Tribune Staff Reports
Two of the three Indiana House seats and one of the two Senate seats representing Jackson County were contested during Tuesday’s general election.
The race that drew the most interest in Jackson County involved that for the District 44 Senate seat. That race featured three Bedford residents, Republican Eric A. Koch, Democrat Linda Kay Henderson and Libertarian Darin S. Kinser.
Koch won the district with 36,810 or 68 percent of the vote, followed by Henderson, who finished with 28 percent or 15,371 votes. Kinser finished a distant third with 2,024 votes. The district, which has 101 precincts, also includes all of Brown and Lawrence counties and parts of Monroe and Bartholomew counties.
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In Jackson County, Koch collected 10,075 votes from 24 precincts; Henderson had 3,611; and Kinser finished with 480.
In the House District 73 race, Republican incumbent Steve Davisson faced a challenge from fellow Salem resident Douglas Leatherbury, a Democrat.
Davisson, who won Jackson County by 1,768 votes to 660, captured 18,460 or 73 percent of the votes in the district’s 53 precincts. Leatherbury’s district-wide vote total was 6,837 or 27 percent.
The sprawling district includes all of Washington County, the western part of Brownstown Township along with Carr, Driftwood, Grassy Fork and Owen townships in Jackson County and parts of Clark, Harrison, Lawrence and Orange counties. Vote totals for those parts of the district outside Jackson County were not available at press time.
Davisson is a pharmacist and three-term District 73 representative, while Leatherbury is an attorney. Leatherbury also lost a bid to unseat Davisson two years ago, 11,027 to 4,679 votes.
The remaining House race in Jackson County featured the District 65 seat, vacated by Koch after 14 years. It featured Republican Christopher May and Democrat Chris Woods, both of Bedford.
May finished with 63 percent or 18,232 of the votes from the district’s 54 precincts, while Woods had 10,828 votes or 37 percent.
May also won the contest’s two precincts in the district in Jackson County, Pershing and Salt Creek townships, by a 532-201 tally.
Seymour Republican Jim Lucas, who had no opposition, picked up 11,311 votes in the 22 precincts in the Jackson County part of District 69. Lucas grabbed 20,765 votes across the district, which includes part of Brownstown Township and all of Hamilton, Jackson, Redding, Vernon and Washington townships in Jackson County. The district also includes parts of Bartholomew, Jefferson and Jennings counties.
The District 45 Senate seat held by Jim Smith of Charlestown was not up for election this year but will be in 2018. The district includes Grassy Fork, Vernon and Washington townships in Jackson County.
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How you voted
State Senate District 44
Eric A. Koch (R);36,810
Linda Kay Henderson (D);15,371
Darin S. Kinser (L);2,024
State Representative District 65
Chris May (R);18,232
Chris Woods (D);10,828
State Representative District 69
James T. Lucas (R);20,765
State Representative District 73
Steve Davisson (R);18,460
Douglas Leatherbury (D);6,837
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