Six-term Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar was routed by the right flank of his own Republican Party on Tuesday night, and Mitt Romney swept three Republican primaries, moving ever closer to sealing his nomination.
“I have no regrets about running for re-election, even if doing so can be a very daunting task,” the 80-year-old Lugar said as he conceded to the Tea Party-backed GOP opponent who ended his nearly four-decade career in the Senate. Lugar’s foe, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, had painted the Republican senator as too moderate for the conservative state.
Also Tuesday, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett won the Democratic primary in Wisconsin’s historic recall election, emerging from a field of three Democrats to face Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
The contests overshadowed Romney’s continued progress toward the GOP presidential nomination. He won the GOP presidential primaries in Indiana, North Carolina and West Virginia, drawing close to the 1,144 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination. He was likely to win 100 or so delegates of the 288 he still needed.
Even Romney was essentially ignoring the primaries. He spent the day campaigning in Michigan.
In the biggest race of the night, Lugar lost to Mourdock, who will face Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly in the November general election.
Within minutes of Lugar’s loss, Democrats were already painting Mourdock as too extreme for the state.
Republicans need to gain four seats to take control of the U.S. Senate, and a Lugar loss “gives Democrats a pickup opportunity,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat.
Lugar made clear that he would stand by Tuesday’s outcome, ruling out running as an independent.
“This is it,” he said.
In a statement, President Barack Obama praised his former Senate colleague as someone “who was often willing to reach across the aisle and get things done.”
The Mourdock vs. Donnelly matchup could develop into a hotly contested race with the potential to perhaps flip Indiana to Obama.
