Election Day brought 24 new members to the House of Representatives. That huge freshman wave, plus the return of 18 reps who were newly elected in 2010, means 42 percent of the House will begin the 2013 session with two years of experience or less.
Mike Pence’s victory in our gubernatorial contest was the highlight for Hoosier Republicans on Tuesday, and among the few bright spots nationally on a largely dismal night for the GOP.
Now that the Tea Party has swapped the best public servant in the United States Senate and a sure Republican seat for newly elected Joe Donnelly, a Democrat, perhaps it’s time moderate Indiana Republicans stand up and reclaim the party.
It will soon be time for newly elected governor Mike Pence to prove his critics wrong. Pence beat challenger John Gregg in a closer-than-expected race in which he was accused of using his campaign’s major themes—jobs and the economy—to hide his conservative social agenda from Hoosier voters.
The potential for widespread municipal bankruptcies and the effective bankruptcy of as many as a dozen states will present historic difficulties for the nation, and much will depend on effective leadership from the president.
The new chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and the GOP's top lieutenants on the panel will have the task of writing Indiana's next biennial budget during the 2013 session.
The Dow Jones industrial average plummeted as much as 369 points, or 2.8 percent, in the first two hours of trading. It recovered steadily in the afternoon, but slid into the close and ended down 313, its biggest point drop since this time last year.
Three new reform-minded IPS board members could help usher in sweeping changes to the school district. At the state level, however, school librarian Glenda Ritz denied Tony Bennett a second term as voters spurned his sweeping education overhaul.
The $1.3 billion transit plan for Hamilton and Marion counties is one of a few lingering issues — along with Sunday alcohol sales and a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage — likely to appear before lawmakers in 2013.
The veteran Republican lawmaker tweeted early Wednesday that the GOP had gained nine seats in the Indiana House, giving the party a two-thirds supermajority of 69 seats.
Republicans will keep control of both houses in the Indiana General Assembly although it wasn’t certain late Tuesday whether they’ll win the supermajority needed to thwart boycott threats from House Democrats.
President Barack Obama won re-election Tuesday night despite a fierce challenge from Republican Mitt Romney, prevailing in the face of a weak economy and high unemployment that encumbered his first term and crimped the middle class dreams of millions.
In the shocker of Tuesday night’s election results, teachers unhappy with Republican Tony Bennett’s sweeping education reforms propelled dark-horse Democrat Glenda Ritz into the role of superintendent of public instruction.
