County backed president 75-25

Nationwide results of the presidential election were still up in the air this morning. But there was no question who Jay County supported.

Local voters backed President Donald Trump by a huge margin over Democratic challenger Joe Biden, giving him 75.1% of the vote.

The support for Trump matched the county’s preferences across the board as voters heavily favored Republican candidates. (See related story for local election results.)

Trump’s support in Jay County — he got 6,361 votes out of 8,543 ballots cast — was even greater than he received when he earned his first term four years ago. He and Vice President Mike Pence, former governor of Indiana, picked up 71% of the vote in Jay County in their 2016 win over Democrats Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine.

Republicans earned 75% of the vote or better in Jay County in most of the contested races for state and federal offices.

Incumbent Jim Banks posted the highest total, picking up 6,399 votes (77.3%) as he dominated his way to a third term as U.S. Representative for District 3 (northeast Indiana). With 90 percent of the vote reported as of this morning, Banks was winning the district by a 70-30 margin. The outcome of that race was clear so early that Banks issued a statement at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday.

"It has been an honor to be your representative in Washington the last four years, and it is a privilege to be sent back and continue our mission of being a conservative fighter for Hoosiers for another two,” he said in a press release.

Todd Rokita was similarly strong in Jay County in the race for Indiana attorney general, earning 75.2 percent of the vote against Democrat Jonathan Weinzapfel. He had a 60-40 lead statewide this morning with 83 percent of precincts reporting.

The race for governor of Indiana broke from the pattern in large part because of the influence of Libertarian candidate Donald Rainwater. Incumbent Republican Eric Holcomb still easily led Jay County but did not reach the high vote totals of other GOP candidates as he came in at 62.2 percent. Rainwater seemed to pull support from both parties as he was next at 23.1 percent, while Democrat Woody Myers earned 14.8 percent. The story was similar statewide, with Holcomb holding 58 percent of the vote as of this morning followed by Rainwater (30) and Myers (12).