WTHI-TV 2020 Election Coverage - News 10 Nightwatch

WTHI-TV 2020 Election Coverage - News 10 Nightwatch

Special joining us for thanks for evening and good good evening and thanks for joining us for this special campaign 20-20 coverage.

I'm patrece dayton.

And i'm rondrell moore.

We have team coverage planned for you.

Our team has been following results from across the wabash valley.

Sarah lehman is live ..

Following the vigo county commissioner races.

Heather good is here to talk about local state representatives.

Our richard solomon and dominic miranda are live with members of the political parties.

And..

Tyler druin is in indianapolis monitoring some state-wide races.

We'll get to results in just a moment..

But first..

We know many of you are wondering about the counting process in "vigo county".

If you've been following our coverage... you've noticed no vigo county results until just moments ago!

Our richard solomon is live to walk us through what has happened.

He joins us now from our newsroom.

This is where the next step begins.

Around 10:30 i learned from randy gentry that they do plan to run all the votes tonight.

We're still waiting on those results.

The votes are being tallied as we speak at the vigo county courthouse elections officials they had to unseal and count every early and mail in ballot.

And they're still working on that.

Officials say new indiana rules state the ballots can't be touched until 6 in the morning on election day.

It took 13 hours just to open and scan all of the mail in and early votes.

They're making sure every "i" is dotted and "t" is crossed.

Right now..they just ask everyone to remain patient.

They're working as fast as they can.

"" reporting live..

Richard solomon news 10.

Solomon news live..

Richard reporting reporting live..

Richard solomon news 10.

We want to we want to get straight to the latest presidential results.

We're going to show you a few different break-downs.

We begin with who's leading "in indiana" in the "popular vote".

The associated press called the race for president trump.

He's up by more than 23-percent in the hoosier state.

And in illinois, the associated press called the race for biden, with about a 30-percentage point difference over trump.

A quick look nationally has trump ahead in the popular vote.

It's "very" possible a winner will "not" be clear before the night is over.

We know eyes are on vigo county... due to our status as a bellwether county.

Voters here have an overwhelming tradition of voting for the presidential candidate who wins.

Here's a check of where vigo county stands right now.

You can see... trump is overwhelming ahead..

With a little more than half the vote centers reporting.

News 10's dominic miranda has been reporting on vigo county's bellwether status.

He joins us live from the vigo county court-house.

A historical streak is on the line tonight in vigo the line streak is on a historical a historical streak is on the line tonight in vigo county the county is looking to maintain their bellwether status and their 15 election streak of voting in alignment with the eventual presidential winner.

That's right... vigo county has not missed on a presidential election since 1956.

That's the second longest streak in the entire united states.

I spoke with a local expert about the significance of the bellwether county designation [take pkg incue: rose hulman outcue: national level *bite* duration:0:41] pk} rose hulman political science professor terrence casey tells me... this is absolutely a badge of honor within vigo county.

He says the thing that tends to keep vigo county in front regarding bellwether status... is the stark mix of rural and urban areas along with the many higher education institutions throughout the county.

He tells me there's no question that people throughout america...and internationally keep up with where vigo county is voting.

"i've done interviews for international sources about vigo county.

So it's not just americans that look at vigo county.

There was an article recently in the bbc about vigo county.

We've had this long run of success and in that sense people look at these counties because it may be indicative of what is happening on a national level."

Now what we do know as of right now is that many news sources are reporting news sources that many right now is do know as of now what we level."

National level."

Now what we do know as of right now is that many news sources are reporting that president donald trump has indeed won indiana... however... as news 10 has reported..

We will still not know vigo county's results until later on this evening.

So the bellwether status of the county very much remains up in the air.

We will be sure to keep you updated throughout the evening right here on news 10 so be sure to stick with us.

Reporting live in terre haute i'm news 10's dominic miranda back to you republicans had a chance to gain a senate seat through the state of illinois.

This race had "five" candidates.

We can tell you democratic incumbent richard "dick" durbin has won this race with 50 percent of the vote.

His closest opponent was mark curran had 44 percent of the vote.

And representing indiana -- a republican congressman was hoping to help hold the republican majority in the indiana legislature.

Current congressman doctor larry bucshon will retain his seat.

He wins with more than 70 percent of the vote.

Across the state line ..

A congressional position is up in the 15th district.

A new person will hold this seat... as john shimkus is retiring.

Republican mary miller is leading democratic erica weaver with 72 percent of the vote.

