2024 Indiana's 5th congressional district special election (Blackford)

The **2024 Indiana's 5th congressional district special election** was a special election to the U.S. House of Representatives that was held to fill Indiana's 5th congressional district for the remainder of the 118th United States Congress. The seat had become vacant after incumbent Republican Victoria Spartz resigned on December 31, 2023 in protest of Congress' failure to pass a debt commission. In accordance with Title 3, Article 10 of the Indiana Code, a special election must be held for any U.S. House vacancy that occurs more than 74 days before the next general election.

On January 4, Governor Eric Holcomb would announce that the election was to be held on March 19, with primaries held on February 13. Little-known Carmel city employee Oscar Hamilton defeated Freedom Caucus-backed far-right former Delaware County councilor Ryan Webb for the Republican nomination in an upset before defeating Democratic nominee Brooke Ward in a landslide. Hamilton had run on a moderate platform, and his victory in the election marked a major defeat for the Trumpist movement in Indiana. Hamilton would go on to be defeated in a landslide by Trump-backed QAnon activist Hank Kelley for the Republican nomination in the regular 2024 election.

## Republican primary

### Candidates

#### Eliminated in primary

* Ryan Webb, former at-large member of the Delaware County council (2020-2024)

### Summary

Ryan Webb, a former at-large member of the Delaware County council first announced his intention to run in the special election to fill the vacancy left by Spartz's resignation in the 5th district on January 1, only a day after her resignation. Webb had been defeated for re-election to the county council by a Democratic challenger only a few weeks prior, and his tenure in the county council having been plagued by numerous controversies, including a long string of comments criticized as homophobic, transphobic and racist, as well as being recorded publicly threatening to assault a small business owner in August of 2023. He was labeled as a far-right Republican by many analysts.

Despite the numerous controversies surrounding Webb, he was favored for the nomination, having the endorsement of the Freedom Caucus and former President Donald Trump. Only one other Republican filed to run against Webb in the race, that being Carmel city employee Oscar Hamilton. Hamilton ran on a platform of "restoring sanity to the House," distancing himself from Trump and his faction of the Republican Party. Analysts characterized Hamilton as a moderate-to-liberal member of the party, and as a "Never Trumper," though he never outright admitted his opposition to Trump. Hamilton positioned himself closer to the Democratic Party on many social issues, including abortion and LGBT rights, and labeled himself as an environmentalist. In comparison to Webb, Hamilton only enjoyed the endorsement of a few former Carmel city officials, and lacked much name recognition. Webb refused to debate Hamilton, who he accused of communist sympathies and called a RINO. Webb also refused to campaign for the seat, being confident that he would defeat Hamilton handily with the endorsement of Trump. On the other hand, Hamilton campaigned near exclusively in his home city of Carmel, as well as neighboring Fishers, both of which are home to notable centrist Republican voter bases.

Neither candidate ran television, radio or print advertisements, and the primary wasn't majorly publicized. On the day of the primary, it was found that less than 5,500 votes had been submitted, most of which were from Carmel and Fishers alone. Tipton County, the district's least populous, only had 39 votes. While Webb did sweep most of the counties in the district, he was handily defeated in Hamilton County, where over 75% of the votes had come from. As a result, when the votes were counted it was found that Hamilton had won the nomination in an upset, defeating Webb by less than 30 votes for the party's nomination. Hamilton's campaign was denounced by many prominent supporter of Trump, who encouraged Webb to run a write-in campaign, though Webb refused to do so.

### Results

**2024 Indiana's 5th congressional district special Republican primary**

## Democratic primary

### Candidates

#### Declined

* Christina Hale, former member of the Indiana House of Representatives from the 87th district (2012-2016), Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Indiana in 2016 and for this district in 2020 *(running in regular election)*

### Results

**2024 Indiana's 5th congressional district special Democratic primary**

Brooke Ward was the only candidate to file in the race, and unanimously won the party's nomination. An open lesbian, she became the first openly LGBT person to win either the nomination of either major party for a congressional seat in Indiana history.