The Indiana state Senate election was held in May but was close, prompting a challenge.
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A Republican state senator in Indiana who crossed President Donald Trump is advancing to the general election after the state Supreme Court found he’d won his primary by three votes.
State Sen. Spencer Deery was part of a contingent of GOP state senators last year that blocked Trump’s plan to redraw the state’s congressional map to boost Republicans’ chances of capturing two more U.S. House seats. Trump targeted seven state senators in Republican primaries in May, and candidates he backed won five of those races.
Deery was one of the two Trump took on who was initially declared a winner, but his opponent, Paula Copenhaver, challenged the narrow results. A recount commission last month sided with her after discounting ballots for Deery that didn’t include a county clerk’s signature or stamp.
Deery took the matter to the state Supreme Court, which found in a Thursday decision that Deery had won with 6,335 votes to Copenhaver’s 6,332.
The one-page ruling was signed by Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush and said a majority had ruled for Deery. The order, issued just hours after the court heard arguments, said a fuller decision including the court’s rationale would be issued later.
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Deery said he was pleased with the outcome and saw the ruling as affirming voters’ rights.
“We could never have secure elections in our state if our votes could be invalidated by government error or malfeasance,” Deery said in a statement.
Copenhaver said she was disappointed but wished Deery the best.
“While I disagree with the Court’s decision, which leaves open the potential of inauthentic ballots to be counted, I respect the Court’s right to their opinion,” she said in a Facebook post.
The district leans Republican, giving Deery an advantage in the November election against Democrat David Sanders and independent Joshua Brant.
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