The 2010 United States Senate election in Indiana took place on November 2, 2010, alongside 33 other elections to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

in other states and elections to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

and various state and local elections to fill Indiana's class III United States Senate seat. Incumbent Democratic Senator

Evan Bayh Birch Evans "Evan" Bayh III ( ; born December 26, 1955) is an American politician who served as the List of governors of Indiana, 46th governor of Indiana from 1989 to 1997 and as a United States Senate, United States senator representing Indi ...

decided in February 2010 to retire instead of seeking a third term shortly after

Dan Coats Daniel Ray Coats (born May 16, 1943) is an American politician, attorney, and diplomat. From 2017 to 2019, he served as the Director of National Intelligence in the Trump administration. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a Unite ...

announced his candidacy. Bayh's announcement came one day before the filing deadline and no Democratic candidate submitted enough signatures by the deadline to run, so the State Democratic Party chose U.S. Congressman

Brad Ellsworth John Bradley Ellsworth (born September 11, 1958) is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for from 2007 to 2011. In 2010, he was the Democratic candidate for a seat in the United States Senate, but he was defeated by Dan Coats, ...

as their nominee. The Libertarian Party nominated YMCA instructor Rebecca Sink-Burris, who had previously unsuccessfully run for this seat in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

. Coats won the open seat, having previously held it from 1989 to 1999. Bayh later unsuccessfully ran for this seat again in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Democratic nomination

Senate candidates in Indiana were required to have submitted 500 signatures from each of the state's nine congressional districts by February 16, 2010, one day after Bayh announced his retirement. Democratic leaders thought the popular incumbent would run for reelection, and as a result, no Democratic candidate had submitted the requisite signatures by the deadline to run in the state's primary, meaning that the

Indiana Democratic Party The Democratic Party of Indiana is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Indiana. The party's chair is Karen Tallian. The party has weak electoral power in the state. it holds no statewide offices and two of Indiana's ...

's executive committee chose the party's nominee. U.S. congressman

was officially selected on May 15.

Republican primary

Candidates

* Don Bates, businessman * Richard Behney, businessman *

, former U.S. Senator *

John Hostettler John Nathan Hostettler (born July 19, 1961) is an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives for 12 years, representing as a Republican Party (United States), Republican. He lost his reelection bid for a sevent ...

, former U.S. Representative *

Marlin Stutzman Marlin Andrew Stutzman (born August 31, 1976) is an American politician who has served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from Indiana's 3rd congressional district since 2025, having previously represented that dist ...

, State Senator

Debates

* 1. March 6 * 2. April 8 (on the

WXNT WXNT (1430 AM) is a commercial radio station in Indianapolis, Indiana. The station is owned by Cumulus Media, and carries a sports radio format, as an affiliate of the Infinity Sports Network. WXNT's schedule consists of Infinity Sports Networ ...

radio station) * 3. April 10 * 4. April 19 (at Franklin College, on radio station WFCI) * 5. April 20 (televised on WFYI)

Endorsements

Coats

Hostettler

Stutzman

Polling

Results

General election

Candidates

(D), U.S. Representative *

(R), former U.S. Senator * Rebecca Sink-Burris ( L), teacher and small business owner

Campaign

After Coats' win in the Republican primary, Ellsworth began to heavily criticize Coats for his ties to lobbyists. He called for more disclosure of the meetings lawmakers have with lobbyists, banning congressional staff from lobbying for six years after their congressional jobs, requiring Congress members to put all their investments in blind trusts, more disclosure of Senate candidates' personal financial information, and changes to the U.S. Senate filibuster rules. He proposed lowering number of votes required to break a filibuster to 55 from the current 60. In response to Ellsworth's charges, Coats published his lobbying record in an 815-page document. Coats emphasized the individual issues rather than ethic reforms advocated by his opponent. He focused on Ellsworth's record of voting in support of the

Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 () was an Act of Congress providing for several kinds of economic stimuli intended to boost the United States economy in 2008 and to avert a recession, or ameliorate economic conditions. The stimulus package wa ...

cap and trade Carbon emission trading (also called carbon market, emission trading scheme (ETS) or cap and trade) is a type of emissions trading scheme designed for carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs). A form of carbon price, carbon pricing ...

legislation, and health care bill. Coats opinion of the healthcare law was that "the only responsible solution ... is to repeal the Obama-Pelosi-Ellsworth health spending bill and quickly replace it with cost-effective, incremental pieces that will decrease costs, increase coverage and not break the bank."

Debates

The three candidates took part in three televised debates. * Monday, October 11, in Indianapolis * Friday, October 22, in Fort Wayne * Monday, October 25, in Vincennes

Predictions

Polling

Fundraising

Results

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

References

External links

Indiana Secretary of State Elections Division

U.S. Congress candidates for Indiana
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is an American non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected offic ...

Indiana U.S. Senate
from OurCampaigns.com
Campaign contributions
from Open Secrets
Indiana Polls
graph of multiple polls from ''Pollster.com''
Election 2010: Indiana Senate
from

Rasmussen Reports Rasmussen Reports is an American polling company founded in 2003. The company engages in political commentary and the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports conducts nightly tracking, ...

2010 Indiana Senate Race
from

Real Clear Politics RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American political news website and polling data aggregator. It was founded in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. It features selected politi ...

2010 Indiana Senate Race
from

CQ Politics ''Congressional Quarterly'', or ''CQ'', is an American publication that is part of the privately owned publishing company CQ Roll Call, which covers the United States Congress. ''CQ'' was formerly acquired by the U.K.-based The Economist Group, ...

Race profile
from

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

Debates
Indiana Senate Republican Primary Debate

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

, April 20, 2010 Official candidate sites (Archived)
Dan Coats for Senate

Brad Ellsworth for Senate

Rebecca Sink-Burris for Senate
{{US Third Party Election

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Democratic nomination

Republican primary

Candidates

Debates

Endorsements

Coats

Hostettler

Stutzman

Polling

Results

General election

Candidates

Campaign

Debates

Predictions

Polling

Fundraising

Results

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

See also

References

External links