Even with no contested county races in Tuesday’s general election, Kosciusko County voters still turned out in big numbers to vote for the next U.S. president, Indiana governor and other state and national offices.
Of the 54,295 registered voters in the county, 35,295 (65.01%) voted in the county, with 13,680 of those early voting and 1,822 by mail-in.
As a result, Kosciusko County helped keep Indiana a red state as Republicans swept up in the state.
Ann Torpy, county clerk for the Circuit and Superior Courts, said, “It’s pretty equal to 2020, actually, where we had 2,000 more early voters this year than we did in 2020, which, kind of also took 2,000 total votes out of Election Day.”
In other words, about 2,000 people chose to vote early this year where they had voted on Election Day in 2020.
“Those two (elections) have been record breakers for our county, which, obviously, probably was for every state,” she said because they both were presidential election years.
President Donald Trump ran for re-election in 2020 against Joe Biden, who won then, and this year Trump sought to be re-elected against Vice President Kamala Harris this year. The next president of the United States wasn’t determined as of press time Tuesday night.

    Voters line up in the hallway of Valley Springs Fellowship as others check in during Tuesday morning’s voting. Photo by Gary Nieter, Times-Union
  

Other than a printing issue with some absentee ballots several weeks ago, Torpy said there were no issues with the election Tuesday in the county.
“No problems. Just the lines, the wait time, which I think should have been expected, personally. I think across the country is that way. To expect otherwise would be silly,” Torpy said.
Within an hour after the polls closed Tuesday, the Associated Press was calling the races for 3rd District Congressman Jim Banks as the next U.S. senator, replacing Sen. Mike Braun; Braun and Micah Beckwith as the next Indiana governor and lieutenant governor, respectively; 2nd District Congressman Rudy Yakym retaining his seat; Marlin Stutzman replacing Banks in the 3rd District; and Todd Rokita winning re-election as Indiana’s attorney general. All are Republicans.
Kosciusko County Republican Party Central Committee Chair Mike Ragan was pleased with Tuesday’s results.
“The turnout’s great,” he said. “We anticipated a good turnout. I think everybody’s surprised at how good it really was.”
He said he was excited that the Republican party won at the state level.
“I’m excited about that. I think we had the best ticket, of course, and Indiana will be well-served by the leaders we elected,” Ragan said.
While there are no elections in 2025, there will be a number of them in 2026, he pointed out, including townships, sheriff, southern district county commissioner, four county council district seats, auditor and assessor.
“There’ll be quite a few,” Ragan said, adding that he’s very pleased with this year’s election results. “The statewide candidates spent a lot of time in Kosciusko County. We’re pleased with that. We weren’t taken for granted.”
Uncontested Republican county candidates who won Tuesday include Matthew J. Buehler as judge of the Circuit Court 54th Judicial; Melissa Boggs, Circuit Court clerk; Michelle Puckett, county treasurer; county coroner, Tyler Huffer; James Moyer, county surveyor; Cary Groninger, middle district county commissioner; Sue Ann Mitchell, northern district county commissioner; and Delynn Geiger, Kathleen D. Groninger and Rachael Rhoades, county council at-large members.
Rhoades, who happened to be at the Justice Building Tuesday waiting for results, said she was excited to be serving the community.
“I’m very, very blessed and humbled by the amount of support that I’ve received over the past year,” she said.
She’s been attending the county council meetings all year and feels she’s prepared to start serving on day one.
“I’m thankful I started early to be able to have this time to learn, to gain a full understanding of the job. I’ve been able to sit down with each of the council members and really ask some good questions and sit down with the community,” she said. “I’ve been meeting with the community once a week in my coffee chats, just trying to be available to the people. I feel very strongly that they need to know their candidate and they need to be able to talk to them since we’re talking about their tax dollars and how they’re being spent and applied.”
She said she will continue her coffee chats through her four years of service on the county council, but it’ll be once a month instead of weekly, somewhere downtown Warsaw.
This was Torpy’s last election as the county clerk due to term limits. Her chief deputy, Melissa Boggs, will be taking over for her after Boggs was uncontested in the primary and general election.
“I’ll be here. I’ll just go back to what I was doing before I became clerk,” Torpy said, which is election matters. “When I got clerk, she came down from Judge (Joe) Sutton’s office and took my position, so I’m just going to be taking her place. So I’ll be going back to what I did since 1996.”
Torpy said she and Boggs work well as a team.
Banks issued a statement after his victory in the U.S. Senate race. He said, “I am grateful for the support of my family and the support I’ve had from Hoosiers across the state. I owe this victory to all who contributed to it.
“Only in America can a kid like me, who grew up in a trailer park in Columbia City and was the first in my family to go to college, go on to become a United States senator. As your next senator, I will fight every day to protect that American dream for the next generation.
“We need true conservative fighters in Washington who are not afraid to cut reckless spending and fight to secure our border and end the Democrats’ border crisis. I got in this race to champion working Hoosier families and put Indiana first, and that’s what I plan to do on day one in the United States Senate.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to fight for the things that matter most to Hoosiers,” he said.
Current Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb issued statements on Banks’ and Braun’s victories.
On Banks, he said, “Senator-Elect Jim Banks has a long history of strong public service to our shared great state and country. His work ethic, knowledge and leadership will be desperately needed in our nation’s capital to seriously address the out of control $35T national debt, a border policy that lets in illegal abusers and keeps out legal aspiring U.S. immigrants, and an urgent need to modernize our national defense capabilities.”
On Braun, Holcomb stated, “It’s been an honor and privilege of a lifetime to serve 6.8 million Hoosiers over these last eight years. Congratulations to Governor-Elect Braun on this same opportunity to lead our state next as Indiana’s 52nd governor. As we run through the tape during these last two months of my term, our administration, like all those before me, will provide the support Governor-Elect Braun needs to ensure a smooth transition for our great state and most importantly the citizens that call Indiana home.”
Indiana Republican Chairman Randy Head issued a number of statement’s on Republican victories, including Yakym’s. He said, "Congratulations to Congressman Rudy Yakym's on tonight’s decisive victory! Rudy's unwavering dedication to common-sense Hoosier values and his record of service make him the ideal representative. We look forward to his continued work on behalf of our communities and to the positive impact his leadership will bring in the years ahead."