Primary spending hits record
How Indiana’s election breaks down per voter
Imagine handing someone a $100 bill in the hopes that they’ll vote for you on Election Day.
That’s what multiple gubernatorial candidates effectively did for this primary election, as well as some big spenders in other marquee races.
The governor’s race broke raising and spending records, and two congressional races in central Indiana saw some major self-funding that raised the playing field. In the case of former mayoral candidate Jefferson Shreve, whose campaign spent nearly $200 per vote that they earned based on mid-April campaign finance reports, his investment paid off — he’s now the Republican nominee for the 6th Congressional
District. But in the case of former commerce Secretary Brad Chambers, whose campaign spent roughly $115 per vote — much of which was his own money that he loaned his campaign — the investment wasn’t enough to overcome U.S. Sen. Mike Braun’s name ID and Donald Trump endorsement.
Self-funding aside, candidates this election season spent a staggering dollar amount when divided among the amount of votes they ended up getting Tuesday. In the Republican gubernatorial primary, the six candidates spent an average of $60 per vote based on those April reports, on everything from TV ads to meet-and-greets to mailers. The comparison to previous primaries is no contest: Gov. Eric Holcomb spent $2.50 per vote in 2020, the price of a cheap cup of coffee. In 2016, former Gov. Mike Pence spent just 60 cents more than that. (Of course, those past primaries were, by 2024 standards, uncompetitive.)
In the 2024 primary, Jamie Reitenour, a mother of five with no previous
political experience, deserves some credit for the efficiency of her first campaign. She spent $2.30 per vote — the smallest of the pack — yet still finished ahead of former Attorney General Curtis
Hill, who spent nearly 10 times that.
Fort Wayne entrepreneur Eric Doden, who jumped into the race exactly three years ago, spent the most per vote earned, at nearly $140.
These numbers are likely a severe undercount as candidates upped their spending in the final weeks of the election cycle, and the latest campaign finance reports only cover through March 31.
Doden, for example, received another $2 million in loans from his parents after the end of the reporting period. Assuming he spent everything he had raised, he would have spent at least $170 per vote.
But even after his fourth-place finish Tuesday night, Doden remains unfailingly positive as he figures out what he wants to do next.
“I stand before you with an even stronger belief in the greatness, and the potential, of the people of Indiana,” he said in a statement that night.
Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17 .