Indiana Supreme Court rules for state senator over Trump-backed candidate in GOP primary recount

Indiana’s Supreme Court on Thursday ruled after a months-long recount that a Republican incumbent state senator narrowly defeated his Trump-backed challenger in the GOP primary for the state Senate seat.

The court declared state Sen. Spencer Deery the winner of the Senate District 23 Republican primary in May, certifying that he beat challenger Paula Copenhaver by three votes, and ordering that his name appear on the general election ballot in November. The court said Deery secured 6,335 votes to Copenhaver’s 6,332.

In the order, Chief Justice Loretta Rush said the court would issue a written opinion further explaining its reasons at a later date.

Deery, who has served in the state Senate since 2022, was among the Republican state senators who voted down a redrawn congressional map in Indiana in 2025 that President Donald Trump supported as part of a broader mid-decade redistricting push around the nation. The GOP senators faced primary challengers earlier this year, and several of the incumbents lost, while Deery led Copenhaver by three votes, which she challenged.

Trump backed Copenhaver, an aide to Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith and chair of the Fountain County Republican Party.

The recount in the race had put Copenhaver in the lead in early August after the Indiana Recount Commission threw out 10 votes mainly for technical reasons involving missing election official signatures on some ballots, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported at the time, giving Copenhaver a three-vote lead.

Deery said Thursday in a post on X that he was pleased by the court’s ruling.

“We could never have secure elections in our state if our votes could be invalidated by government error or malfeasance,” he wrote. “Instead, in Indiana, we have set a precedent that says if you do everything right, your right to vote is sacred and protected.”

Copenhaver’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rush said Thursday, however, that a majority of Indiana’s Supreme Court set aside the commission’s final determination that Copenhaver had received received the higher number of votes.

In the general election, Deery faces West Lafayette City Council member David Sanders, a Democrat, and independent Joshua Brant.