HANCOCK COUNTY — Incumbent state Sen. Mike Crider, cruised to a large lead as results were reported late Tuesday.
Crider captured 73% of the vote in Hancock County, with 30,545 votes, compared to his challenger Democrat Theresa Bruno, who received 11,281 votes. District 28 includes portions of Shelby and Marion counties, but those areas had not reported totals by early Wednesday, Nov. 5, according to the state election division’s website.
“Until we see the final numbers, I’m not 100% confident, but I do feel good about how things are looking,” Crider said after the county vote was announced. “Unless they have a fantastic turnout (in the other counties) I don’t think there were enough votes to take her over the top.”
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During the race Bruno wasn’t shy from criticizing Crider, the Greenfield Republican who was first elected in 2012 and who now serves as the majority whip in the Senate. She criticized his engagement with her part of the district in Marion County over the past eight years, saying he wasn’t as involved enough with the area.
Crider first won office in 2012 and fended off a challenge in 2016, winning both times with more than 60% of the vote. In the state Senate, he serves on several committees and chairs the Homeland Security and Transportation Committee.
As a senator, Crider has sponsored legislation on topics including mental health and sexual abuse, sometimes having to compromise with fellow Republicans. In the 2020 session, he sponsored a successful bill that will create a commission to study issues of behavioral health. Another will make it easier for legislators to pursue charges of child sexual abuse after the statute of limitations has passed.
While Crider felt good about his chances of being re-elected, he admitted it’s always a roll of the dice.
“You’re never really sure when you put your name on the ballot if your message is getting to folks, but generally across the communities the work that we do, we receive some good recognition for the bills that I carry,” he said. “I’m developing a reputation of someone who can carry the tough issues.”
Bruno, who serves as a town council member in Warren Park in eastern Marion County, said during the campaign her life experiences made her a better choice for District 28, especially on the issues of education and health care. Bruno, who teaches at a community college, is a survivor of a ruptured brain aneurysm and ran on health care issues.
In Crider’s previous elections, his Democratic opponents were most competitive in the area of the district Bruno hails from: the Marion County precincts on the east side of Indianapolis. Republican voters in the Hancock County portions delivered him high margins.
In a candidate forum in October, Bruno expressed support for an independent redistricting commission that would ensure districts are not drawn to favor incumbents — and that might divide the Hancock and Marion County portions of District 28.
Crider, on the other hand, saw the diversity of the district as a positive.
“It stretches me as a legislator and makes me dig into issues I probably wouldn’t have thought about otherwise,” he said at the time.
