2012 Indiana gubernatorial election

For related races, see 2012 United States gubernatorial elections.

The 2012 Indiana gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2012. Incumbent governor Mitch Daniels was term-limited and unable to seek a third term. The Republican candidate, Congressman Mike Pence; the Democratic candidate, former Speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives John R. Gregg; and the Libertarian candidate, youth mentor, small business owner and reality TV personality, Rupert Boneham, were all unopposed in their respective primaries or conventions and contested the general election. This is the first open Indiana gubernatorial election since 1996 and the first gubernatorial election since 1972 without the incumbent governor or lieutenant governor as a nominee.

2012 Indiana gubernatorial election

← 2008 November 6, 2012 (2012-11-06) 2016 →

Nominee Mike Pence John R. Gregg Party Republican Democratic Running mate Sue Ellspermann Vi Simpson Popular vote 1,275,424 1,200,016 Percentage 49.49% 46.56%

County results Congressional district results Pence:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Gregg:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

Governor before election Mitch Daniels Republican Elected Governor Mike Pence Republican

When the polls closed, the election was very close, and continued to stay close throughout the night. Gregg performed well in Marion County (Indianapolis) and Lake County (Gary), which were Democratic strongholds. Pence performed well in the Indianapolis suburbs and the Fort Wayne area. At 12:34 am EST, the Associated Press called the race for Pence. At 1:06 am, Gregg called Pence to concede, realizing there were not enough votes left to overtake him. Pence ultimately won the election and took office on January 14, 2013. This was the closest race for governor since 1960.

Primaries

Democratic

• John R. Gregg, former Speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives^[1]

Results

Democratic Indiana gubernatorial election primary in Indiana, 2012^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John R. Gregg	207,365	100
Total votes			207,365	100

Libertarian

• Rupert Boneham, four-time contestant on Survivor and founder of Rupert's Kids.^[3] Boneham was nominated by delegates at his party's state convention.^[4]

General election

Candidates

• Mike Pence (Republican), U.S. Representative

• Running mate: Sue Ellspermann, state Representative^[5][6]

• John Gregg (Democratic), former Speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives

• Running mate: Vi Simpson, state Senate Minority Leader^[7]

• Rupert Boneham (Libertarian), four-time contestant on Survivor and founder of Rupert's Kids

• Running mate: Brad Klopfenstein, former executive director of the Libertarian Party of Indiana^[6]

• Donnie Harold Harris (Public Party) (write-in)

• Running mate: George Fish^[8]

Debates

The Indiana Debate Commission organized three televised debates between Indiana Gubernatorial candidates Republican Mike Pence, Democrat John R. Gregg and Libertarian Rupert Boneham. Debate schedule
The first debate was held on Wednesday, October 10, 2012, at the Zionsville Performing Arts Center in Zionsville, Indiana and was moderated by former Indianapolis Star editor Dennis Ryerson.

• Complete video of debate, October 10, 2012 - C-SPAN

The second debate was held on Wednesday, October 17, 2012, at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center in South Bend, Indiana and was moderated by Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute president John Ketzenberger.

• Complete video of debate, October 17, 2012 - C-SPAN

The third debate was held on Thursday, October 25, 2012, at the WFWA PBS 39 studio in Fort Wayne, Indiana and was moderated by DePauw University Executive Director of Media Relations Ken Owen.

• Complete video of debate, October 25, 2012 - YouTube

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[9]	Likely R	November 1, 2012
Sabato's Crystal Ball[10]	Likely R	November 5, 2012
Rothenberg Political Report[11]	Likely R	November 2, 2012
Real Clear Politics[12]	Likely R	November 5, 2012

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Mike Pence (R)	John R. Gregg (D)	Rupert Boneham (L)	Other	Undecided
Howey Politics/DePauw[13]	October 28–30, 2012	800	± 3.5%	47%	40%	5%	—	—
Benenson Strategy Group[14]	October 18–21, 2012	701	± 3.7%	44%	38%	6%	—	12%
YouGov[15]	October 4–11, 2012	470	± 5.6%	49%	38%	—	—	13%
Howey Politics/DePauw University[16]	September 19–23, 2012	800	± 3.5%	47%	34%	5%	—	14%
Market Research Insight[17]	August 6–9, 2012	600	± 4%	50%	32%	3%	—	15%
Market Research Insight[18]	March 26–27, 2012	503	± 4.5%	44%	31%	5%	—	20%

Results

State Senate district results

Indiana gubernatorial election, 2012^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Mike Pence/Sue Ellspermann	1,275,424	49.49%	−8.35%
	Democratic	John R. Gregg/Vi Simpson	1,200,016	46.56%	+6.52%
	Libertarian	Rupert Boneham	101,868	3.95%	+1.83%
	Independent	Donnie Harold Harris (write-in)	21	0.00%	N/A
Total votes			2,577,329	100.0%	N/A
	Republican hold

By county

Source^[20]

	Mike Pence Republican		John R. Gregg Democratic		Rupert Boneham Libertarian		Margin		Total
County	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes
Adams	8,108	62.60%	4,515	34.86%	329	2.54%	3,593	27.74%	12,952
Allen	78,657	54.69%	61,365	42.67%	3,790	2.64%	17,292	12.02%	143,812
Bartholomew	17,414	59.74%	10,607	36.39%	1,130	3.88%	6,807	23.35%	29,151
Benton	1,944	54.81%	1,374	38.74%	229	6.46%	570	16.07%	3,547
Blackford	2,432	52.23%	2,012	43.21%	212	4.55%	420	9.02%	4,656
Boone	17,415	56.43%	8,709	31.59%	1,019	3.70%	8,706	31.58%	27,565
Brown	3,773	40.30%	3,407	44.52%	455	5.95%	366	4.78%	7,653
Carroll	4,164	53.62%	3,132	40.33%	470	6.05%	1,032	13.29%	7,766
Cass	7,104	50.19%	6,246	44.13%	803	5.67%	858	6.06%	14,153
Clark	24,322	52.90%	20,108	43.73%	1,548	3.37%	4,214	9.17%	45,978
Clay	5,525	50.98%	4,747	43.80%	565	5.21%	778	7.18%	10,837
Clinton	5,411	54.93%	3,875	39.34%	565	5.74%	1,536	15.59%	9,851
Crawford	2,096	46.63%	2,266	50.41%	133	2.96%	-170	-3.78%	4,495
Daviess	5,386	53.52%	4,396	43.68%	281	2.79%	990	9.84%	10,063
Dearborn	14,353	66.64%	6,210	28.83%	974	4.52%	8,143	37.81%	21,537
Decatur	6,479	63.04%	3,182	30.96%	616	5.99%	3,297	32.08%	10,277
DeKalb	9,583	59.89%	5,847	36.54%	571	3.57%	3,736	23.35%	16,001
Delaware	19,978	45.56%	21,901	49.95%	1,967	4.49%	-1,923	-4.39%	43,846
Dubois	10,931	59.64%	6,958	37.97%	438	2.39%	3,973	21.68%	18,327
Elkhart	38,969	57.91%	26,340	39.15%	1,978	2.94%	12,629	18.77%	67,287
Fayette	4,573	52.64%	3,662	42.15%	452	5.20%	911	10.49%	8,687
Floyd	18,982	54.74%	14,738	42.50%	954	2.75%	4,244	12.24%	34,674
Fountain	3,760	53.27%	2,884	40.86%	414	5.87%	876	12.41%	7,058
Franklin	6,967	67.89%	2,858	27.84%	439	4.28%	4,109	40.03%	10,264
Fulton	4,532	56.03%	3,194	39.49%	362	4.48%	1,338	16.54%	8,088
Gibson	7,731	52.86%	6,508	44.50%	387	2.65%	1,223	8.36%	14,626
Grant	13,824	55.15%	10,313	41.14%	931	3.71%	3,511	14.01%	25,068
Greene	5,486	41.74%	7,307	55.60%	350	2.66%	-1,821	-13.86%	13,143
Hamilton	88,062	65.19%	41,761	30.91%	5,265	3.90%	46,301	34.27%	135,088
Hancock	20,288	62.17%	10,464	32.07%	1,879	5.76%	9,824	30.11%	32,631
Harrison	9,987	57.07%	6,959	39.77%	554	3.17%	3,028	17.30%	17,500
Hendricks	40,242	61.33%	22,115	33.70%	3,257	4.96%	18,127	27.63%	65,614
Henry	9,437	49.63%	8,277	43.53%	1,301	6.84%	1,160	6.10%	19,015
Howard	17,768	49.24%	16,515	45.77%	1,802	4.99%	1,253	3.47%	36,085
Huntington	9,623	62.68%	5,212	33.95%	517	3.37%	4,411	28.73%	15,352
Jackson	9,613	57.78%	6,377	38.33%	648	3.89%	3,236	19.45%	16,638
Jasper	6,987	56.10%	5,055	40.59%	412	3.31%	1,932	15.51%	12,454
Jay	4,324	55.05%	3,183	40.52%	348	4.43%	1,141	14.53%	7,855
Jefferson	6,715	52.76%	5,610	44.08%	403	3.17%	1,105	8.68%	12,728
Jennings	5,648	55.76%	4,023	39.72%	458	4.52%	1,625	16.04%	10,129
Johnson	35,805	62.67%	18,097	31.68%	3,231	5.66%	17,708	30.99%	57,133
Knox	5,031	33.11%	9,911	65.23%	253	1.67%	-4,880	-32.12%	15,195
Kosciusko	20,527	69.01%	8,300	27.90%	919	3.09%	12,227	41.10%	29,746
LaGrange	5,653	61.01%	3,257	35.15%	355	3.83%	2,396	25.86%	9,265
Lake	55,750	30.70%	122,251	67.32%	3,584	1.97%	-66,501	-36.62%	181,585
LaPorte	16,159	38.48%	24,186	57.59%	1,653	3.94%	-8,027	-19.11%	41,998
Lawrence	10,094	57.14%	6,830	38.67%	740	4.19%	3,264	18.48%	17,664
Madison	24,048	46.06%	25,392	48.64%	2,765	5.30%	-1,344	-2.57%	52,205
Marion	129,125	36.27%	209,325	58.80%	17,518	4.92%	-80,200	-22.53%	355,968
Marshall	9,900	56.22%	7,112	40.39%	598	3.40%	2,788	15.83%	17,610
Martin	2,471	52.36%	2,050	43.44%	198	4.20%	421	8.92%	4,719
Miami	6,882	54.48%	4,982	39.28%	767	6.07%	1,900	15.04%	12,631
Monroe	14,530	36.76%	22,981	58.14%	2,019	5.11%	-8,451	-21.38%	39,530
Montgomery	8,105	56.41%	5,482	38.16%	780	5.43%	2,623	18.26%	14,367
Morgan	17,079	60.81%	9,295	33.10%	1,711	6.09%	7,784	27.72%	28,085
Newton	3,015	54.28%	2,287	41.17%	253	4.55%	728	13.11%	5,555
Noble	9,405	58.78%	6,047	37.80%	547	3.42%	3,358	20.99%	15,999
Ohio	1,554	56.57%	1,084	39.46%	109	3.97%	470	17.11%	2,747
Orange	4,112	53.85%	3,273	42.86%	251	3.29%	839	10.99%	7,636
Owen	4,164	51.43%	3,456	42.69%	476	5.88%	708	8.75%	8,096
Parke	3,366	51.78%	2,818	43.35%	316	4.86%	548	8.43%	6,500
Perry	3,132	40.04%	4,523	57.82%	168	2.15%	-1,391	-17.78%	7,823
Pike	2,661	45.18%	3,066	52.05%	163	2.77%	-405	-6.88%	5,890
Porter	29,321	41.06%	39,893	55.86%	2,198	3.08%	-10,572	-14.80%	71,412
Posey	6,455	53.30%	5,340	44.10%	315	2.60%	1,115	9.21%	12,110
Pulaski	2,809	53.88%	2,189	41.99%	215	4.12%	620	11.89%	5,213
Putnam	7,550	55.03%	5,307	38.68%	864	6.30%	2,243	16.35%	13,721
Randolph	5,708	56.51%	3,939	39.00%	454	4.49%	1,769	17.51%	10,101
Ripley	7,018	64.99%	3,224	29.85%	557	5.16%	3,794	35.13%	10,799
Rush	4,120	59.20%	2,370	34.05%	470	6.75%	1,750	25.14%	6,960
St. Joseph	47,208	43.11%	59,410	54.25%	2,897	2.65%	-12,202	-11.14%	109,515
Scott	4,069	47.26%	4,287	49.79%	254	2.95%	-218	-2.53%	8,610
Shelby	9,643	57.70%	5,994	35.87%	1,084	6.49%	3,649	21.83%	16,712
Spencer	5,059	52.38%	4,385	45.40%	215	2.23%	674	6.98%	9,659
Starke	3,828	45.27%	4,291	50.75%	337	3.99%	-463	-5.48%	8,456
Steuben	7,772	57.19%	5,308	39.06%	509	3.75%	2,464	18.13%	13,589
Sullivan	2,948	35.33%	5,179	62.06%	218	2.61%	-2,231	-26.73%	8,345
Switzerland	1,666	50.73%	1,489	45.34%	129	3.93%	177	5.39%	3,284
Tippecanoe	25,709	45.70%	27,615	49.09%	2,929	5.21%	-1,906	-3.39%	56,253
Tipton	4,136	56.74%	2,572	35.29%	401	5.50%	1,564	21.46%	7,289
Union	1,963	64.40%	940	30.84%	145	4.76%	1,023	33.56%	3,048
Vanderburgh	36,459	51.16%	32,830	46.07%	1,969	2.76%	3,629	5.09%	71,258
Vermillion	2,617	39.76%	3,639	55.29%	326	4.95%	-1,022	-15.53%	6,582
Vigo	15,013	37.98%	22,988	58.15%	1,528	3.87%	-7,975	-20.18%	39,529
Wabash	7,524	60.41%	4,459	35.80%	471	3.78%	3,065	24.61%	12,454
Warren	2,013	53.25%	1,579	41.77%	188	4.97%	434	11.48%	3,780
Warrick	13,654	56.25%	10,030	41.32%	588	2.42%	3,624	14.93%	24,272
Washington	6,129	57.71%	4,108	38.68%	383	3.61%	2,021	19.03%	10,620
Wayne	13,891	54.66%	10,261	40.38%	1,262	4.97%	3,630	14.28%	25,414
Wells	8,517	66.18%	3,997	31.06%	355	2.76%	4,520	35.12%	12,869
White	5,032	50.93%	4,279	43.31%	570	5.77%	753	7.62%	9,881
Whitley	9,084	61.44%	5,209	35.23%	493	3.33%	3,875	26.21%	14,786

