ABC57 takes a closer look at Indiana's 2nd District close call congressional race

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Republican incumbent Rudy Yakym will serve a third term representing Hoosiers in Washington, D.C., after beating out Democrat Jamee Decio and Libertarian William Henry. However, it was a lot closer than Yakym's previous races.

At 9 p.m., with less than 50 percent of precincts reporting, there was a 25-percentage gap between Yakym and Decio. By 10 p.m., 77 percent of the vote was counted and that gap was down to four percent.

Indiana's second congressional district remains red following Republican incumbent Rudy Yakym's close-call win against Democrat Jamee Decio. The race was called after 6 a.m. Wednesday with almost 10,000 votes separating the two. 

Decio's largest push came from St. Joseph County, with 45,670 votes while Elkhart County pulled strong for Yakym with 24,297 votes.

Ball State Political Science Professor, Chad Kinsella, talked about the Republican hold in this race and what prevented this race from being part of the national blue wave.

"It had just enough padding, so to speak, that he was able to be saved. When Indiana was considering redistricting, and you know, do you really need 20 points? I had always thought, you know, in the worst-case scenario, it's like you maybe give up 10, you know, in a wave election."

Kinsella believes the constant reminder of skyrocketing gas prices every time you leave your home was a pivotal factor in the jarring turn in the District 2 race, but also nationwide.  He believes nationwide frustrations made the final call in each state.

"You could have had the best candidate or the worst candidate, but as long as they had like that (D) by their name, I think that that gave them probably an extra somewhere between 10 and 20 points across the country. With all due respect to the candidates, I don't know that the candidates really had anything to do with it. I think it was just a national mood that had soured to a point that beyond what even like we thought was possible," said Kinsella.

We are still waiting on data showing the breakdown of these races by age, gender and race. Kinsella believes these things are being worked on, and we can start to see a clearer picture in the coming days.