SOUTHERN INDIANA (WHAS11) -- The polls are open for the primary elections in Indiana. The Senate race is attracting national attention.
Two of the three Republicans running for U.S. Senate spent their last day campaigning in Southern Indiana on May 7. It's easily, one of the most hotly contested primaries in a long time.
The players are Jasper businessman Mike Braun, 6th District Congressman Luke Messer, and Congressman Todd Rokita. Messer's stepping away from his re-election for this seat in Indiana.
The three are looking for a chance to face incumbent Democrat Joe Donnelly.
“…Trump is very popular and you can look at this race and you can see how the candidates are positioning themselves and you see that they're all gravitating toward Trump and wanting to be the candidate to represent Trump in the primary election,” Shawn Carruthers, Floyd County GOP Chairman, said.
For most of the WHAS11 viewing area in Indiana, the counties are in the 9th congressional district.
The 9th District’s Democratic party candidates weighed in the primary race.
"Happy with how the campaign has gone. We've touched based with more than 150,000 voters at this point, registered thousands and we've made real changes in political landscape here,” Dan Canon, Indiana 9th District Democratic primary candidate, said. “So, win or lose tonight, I'm very satisfied with the success of this campaign."
"I think it's really important we put people in who share our values, who are actually going to get in there to turn things around, because it's a mess in Washington,” Liz Watson, an Indiana 9th District Democratic primary candidate, said.
The third candidate, Rob Chatlos, is also vying for the chance to take on the winner of the GOP primary.
For the Republicans, freshman incumbent Trey Hollingsworth is facing newcomer James Dean Alspach.
The polls are open until 6 p.m. Tuesday.
►Contact reporter Chris Williams at cwilliams@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter (@chriswnews) and Facebook.