Republicans keep large Indiana legislative majorities

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Republicans swept the top election races in Indiana with Donald Trump winning the states electoral votes for president and Eric Holcomb and Todd Young winning open seats for governor and U.S. Senator respectively.

Here's a guide to Tuesday's action:

TRIUMPH FOR TRUMP

Trump won Indiana's 11 electoral votes, which was likely even before he picked Pence as his vice presidential candidate in July.

Trump topped Democrat Hillary Clinton to become the 12th Republican to carry Indiana in the last 13 presidential elections.

Neither candidate paid much attention to Indiana during the campaign. Trump essentially clinched the Republican nomination with his victory in Indiana's May primary.

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YOUNG TOPS BAYH

U.S. Rep. Todd Young kept one of Indiana's U.S. Senate seats in Republican hands by defeating Democrat Evan Bayh, handing the former two-term senator and two-term governor his first election defeat.

Young, a three-term congressman from southeastern Indiana, will succeed retiring Republican Sen. Dan Coats, who won the seat six years ago after Bayh said he decided not to seek re-election because he was tired of Washington partisanship and gridlock. Young was the heavy favorite to keep the seat in GOP hands in the reliably red state until Bayh's surprise announcement in July that he would run.

Bayh faced a barrage of attacks over his Indiana residency and lucrative work in Washington, D.C., since leaving the Senate.

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GOP HOLDS GOVERNOR'S OFFICE

Republican Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb won the Indiana governor's race, extending his party's 12-year hold on the state's top office.

Holcomb was little known around the state when he became the Republican candidate in July after Gov. Mike Pence was picked as Donald Trump's running mate.

Democrat John Gregg's campaign aimed to link Holcomb to controversies during Pence's term such as Indiana's 2015 religious-objections law that sparked a national uproar from gay-rights supporters. Holcomb touted the state's improved fiscal condition under Republican governors, but largely avoided mentioning Pence's name.

Holcomb, who has never been elected to public office, is a former state Republican chairman and was appointed lieutenant governor in March.

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HOLLINGSWORTH WINS HOUSE RACE

Republican Trey Hollingsworth won the state's tightest congressional race in southern Indiana's 9th District. Hollingsworth spent millions of his family's fortune and overcame Democratic candidate Shelli Yoder's attempts to labels him a carpetbagger from Tennessee for moving to Indiana just last year.

Hollingsworth will replace Young, who won the U.S. Senate election.

Republican state Sen. Jim Banks will also become a new congressman for the state after winning northeastern Indiana's strongly GOP 3rd District. Banks will replace Republican Rep. Marlin Stutzman.

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EDUCATION, LEGAL CHIEFS

The only Democrat holding a state office has been ousted as Republican Jennifer McCormick defeated incumbent state schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz. Ritz had frequent clashes with Republican legislators and Pence over education policy over the past four years.

McCormick, now the superintendent of the Yorktown Community Schools near Muncie, was critical of Ritz's management of the Education Department and maintained she could work better with the General Assembly.

Republican Curtis Hill, the prosecutor in northern Indiana's Elkhart County, was elected the new state attorney general. He defeated Democrat Lorenzo Arredondo, a retired judge from northwestern Indiana's Lake County.

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GOP LEGISLATIVE CONTROL

Republicans retained large majorities in the Indiana General Assembly and were close to keeping the margin that's given them a lock over the legislative agenda for the past four years.

Democrats needed to gain five House seats to break the two-thirds supermajority that allows Republicans to take action even if no Democrats are present. Republicans won several hotly-contested districts while trying to protect seats in Democratic areas that they've won in recent years.

Republicans kept their supermajority in the Senate, even gaining a northern Indiana seat held by a retiring Democratic senator.

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HUNT AND FISH FOREVER

The right to hunt, fish and "harvest wildlife" is being added to the state constitution under an amendment approved by voters.

Supporters say the measure is needed to protect hunting from being endangered by animal rights groups. The National Rifle Association has pushed the proposal in Indiana and similar ones in several other states. The Humane Society says the amendment is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist because there is no movement to ban hunting and fishing.

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ABSENTEE VOTING RECORD

Election officials say nearly 900,000 Indiana voters cast early ballots for Tuesday's election, far surpassing the previous record set in 2008. Indiana Election Division co-director Brad King said Tuesday that county clerks had received more than 896,000 absentee ballots cast in person and through other methods by Monday's early voting deadline.

That's about 234,000 more ballots more than Indiana's previous early voting record set in the 2008 general election.

King said mailed-in absentee ballots and overseas ballots from members of the military and Americans working overseas will continue arriving at clerk's offices in the coming days.