This story was originally published by Based in Lafayette.
By Dave Bangert
Based in Lafayette
May 6, 2026
The morning after two candidates declared victory in the race for the Republican nomination in Indiana Senate District 23, incumbent Spencer Deery picked up an additional vote to take the margin to four votes over challenger Paula Copenhaver.
Election officials in Tippecanoe County – one of six counties that include parts of Indiana Senate District 23 – recorded votes from five absentee ballots that had been dropped off at vote centers before polls closed at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
mong those five was one Republican ballot from Senate District 23, county clerk Julie Roush said.
The new unofficial tally: 6,336 to 6,331, in Deery’s favor.
Still in play in Tippecanoe County, though, are four provisional ballots – those cast but still requiring voters to provide a valid ID or other proof that they’re registered before they’re counted – and 11 mail-in ballots that have questions about missing signatures or other issues, county election officials said Wednesday. Voters have until noon May 13 to provide the necessary proof for their ballots to count.
The results in Tippecanoe County won’t be finalized until the Election Board meets May 15.
Copenhaver took five of the six counties, losing only Tippecanoe County, which accounted for 25% of the 12,666 votes cast and where Deery received nearly two-thirds of the votes.
Including the four in Tippecanoe County, elections offices surveyed Wednesday reported a total of 17 provisional ballots that would be reviewed by county election boards next week. Among them:
Those election offices outside Tippecanoe County did not report mail-in or other ballots left to consider and potential count.
Mike Smith, with the Tippecanoe County election office, said miliary ballots that arrive by the county’s certification date May 15, showing postmarks of May 5 or earlier, also will count.
“That’s an unknown right now,” Smith said.
As of mid-afternoon Wednesday, court action initiating a recount in the race hadn’t been filed, according to clerk’s offices across the district.
Deery was one of seven incumbent senators at the heart of a retribution campaign fueled by President Donald Trump and White House allies over his vote and outspoken opposition to a failed attempt to redraw Indiana’s congressional maps ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
NBC reported that roughly $12 million was spent on advertising in the seven Indiana Senate races targeted by Trump, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.
Five of those incumbent Republican state senators lost Tuesday. Only one, state Sen. Greg Goode of Terre Haute, comfortably survived a Trump-endorsed challenge.
Estimates put spending from Trump forces between $2 million and $2.4 million against Deery. And Deery backers put $1 million into the campaign in response.
Tuesday night, while emerging with a three-vote lead, Deery declared victory from the Tippecanoe County Office Building in downtown Lafayette. Copenhaver did that same from her home in Covington, where she said “we will prevail and be declared the winner of this race” once the provisional ballots are counted.
“In my own race, I was vastly outspent, and even then, the final vote count at the end of the night was a victory,” Deery said Wednesday. “Now we must ensure that attorneys and outside influencers do not come to Indiana and attempt to manipulate the will of Hoosier voters to suit their own agendas. I will continue fighting to make sure our elections are fair and that voters’ voices are heard.”
For more, see Deery, Copenhaver both claim victory in Trump-fueled Indiana Senate District 23 election.
Dave Bangert retired after 32 years of reporting and writing on just about everything at the Lafayette Journal & Courier. He started the Based in Lafayette reporting project in 2021. To learn more about subscribing to Based in Lafayette, click here.
