Yoder, Hollingsworth Tied in Indiana’s 9th District, Dem poll shows
Democrats sense an opportunity against Tennessee transplant
Democrat Shelli Yoder and Republican Trey Hollingsworth begin their general election race in Indiana’s 9th District with equal support, according to internal polling from the Yoder campaign.
Both candidates start with 41 percent of the vote, with 18 percent undecided in the race for a seat in a now solidly Republican district. The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report/Roll Call rates the seat Safe Republican.
Garin Hart Yang Research Group surveyed 401 likely voters from May 23-25. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
As the Yoder campaign’s polling memo points out, the district “remains challenging territory for Democrats.”
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But with Hollingsworth, who moved from Tennessee last fall , having won last month’s crowded GOP primary , the Yoder campaign sees an opening.
Hollingsworth was accused by his Republican primary opponents of trying to buy a congressional seat. He almost entirely self-funded his campaign and benefited from a super PAC funded by his father.
He was able to blanket the airwaves in the southern Indiana district months before the primary.
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Hollingsworth starts the general election with 59 percent name recognition, according to the Yoder campaign’s poll. Yoder starts with 43 percent name recognition, although Yoder is a common name in the Hoosier State.
This is Yoder’s second run for Congress. She lost to current 9th District GOP Rep. Todd Young by 10 points in 2012. Young is vacating the seat to run for the Senate .
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