State Highlights

By Steven Greenhouse

The Senate race in Indiana has been one of the most closely watched contests this year because Democrats saw a chance to pick up a seat that has long been held by a Republican.

And Representative Joe Donnelly, the Democratic candidate, did just that, capturing the seat in a hard-fought race.

The state treasurer, Richard E. Mourdock, a Republican championed by the Tea Party, had originally been viewed as the favorite. But in October, he drew unwanted national attention for saying that a pregnancy conceived by rape “is something that God intended to happen” and should be protected. After that, Mr. Donnelly, who has served in the House since 2007, gained significant traction, and in recent days many pollsters called the race a tossup, with some saying that Mr. Mourdock might prove too conservative for what is considered a reliably Republican state.

To gain the Republican nomination for the Senate race, Mr. Mourdock toppled the incumbent, Richard G. Lugar, in the primary. Mr. Lugar, who was first elected to the Senate in 1976, had been a dominant figure in Indiana politics for more than four decades. He won his sixth term in 2006 with 87 percent of the vote, but Mr. Mourdock defeated him after branding him as not conservative enough.

Michael Pence, a Republican House member since 2001, won the governor’s race, succeeding Mitch Daniels, a Republican who had to step down because of term limits. Mr. Pence’s Democratic opponent was John Gregg, a former Indiana House speaker. Mr. Pence is a noted social conservative who has fought to cut funding to Planned Parenthood.

President Obama carried Indiana in 2008 by less than one percentage point, but lost on Tuesday by 10 percentage points.

The boundaries of Mr. Donnelly’s House district were changed to include more Republican-leaning areas. In a tight Congressional race, Jackie Walorski, a Republican former member of the Indiana House, won the seat that Mr. Donnelly vacated, defeating Brendan Mullen, a businessman and Iraq war veteran.

In exit polls conducted by Edison Research, 61 percent of those surveyed said the economy was the most important issue facing the country, nearly four times the number of those who rated health care or the federal budget deficit as the most important issue. Fifty-five percent of those surveyed said that government was doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals, while 41 percent said that government should do more to solve problems.