Sen.Richard Lugar Loses Senate Seat Partly Because of McLean Address

Sen. Richard Lugar, long-time senator from Indiana and McLean resident, lost his bid last night for an eighth term in the U.S. Senate.

His loss was blamed partly on his McLean address.

With 99 percent of the vote in, Lugar trailed state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who had the backing of the Tea Party, the National Rifle Association and others, 60 percent to 40 percent, CBS News reported.

The New York Times stated: Mr. Lugar’s troubles also reached beyond questions of partisan loyalty. He was required this year to change his voter registration to the farm his family has owned for years rather than the Indianapolis house he sold in 1977 — an episode that underscored how long he had been in Washington and, in the view of even some local establishment Republicans here, how tenuous his ties to Indiana now seemed.

Sen.  Lugar and wife Charlene have lived in McLean for 35 years. In late March an Indiana County election board ruled therefore they were ineligible to vote in Indiana.

The Democratic-controlled (Marion) county election board ruled 2-1 on March 15,   that Dick and Charlene Lugar lost their eligibility to vote after the Lugars sold their Indianapolis home in 1977 when Lugar began serving in the U.S. Senate, the New York Times reported. The Lugars appealed the decision and won after a difficult and embarrassing fight.

5 Things to know:

1. Sen. Lugar, who has served in the U.S. Senate since 1978, is the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and is known for his extensive work on crafting bipartisan foreign policy, CBS reported.

2. Sen. Lugar, 80, was a six-term senator who had won most of his recent elections with more than 60 percent of the vote. Lugar had not faced a challenge from within his own party since his first election to the Senate in 1976, The Times reported.

3. NBC News reported that Mourdock had run previously run three times for Congress and lost.

4. Mourdock will face Democratic nominee U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly in November.

5. Sen. Lugar is a fifth generation Hoosier,  the U.S. Senate's most senior Republican and longest serving Member of Congress in Indiana history.