1978Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
1978 election for Indiana House District 56
Indiana House of Representatives · Indiana
Merle O. Brown (R) won with 52.3% of the vote, defeating Robert W. Gordon (D) by 4.7 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Merle O. BrownRepublican · winner
52.3%7,580
Robert W. GordonDemocrat · incumbent
47.7%6,904
14,484 votes
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1978
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET