2016 Indiana gubernatorial election (1941: Barbarossa Victory)

The **2016 Indiana gubernatorial election** was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, to elect the governor of Indiana. It was held concurrently with the 2016 United States presidential election as well as elections for the United States Senate, House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican governor Eric Holcomb was eligible to run for re-election, and was initially considered a narrow favorite against Democratic Progressive nominee John R. Gregg in a rematch from 2012.

While Holcomb had an early lead in polling, his position was harmed severely in early June when *The Indianapolis Star* (*IndyStar*) published an article alleging that Holcomb's office had engaged in bribery of federal officials affiliated with OSHA in an attempt to get OSHA officials to overlook workplace safety violations at several manufacturing and distribution facilities throughout the state in an attempt to draw manufacturers to the state. The article was quickly picked up on by other news outlets, and had deteriorated into a full-scale corruption scandal by the end of June, with an impeachment inquiry being opened against Holcomb in the Indiana House of Representatives on July 14, 2016, and found that there was "reasonable evidence" to press bribery charges against Holcomb in August.

On August 20, Holcomb was indicted in a federal court on bribery and perjury charges, and by September 5 a poll found that over 60% of Hoosiers believed Holcomb should resign, while several members of the Indiana General Assembly suggested that Holcomb would be removed from office if he did not resign before his inevitable impeachment. Despite growing evidence against him, Holcomb adamantly denied any wrongdoing and claimed that the investigation against him represented a "witch-hunt". A poll released on September 23 had Gregg leading Holcomb 63-24%, with 13% of voters remaining undecided, and by that time most pundits considered the race to heavily favor Gregg. On October 3, lieutenant governor Steve Buyer resigned, and Holcomb appointed state senator Mike Delph as his replacement on October 6.

Ultimately, Holcomb was defeated by Gregg in a landslide, albeit still by a narrower margin than most polls suggested, with Gregg receiving 55.6% of the vote to Holcomb's 40.9%. Gregg carried 29 of the state's 92 counties, while Holcomb carried the remaining 63, though Gregg carried 3 (Marion, Lake and St. Joseph) of the state's 5 most populous counties by landslide margins, while he came within 5 points of carrying the other 2 (Allen and Hamilton). Gregg also performed strongly with Republican voters, many of whom crossed party lines to support his candidacy over Holcomb. This was perhaps best shown in Gregg's strongest county being Knox in the southwest of the state, which gave him 70.31% of the vote despite also giving Republican presidential nominee Ted Cruz nearly 72% of the vote in the concurrent presidential election.

## Republican primary

### Candidates

#### Nominee

* Eric Holcomb, incumbent Governor of Indiana

## Democratic primary

### Candidates

#### Nominee

* John R. Gregg, former Speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives (1996-2003) and nominee for Governor in 2012

#### Declined

* Evan Bayh, U.S. Senator since 1999 and former Governor (1989-1997) *(running for re-election)*

## Notes

1. ↑ The original Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor was incumbent Steve Buyer, however Buyer would resign on October 3 and Delph was appointed as his successor by Holcomb.