AP: Sen. Lugar Loses GOP Primary
Shepard Smith just reported that according to the Associated Press, Richard Lugar, longtime Indiana senator, has lost the state's GOP primary to challenger Richard Mourdock. Below is the latest from NewsCore.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Long-time Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar was widely reported to have lost the state's Republican primary to conservative challenger Richard Mourdock late Tuesday.
NBC News first called the result -- and with 38 percent of the vote counted, Mourdock was leading the race 60 percent to 40 percent, according to The Indianapolis Star.
Lugar has been in the Senate for 36 years, establishing himself as one of his party's leading voices on foreign affairs and as a centrist figure willing to work on occasion with Democrats.
Despite this record, or because of it, the 80-year-old has faced a withering onslaught this year from Indiana treasurer Mourdock, who is supported by an array of Tea Party groups and by conservative, small-government organizations such as Club for Growth and FreedomWorks, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Mourdock, 60, has run to Lugar's right, criticizing the senator for working with President Barack Obama. His campaign has also argued that Lugar has been in Washington too long.
Indiana Democrats issued a statement Tuesday night, thanking Lugar for his service.
"Like all Hoosiers, we owe Senator Lugar a debt of gratitude for his long and storied career," said Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker.
"The man that won tonight's Republican primary, Richard Mourdock, is a TEA Party extremist who is out of touch with Hoosiers. Richard Mourdock thinks Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional, wants to cut $11 billion from funding for veterans' care and $5 billion from Indiana students and classrooms."