Now we turn to state-wide races in indiana.

Early tonight, the associated press called the race for republican governor eric holcomb.

Right now ... he holds a 29-percentage point lead over woody myers, who is followed by donald rainwater.

Holcomb was elected to governor in 20-16 after the departure of now vice-president, mike pence.

Indiana will welcome a new attorney general next year.

That's after former congressman "todd rokita" defeated "curtis hill" for the republican nomination.

Rokita faced former evansville mayor "jonathan weinzapfel".

Democrats saw this race as their chance to break some of the stanglehold republicans have on state government.

And it's rokita ahead by more than 20 -percentage points.

That's with 65- percent of the vote counted.

In indiana... there are 2 local state representative races.

Those are in districts 42 and 43.

News 10's heather good has been monitoring both of these races.

She's live in the newsroom with a closer look at the numbers.

Patrece and rondrell... those vigo county ballots are what has been holding up final projections for both of these races.

First... the 42nd district race.

Republican incumbent alan morrison morrison has 68-percent of the vote... and democrat challenger amy burke adams has 32-percent.

That's with nearly 80-percent of precincts reporting.

I spoke with morrison earlier this evening.

He told me this year's race has not been like any other.

"there's no comparison.

This year obviously has been a disruption of herculian magnitude for everybody.

It's certainly a different experience and quite frankly not one that i would like to see us have to go through again."

Now to the indiana 43rd... this district includes portions of terre haute... west terre haute... and seelyville.

We just got results in the last half-hour... with 10 out of 18 precincts reporting... democrat tonya pfaff has 51-percent of the vote... and republican bill treadway has 49-percent of the vote.

It has been a long night for both of the candidates... after waiting hours with no results only to get theses all within the last 30-minutes.

Patrece and rondrell... rondrell... patrece and minutes.

Last 30-minutes.

Patrece and rondrell... we move to rondrell... we move to state lawmakers across the state line in illinois..

District 55 will welcome a new senator.

This is the seat "dale righter" has held for 17 years.

"darren bailey" is ahead with 74 percent of the vote.

"cynthia ann given"...26-percent.

Bailey has served as a state representative for district 1-oh-9.

"that" 109th seat is up for grabs.

Right now ..adam niemerg is leading that race against democrat john spencer..

And in the 110-th representative distrct... chris miller is leading.

Now we move to races in vigo county.

Right now we know there are 86 out of the 87 precincts reporting in vigo county.

News 10's sarah lehman continues our coverage with the heated races for two commissioner districts.

Sarah.... patrece...rondrell... like all of the other vigo county races we have been waiting for these results all night.

Just a few minutes ago we got more than 98 percent of the votes in the county reporting.

So here are the results so far chris switzer and pat goodwin running against each other for district two of the vigo county commissioner race.

With more than half of the vote centers are reporting.

Switzer...the republican candidate had more than 65 percent of the votes.

While goodwin....the democratic candidate has 34 percebnt of the votes.

A very similar look for district three.

Mike morris and jeffery fisher are running against each other in this district for county commissioner/ again -- with more than half of the vote centers reporting.

Republican candidate mike morris has more than 64 percent of the votes.

Meanwhile -- fisher the democratic candidate has a little more than 35 percent.

Not all voting centers are in at this time.

So -- these numbers and results can still change.

Now -- patrece is now standing by for a deeper dive into these heated commissioner races.

Commissioner heated dive into these for a deeper standing by patrece is now now -- still change.

Results can numbers and so -- these numbers and results can still change.

Now -- patrece is now standing by for a deeper dive into these heated commissioner races.

David bolk is a professor david bolk david bolk is a professor david bolk david bolk is a professor of legal studies at isu served as vigo county circuit court judge for 14 years and terre haute city court judge for a decade.

He joins us now with insight into...... the commissioners race between switzer and goodwin may be more interesting than the council race as the democrat candidates have raised and spent far more money than any of the republican council candidates.

We're also closely following the vigo county clerk's race.

It's come with some back and forth between the candidates.

Currently ..

Brad newman holds the office.

His opponent, todd nation ..

Has held a city-council position since 2-thousand-4.

Right now brad newman is holding a solid lead over todd nation.

Our team is working hard to collect results from across the wabash valley.

And we want to remind you we are continuing our coverage online at wthi tv dot com ..

And on the news 10 app.

As we go to break ..

Here's a look at some more of tonight's results from around the wabash valley.