The 2008 Indiana gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Republican nominee Mitch Daniels was challenged by Democratic nominee Jill Long Thompson and Libertarian nominee Andy Horning. Daniels easily won reelection, defeating Long Thompson by over 17 points. Despite Daniels' landslide victory, Barack Obama narrowly carried Indiana in the concurrent presidential election; the only Democratic candidate to do so since 1964. As of 2024, this is the last election Marion County (containing the state's largest city, Indianapolis) would vote Republican for governor and a statewide race.

Primaries May 6, 2008 – Democratic and Republican primary elections.

October 6, 2008 – Deadline for voter registration for the general election.

Democratic

On the Democratic side, Indianapolis businessman Jim Schellinger and former U.S. Representative Jill Long Thompson announced their candidacies. Indiana Senate Minority Leader Richard Young also ran early, but dropped out of the race well before the primary. Schellinger raised over $1 million in campaign funds, with support of key Democratic officials such as former Indiana House Speaker John R. Gregg, former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson and U.S. Representative Julia Carson. Long Thompson's support came from Democrats such as popular former U.S. Representative Andrew Jacobs, Jr. and former Indiana First Lady Maggie Kernan.

The contest was very close. The difference between the two was 13,769 votes out of over 1.1 million cast, a difference of 1.1%. Both Long Thompson and Schellinger won various counties from many different political geographies of the state. Schellinger narrowly beat Long Thompson in heavily populated Marion County, home of Indianapolis. Long Thompson trounced Schellinger in Allen County, home of Fort Wayne, the second most populous city in the state. Many attribute her very narrow statewide victory to her strong performance in Allen County. Schellinger also did well in Evansville and the Indianapolis suburbs. Long Thompson and Schellinger basically split the rural vote. It was one of the closest statewide primaries in state history, and also had the highest turnout of any Indiana non-presidential primary. Schellinger called Long Thompson around 5 a.m. the day after the election to concede. He pledged her his full support.

On June 16, Long Thompson announced that her running mate and the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor would be longtime State Representative Dennie Oxley.

Republican On June 16, 2007, incumbent Governor Mitch Daniels announced he was running for reelection with his Lieutenant Governor Becky Skillman. He was unopposed in the Republican primary.

Libertarian Andy Horning, an engineer, Libertarian Party activist and frequent candidate, ran unopposed for his party's nomination. He appeared on the November ballot with Lisa Kelly as running mate.

General election

Debates Three debates organized by the Indiana Debate Commission were held: Tuesday, September 16 at the Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville, Indiana Tuesday, September 23 at the Jasper Arts Center in Jasper, Indiana Tuesday, October 14 at the Indiana University Auditorium in Bloomington, Indiana, moderated by former Indianapolis broadcaster Tom Cochrun

Predictions SourceRankingAs ofThe Cook Political ReportOctober 16, 2008 Rothenberg Political Report November 2, 2008 Sabato's Crystal Ball November 3, 2008Real Clear PoliticsNovember 4, 2008

Polling

Polling had largely shown Daniels with a slight lead over both Long Thompson and Schellinger. Long Thompson later slipped further behind Daniels in most polls. In the last polls before the election, conducted by Public Policy Polling (November 2, 2008), Daniels led Long Thompson 60% to 37%.

Results

By county Daniels won 79 of Indiana's counties compared to 13 for Long Thompson.

County Daniels Votes Long Thompson Votes Others Votes TotalAdams61.3% 8,291 36.5% 4,938 2.2% 29413,523Allen61.0% 89,938 37.3% 55,027 1.7% 2,449147,414Bartholomew70.6% 21,547 27.7% 8,447 1.7% 53330,527Benton62.8% 2,398 34.3% 1,308 2.9%1093,815Blackford57.2% 3,098 41.0% 2,221 1.8% 975,416 Boone80.5% 21,352 17.5% 4,633 2.0% 54026,525 Brown61.3% 4,967 35.6% 2,880 3.1% 2508,097Carroll63.8% 5,586 33.4% 2,925 2.8% 2418,752Cass56.3% 8,831 40.9% 6,418 2.8% 43315,682 Clark60.7% 28,622 37.9% 17,821 1.4% 68247,125 Clay52.7% 5,986 44.6% 5,055 2.7% 31211,353 Clinton67.7% 8,322 29.8% 3,658 2.5% 30612,286 Crawford38.9%1,86959.7%2,869 1.4%68 4,806Daviess58.5% 6,043 38.5% 3,978 3.0% 31010,331Dearborn67.3% 14,536 30.3% 6,540 2.4% 51921,595 Decatur72.8% 7,486 24.6% 2,534 2.6% 27010,290 DeKalb57.1% 9,562 40.4% 6,752 2.5% 42416,738Delaware56.5% 27,876 41.7% 20,588 1.8% 89549,359Dubois54.3% 9,946 43.3% 7,938 2.4% 44518,329Elkhart57.8% 40,983 39.7% 28,114 2.5% 1,74070,837Fayette58.2% 5,373 39.8% 3,670 2.0% 1809,223Floyd62.3% 22,471 36.1% 13,020 1.6% 57636,067 Fountain58.5% 4,350 37.9% 2,816 3.6% 2697,435Franklin61.6% 6,443 35.2% 3,674 3.2% 33710,454Fulton58.7% 5,309 38.6% 3,493 2.7% 2479,049Gibson60.1% 9,087 38.1% 5,757 1.8% 27015,114Grant61.8% 16,006 36.4% 9,431 1.8% 46225,899Greene50.1% 6,756 46.5% 6,261 3.4% 46413,481 Hamilton83.3% 106,574 15.2% 19,442 1.5% 1,863127,879Hancock77.1% 26,395 20.6% 7,053 2.0% 80034,248Harrison56.9% 10,277 41.2% 7,447 1.9% 34218,066 Hendricks77.1% 49,490 20.9% 13,381 2.0% 1,30164,172Henry57.1% 12,142 40.1% 8,519 2.8% 58921,250Howard61.6% 23,852 36.5% 14,143 1.9% 75538,750Huntington65.7% 10,555 32.0% 5,139 2.3% 37716,071Jackson56.0% 9,729 41.5% 7,218 2.5% 43317,380Jasper54.1% 6,737 43.5% 5,419 2.4% 29612,452Jay57.0% 4,763 40.8% 3,404 2.2% 1808,347 Jefferson51.1% 6,671 47.0% 6,127 1.9% 24213,040 Jennings51.1% 6,016 45.7% 5,373 3.2% 38111,770Johnson77.4% 44,743 20.4% 11,813 2.2% 1,27957,835 Knox46.0%7,11952.8%8,165 1.2%376 15,464Kosciusko67.5% 19,901 30.0% 8,825 2.5% 75129,477LaGrange57.3% 5,441 39.3% 3,727 3.4% 3229,490Lake34.6%66,14564.0%122,111 1.4%2,748 191,004LaPorte33.9%15,49563.4%28,922 2.7%1,241 45,658Lawrence57.5% 10,504 39.8% 7,281 2.7% 49518,280Madison59.7% 34,028 38.3% 21,776 2.0% 1,12056,924Marion55.5% 209,955 42.5% 160,318 2.0% 7,377377,650Marshall56.8% 10,314 41.0% 7,447 2.2% 39418,155Martin55.4% 2,714 41.5% 2,030 3.1% 1534,897Miami58.1% 7,816 38.4% 5,174 3.5% 46913,459Monroe47.3%28,48249.8%30,026 2.9%1,764 60,272Montgomery74.2% 11,304 23.7% 3,605 2.1% 31715,226Morgan 70.0% 19,818 26.8% 7,570 3.2% 90828,296 Newton49.9% 2,999 47.0% 2,822 3.1% 1866,007Noble56.0% 9,408 41.3% 6,951 2.7% 45316,812Ohio55.4% 1,590 41.8% 1,197 2.8% 802,867Orange50.6% 4,046 47.0% 3,760 2.4% 1927,998 Owen57.9% 4,717 37.8% 3,074 4.3% 3478,138Parke50.6% 3,553 46.1% 3,240 3.3% 2357,028 Perry37.7%3,16961.1%5,133 1.2%98 8,400Pike48.1%2,85049.3%2,924 2.6%157 5,931Porter43.1%31,38854.4%39,519 2.5%1,802 72,709 Posey62.7% 7,983 36.0% 4,592 1.3% 16412,739 Pulaski53.6% 3,096 43.7% 2,524 2.7% 1535,773Putnam65.6% 9,443 32.0% 4,597 2.4% 34614,386 Randolph59.5% 6,268 37.8% 3,987 2.7% 28010,535Ripley60.8% 7,347 35.9% 4,342 3.3% 40212,091Rush66.6% 5,071 30.3% 2,311 3.1% 2377,619Saint Joseph47.8%56,17650.5%59,259 1.7%1,978 117,413Scott49.5% 4,414 48.5% 4,330 2.0% 1808,924Shelby67.2% 11,774 30.0% 5,259 2.8% 48917,522Spencer54.8% 5,527 43.9% 4,418 1.3% 13410,079 Starke47.0%4,33951.3%4,726 1.7%161 9,226Steuben55.9% 7,896 41.3% 5,822 2.8% 40214,120 Sullivan40.5%3,46355.9%4,779 3.6%311 8,553 Switzerland47.6%1,73048.9%1,776 3.5%126 3,632 Tippecanoe61.9% 41,740 35.6% 23,980 2.5% 1,71067,430Tipton67.0% 5,244 30.4% 2,376 2.6% 2047,824Union53.1% 1,756 42.7% 1,412 4.2% 1383,306Vanderburgh62.3% 48,033 36.4% 28,090 1.3% 99477,117Vermillion38.7%2,76958.2%4,164 3.1%223 7,156Vigo50.6% 21,941 47.1% 20,448 2.3% 1,01143,400Wabash64.4% 8,578 33.3% 4,434 2.3% 30813,320Warren51.7% 2,057 45.3% 1,804 3.0% 1193,980Warrick65.1% 18,498 33.5% 9,531 1.4% 38628,415 Washington54.4% 6,141 43.4% 4,894 2.2% 24911,284Wayne52.4% 14,832 43.2% 12,203 4.2% 1,19828,233 Wells65.4% 8,418 32.3% 4,153 2.3% 29212,863White61.2% 6,620 35.6% 3,845 3.2% 34310,808Whitley60.4% 8,997 37.4% 5,566 2.2% 32014,883

Counties that flipped from Tied to Democratic Switzerland (Largest city: Vevay) Crawford (Largest city: Marengo)

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Clark (Largest city: Jeffersonville) Delaware (largest city: Muncie) Marion (Largest city: Indianapolis) Scott (Largest city: Scottsburg) Vanderburgh (largest city: Evansville) Vigo (largest city: Terre Haute)

References

External links Elections from the Indiana Secretary of State Indiana Governor candidates at Project Vote Smart Indiana Governor race from OurCampaigns.com Indiana Governor race from 2008 Race Tracker Campaign contributions from Follow the Money Daniels (R-i) vs Long Thompson (D) graph of collected poll results from Pollster.com Official campaign websites (Archived) Mitch Daniels, Republican incumbent nominee Jill Long Thompson, Democratic nominee Andy Horning, Libertarian nominee