The News-Sentinel's Ryan Lengerich did a good analysis of the 3rd District congressional race between Mark Souder and Tom Hayhurst race showing that Souder lost Fort Wayne, squeaked by in Allen County because of his good showing outside the city, and beat Hayhurst comfortably in the other 3rd District counties. I don't completely buy either Souder's explanation ("Fort Wayne, even with annexation, isn't quite as Republican as people think it is" or Hayhurst's ("I think it means there are a lot of thinking voters out there that are willing to look at a candidate for either party").
I think voters here were voting for the hometown guy, a well-liked City Council member, rather than the out-of-towner, someone who used to live in this area but is now identified as a creature of the Beltway. If the Democratic opponent had been from Elkhart County or Noble County, he would have won there, for the same reason.
But Hayhurst is right that the mayor's race is up for grabs, with either the Democrat or Republican being able to win it. And we're likely to have a 5-4 council again; it's anybody's guess which party will have the majority. An interesting part of the equation next year will be all those new Aboite Township voters, when tend to be Republican. Many of them are ticked-off, didn't-want-to-be-annexed Republicans. How many will blame Democrat Mayor Graham Richard, in office when the annexation happened, and how many will blame Republican former Mayor Paul Helmke, who got the whole thing started?
