Rep. Greg Pence, R-Ind., won a second term in Congress representing Indiana’s Sixth Congressional District, defeating Democrat Jeannine Lee Lake and Libertarian Tom Ferkinhoff Tuesday.
In Bartholomew County, Pence, 63, received 63.3% of the vote, while Lake, 50, received nearly 33.4% and Ferkinhoff, 58, received 3.3%.
Pence, a Columbus native and brother of Vice President Mike Pence, defeated Lake and Ferkinhoff in 2018 with 63.8% of the vote.
A promised statement from the Pence campaign on the victory did not arrive before the newspaper’s deadline.
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Lake, a community activist, businesswoman and former reporter for The Muncie Star, said she was proud of her campaign.
“I want to really thank everyone that supported this campaign this last year,” Lake said. “It has been a rough year for a lot of people, but a lot of people came out and supported us. A lot of people came out and showed their hearts that really were for progress and change. While the voting tonight didn’t go in our favor and we did not prevail, I’m really proud of the race that I’ve run. I’m really proud of the voters and our supporters and all my team.”
The race has made its share of headlines over the past several weeks, including reports of a BB gun being fire at Lake, allegations of racism and alleged campaign finance violations.
Most recently, Muncie police said Lake was unintentionally shot at by two boys, ages 17 and 13, with a BB gun before a local Democratic Party meeting in Muncie last month, The Associated Press reported.
The teens told investigators that they had fired at Lake’s car “just because it was there,” according to wire reports. Lake told the AP that she was rattled but uninjured, and she noticed no damage to the vehicle.
Lake had previously said that she had been the target of racist phone calls and filed an incident report with the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, alleging harassment after she alleges she received material in the mail at her home about federal election campaign filings that she considered to be an attempt to threaten and intimidate her and her staff.
The incident report states the mail contained information about her committee treasurer and “’Federal Election Campaign Questions’ paperwork,” but “there were no threats made in the mail,” according to a copy of the incident report obtained by The Republic.
On the Republican side, Delaware County and state GOP leadership took aim at some of Lake’s financial disclosures, which her committee filed late this year.
In July, the race received national attention after The Associated Press reported that Pence as a first-term congressman was coming under criticism for allegedly allowing the sale of objects with racist depictions of African Americans at the Exit 76 Antique Mall in Edinburgh, which he co-owns.
Through a spokesperson, Pence distanced himself, telling The Muncie Star Press in July that he “is not engaged in the active management” of the mall, according to wire reports.
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Indiana’s Sixth Congressional District (Bartholomew County)
Greg Pence (R); 22,705
Jeannine Lee Lake (D); 11,977
Tom Ferkinhoff (L); 1,182
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