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Delaware (largest city: Muncie)
• Greene (Largest city: Linton)
• Madison (largest city: Anderson)
• Marion (Largest city: Indianapolis)
• Scott (Largest city: Scottsburg)
• Tippecanoe (largest city: Lafayette)
• Vigo (largest city: Terre Haute)

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Switzerland (Largest city: Vevay)

By congressional district

Pence won 6 of 9 congressional districts.^[21]

District	Pence	Gregg	Representative
1st	33.61%	63.98%	Pete Visclosky
2nd	50.63%	46.15%	Joe Donnelly (112th Congress)
			Jackie Walorski (113th Congress)
3rd	58.24%	38.77%	Marlin Stutzman
4th	53.82%	40.87%	Todd Rokita
5th	55.34%	40.44%	Dan Burton (112th Congress)
			Susan Brooks (113th Congress)
6th	56.56%	38.49%	Mike Pence (112th Congress)
			Luke Messer (113th Congress)
7th	33.07%	61.73%	André Carson
8th	48.28%	48.69%	Larry Bucshon
9th	53.08%	42.70%	Todd Young

References

1. Rader, Kevin (May 16, 2011). "Former speaker Gregg to run for Indiana governor". WTHR. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
2. "Indiana Primary Election, May 8, 2012-United States Senator". Secretary of State of Indiana. June 5, 2012. Archived from the original on October 18, 2014. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
3. "'Survivor's' Rupert Boneham Announces He'll Run for Governor of Indiana". The Hollywood Reporter. October 22, 2011. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
4. "Rupert Receives Libertarian Nomination". Retrieved November 9, 2012.
5. Kelly, Niki (May 21, 2012). "Pence names running mate". The Journal Gazette. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
6. "Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Pence chooses running mate". WXIN. May 21, 2012. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
7. Shella, Jim (May 21, 2012). "Gregg to name Sen. Simpson as running mate". WISH-TV. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
8. Rodgers, Lauren (May 7, 2012). "State executive primary preview: No surprises in Indiana tomorrow". Ballotnews. Archived from the original on May 16, 2012. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
9. "2012 Governor Race Ratings for November 1, 2012". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
10. "PROJECTION: OBAMA WILL LIKELY WIN SECOND TERM". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Archived from the original on December 1, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
11. "2012 Gubernatorial Ratings". Gubernatorial Ratings. The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
12. "2012 Elections Map - 2012 Governor Races". Real Clear Politics. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
13. Howey Politics/DePauw
14. Benenson Strategy Group
15. YouGov
16. Howey Politics/DePauw University
17. Market Research Insight
18. Market Research Insight Archived August 10, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
19. "Election Results". in.gov/apps/sos. November 28, 2012. Retrieved December 17, 2012.
20. "2012 Indiana Governor Results". Politico. 2012. Retrieved January 25, 2025.
21. "Daily Kos".

External links

• Election Division Archived November 8, 2012, at the Wayback Machine at the Indiana Secretary of State office
• Indiana gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2012 at Ballotpedia

Campaign websites (archived)

• Rupert Boneham for Governor
• John R. Gregg for Governor
• Mike Pence for Governor