ANDERSON — Two state incumbent state representatives for parts of Madison County celebrated decisive victories Tuesday night, while the third barely held on as he trailed his challenger by 34 votes.
Jack Lutz, Republican for District 35, and Terri Austin, Democrat for District 36, each won their races: Lutz by more than 3,000 votes and Austin by more than 4,000. Scott Reske, Democrat representing District 37, and his challenger, Republican Kelly Gaskill, were locked in a dead heat with 12,000 absentee ballots remaining to be counted.
“There’s just too many absentees out,” Reske said. “I’m feeling pretty calm so we’ll see how that goes.”
Gaskill also said she was feeling mellow Tuesday despite being locked in a close race.
“It’s not over yet,” she said. “I’m just thrilled that voters have voted.”
Gaskill said she expected a close race all along, thanks to her volunteers and family support.
That race was marred in recent weeks by accusations by Gaskill that Reske had threatened her family and accusations by Reske that Gaskill had lowered her home’s assessment as Fall Creek Township assessor.
Austin said she wouldn’t celebrate a victory too early, but was excited when her more than 4,000-vote lead over opponent Frank Burrows was announced.
“I appreciate this vote of confidence from the voters,” she said.
When she gets back the Statehouse, Austin wants to tackle mass transit, education funding and monitoring the recently passed property tax bill and its effects.
She thinks issues like jobs and economic development are what helped her win.
“In the end, it was pocketbook issues,” she said.
Burrows hadn’t given up hope yet Tuesday night, waiting for the absentee votes to be counted.
“We put a lot of hard work into the campaign,” he said. “We did everything we could do.”
Lutz thanked the constituents who voted for him in District 35 and said he would work on pushing the Republican agenda in the House this session, which includes balancing the budget, working on economic development and renewable energy.
“I thank them for their vote of confidence and I will work again like I have in the past for the next two years,” he said.
Libertarian candidate Greg Noland for District 36 got 638 votes on Tuesday, while Libertarian candidate Rob Jozwiak for District 37 got 1,029.
