Tea Party Favorite Topples Lugar, Indiana’s 6-term Senator

Tea-party-backed candidate Richard Mourdock defeated longtime<$> Sen. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana in Tuesday’s GOP primary, ending the career of one of the chamber’s two senior Republicans and giving Democrats a better chance at capturing the seat in November.

The race was widely seen as a key test of tea party anger against incumbents two years after that same sentiment disrupted a number of Republican races and powered insurgent candidates to wins across the country.

Already, a challenger in Utah said the race is a model for his bid to unseat Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, another veteran senator under fire for his record of trying to work with Democrats in the Senate.

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