Republican Victoria Spartz lost her District 5 seat in central Indiana to Democrat JD Ford on Tuesday. Spartz, a third-term member of Congress, got fewer votes than in her previous win. This result in conservative Noblesville showed a big shift, as many voters stayed home and turnout fell significantly.
I'm sure much will be written about what transpired in the US on Tuesday. The gnashing of teeth, the search for the guilty. In my small neck of the woods, District 5 in central Indiana, the incumbent, a third-term member of Congress, an accountant, Republican and naturalised citizen from Ukraine, Victoria Spartz, lost to a gay career Democratic politician, JD Ford. Having won by almost 67,000 votes two years ago, Spartz lost by just under 9,000 votes on a 30 per cent lower turnout.
Like much of the Midwest, this is a conservative part of the country. When I first moved here last century I was told that if one person voted for a Democrat in the county seat of Noblesville, Indiana, then the entire country would go in a landslide. So that explains the size of the rebuke.