INDIANAPOLIS — The Bayh family — the most enduring political dynasty in modern Hoosier politics — has been a recurring presence throughout my journalism career.
When U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh was fending off a challenge from Republican Bill Ruckelshaus in 1968, I was a 12-year-old kid attending a joint appearance at an Associated Press Managing Editors event in South Bend with my dad. As a reporter for the Indiana Daily Student in 1977, I photographed Birch gripping a bullhorn on the steps of the Indiana Memorial Union as he chatted with students.
When Evan Bayh kicked off his political career in 1986 in the secretary of state race, I covered it extensively for The Elkhart Truth.
During Evan’s 1988 gubernatorial bid, I joined a campaign trip down to Evansville and witnessed those two generations of the Bayh family work it. That evening, Birch and future First Lady Susan Bayh joined us for a Democratic Party dinner. At the end of an exhausting day, the Bayh trio tirelessly shook hands and greeted would-be voters as the hall emptied.
As we drove back to the airport, Birch rested a hand on Evan’s shoulder and softly said, “I’m proud of you, son.”
Now Beau Bayh is the newly elected secretary of state, winning 52% of the vote with a 9% plurality in a four-way race on Nov. 3.
In August 2025, I covered the beginning of Beau’s career in French Lick, when he addressed the Orange County Democratic Party Dinner. As he worked the room, his generational pedigree was clear. Beau’s cadence matched his dad’s, who watched the unveiling from the wings. Beau’s easy smile and affable, aw-shucks exchanges with curious supporters recalled his grandfather’s political charm.
Indiana’s river country — the 17 state-line counties on the banks of the Ohio and Wabash rivers — had long benefited the Bayh family’s political fortunes. When Birch first ran for the U.S. Senate in 1962, he carried 15 of those counties, with only Crawford and Spencer going Republican.
Six years later, Sen. Birch Bayh lost only Spencer. In 1974, he carried all 17 counties. When he finally lost to Dan Quayle in 1980 in a campaign managed by Evan, the Republican won Knox, Spencer and Jefferson. Ditto for Gov. Evan Bayh, who drubbed Republicans throughout this corridor with 60% to 70% of the vote. In his two U.S. Senate races, Evan carried all the river counties, including Vigo, Sullivan, Knox and Perry, by more than 70%.
But the last time Evan ran, in 2016, when he tried to reclaim his Senate seat, only Vigo and Perry remained in the Democratic column as he lost to Republican Todd Young. River country had turned a deep MAGA red.
Beau’s victory has become a river country reclamation project. He won five of these river counties, including four of the most populated: Vanderburgh by 14% (with 54.5% of the vote), Vigo by 18% (56.5%), Clark by 5% (50.9%), Floyd by 8% (52.3%) and Perry by 10% (52.1%). In suburban Warrick County, he lost to Republican Max Engling, but not by much: 49.6%-45.7%.
This coincides with a resurgence of Democrats at the county level in these valleys, clawing back a judge, sheriff and council seat in Clark, a clerk and auditor in Floyd, a judge and assessor in Switzerland. In Perry County Democrats won eight courthouse offices.
Beyond the valleys, Beau prevailed in the Big Ten counties of Monroe (70.8%) and Tippecanoe (61.2%), along with a 14% win in Delaware County. Along the South Shore Line, he won Lake (64.1%), Porter (55.1%), LaPorte (54.4%) and St. Joseph (60.8%). LaPorte and St. Joe counties had been trending Republican.
Beau found traction in the Indianapolis doughnut, winning Hendricks County by 8% (50.6%), Boone by 18% (51.6%), Hamilton by more than 14% (53.9%) and Madison (48.9%).
Add the two biggest counties — Marion at 71.4% and Allen at 54.4% — and we are witnessing this third-generation Bayh begin to rebuild the coalition.
House Democrats picked up 16 seats Tuesday — the same night Beau delivered the party its first statewide victory since 2012. Across 10 election cycles spanning the Bayh dynasty, Hoosier Democrats have gained Indiana House seats in seven.
On MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” on Nov. 6, Beau was asked how he found traction in rural Indiana. “We went everywhere, and we talked to anyone,” he said. “There was nowhere in our state that was off-limits.”
Beau was specifically asked about how he won in Perry County, which President Donald J. Trump carried with a 30% plurality two years ago. Beau won by 10%, a wild 40% swing in just two years.
“The folks down in Perry County and the more rural parts of our state have been hit hard by high costs, by diesel and fertilizer going up because of the senseless war in the Middle East,” Beau said.
Bayh mentioned Gov. Mike Braun’s state financed backyard helicopter pad, perhaps marking the opening salvo in the 2028 gubernatorial race.
What Hoosier voters may be witnessing is a return to a more competitive, multiparty political landscape after Tuesday’s election ended seven consecutive Republican General Assembly supermajorities.
Beau Bayh is reassembling the coalitions that propelled his father and grandfather to office, carrying the big cities of Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Evansville; the college towns; The Region; and a significant share of the Indy doughnut.
Brian A. Howey is an opinion columnist for State Affairs Indiana and the founder of Howey Politics Indiana. His writing offers analysis and opinion shaped by decades of experience covering Indiana politics. Email him at howey@stateaffairs.com.
