19,804
Martin	3,232	63.1%	709	13.9%	1,177	23.0%	5,118
Miami	9,208	64.1%	2,439	17.0%	2,714	18.9%	14,361
Monroe	24,605	39.4%	33,033	52.8%	4,885	7.8%	62,523
Montgomery	10,587	61.6%	2,812	16.4%	3,785	22.0%	17,184
Morgan	22,161	61.6%	5,602	15.6%	8,184	22.8%	35,947
Newton	4,358	66.5%	1,148	17.5%	1,050	16.0%	6,556
Noble	12,498	65.5%	3,237	17.0%	3,353	17.6%	19,088
Ohio	2,210	69.4%	641	20.1%	335	10.5%	3,186
Orange	5,591	63.8%	1,952	22.3%	1,216	13.9%	8,759
Owen	5,857	59.5%	1,852	18.8%	2,137	21.7%	9,846
Parke	4,766	68.4%	1,127	16.2%	1,079	15.5%	6,972
Perry	5,523	63.9%	2,518	29.1%	607	7.0%	8,648
Pike	4,199	68.4%	1,092	17.8%	850	13.8%	6,141
Porter	45,996	53.2%	33,397	38.6%	7,131	8.2%	86,524
Posey	9,648	72.9%	2,773	21.0%	809	6.1%	13,230
Pulaski	3,874	67.2%	1,019	17.7%	875	15.2%	5,768
Putnam	9,375	56.7%	2,876	17.4%	4,269	25.8%	16,520
Randolph	7,399	67.3%	1,863	16.9%	1,732	15.8%	10,994
Ripley	9,518	67.0%	2,231	15.7%	2,458	17.3%	14,207
Rush	4,949	62.8%	1,215	15.4%	1,716	21.8%	7,880
Scott	6,065	60.8%	2,297	23.0%	1,613	16.2%	9,975
Shelby	12,269	61.8%	3,499	17.6%	4,099	20.6%	19,867
Spencer	7,272	68.2%	2,461	23.1%	926	8.7%	10,659
St. Joseph	60,696	52.9%	48,610	42.4%	5,387	4.7%	114,693
Starke	6,730	66.1%	2,026	19.9%	1,427	14.0%	10,183
Steuben	11,407	70.9%	2,939	18.3%	1,739	10.8%	16,085
Sullivan	6,009	67.4%	1,550	17.4%	1,357	15.2%	8,916
Switzerland	2,846	69.8%	822	20.1%	412	10.1%	4,080
Tippecanoe	37,979	53.3%	26,179	36.8%	7,057	9.9%	71,215
Tipton	5,169	64.0%	1,200	14.9%	1,707	21.1%	8,076
Union	2,533	73.2%	603	17.4%	323	9.3%	3,459
Vanderburgh	46,490	60.1%	27,242	35.2%	3,658	4.7%	77,390
Vermillion	4,938	66.9%	1,531	20.7%	917	12.4%	7,386
Vigo	25,917	59.8%	13,999	32.3%	3,419	7.9%	43,335
Wabash	9,111	62.8%	2,421	16.7%	2,979	20.5%	14,511
Warren	3,009	67.5%	672	15.1%	777	17.4%	4,458
Warrick	22,703	67.7%	9,074	27.1%	1,747	5.2%	33,524
Washington	7,919	65.6%	2,408	19.9%	1,746	14.5%	12,073
Wayne	16,914	61.2%	7,534	27.3%	3,172	11.5%	27,620
Wells	9,371	66.7%	1,967	14.0%	2,712	19.3%	14,050
White	7,334	65.8%	1,978	17.8%	1,826	16.4%	11,138
Whitley	11,522	66.0%	2,738	15.7%	3,191	18.3%	17,451

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican[]

• Delaware (largest municipality: Muncie)
• Knox (largest municipality: Vincennes)
• LaPorte (largest municipality: Michigan City)
• Perry (largest municipality: Tell City)
• Porter (largest municipality: Portage)
• St. Joseph (largest municipality: South Bend)
• Sullivan (largest municipality: Sullivan)
• Tippecanoe (largest municipality: Lafayette)
• Vermillion (largest municipality: Clinton)
• Vigo (largest municipality: Terre Haute)

Notes[]

Partisan clients

References[]

External links[]

Official campaign websites

• Eric Holcomb (R) for Governor
• Woody Myers (D) for Governor
• Donald Rainwater (L) for Governor