1980Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated
1980 election for Indiana Senate District 42
Indiana State Senate · Indiana
Thomas D. Hession (R) won with 55.3% of the vote, defeating Thomas J. Wheeler (D) by 10.5 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Thomas D. HessionRepublican · winner
55.3%23,488
Thomas J. WheelerDemocrat · incumbent
44.7%19,022
42,510 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 1980
Races before and after
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET