Todd Young defeats former Gov. Evan Bayh in Indiana for open Senate seat

INDIANAPOLIS, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- Republican challenger Todd Young will claim the open Senate seat in Indiana.

Young is projected to defeat Democrat Evan Bayh, who was attempting to reclaim his old seat in the upper chamber, in which he served for 12 years.

Early numbers indicated that Young took more than 55 percent of the vote.

Both men were vying for the seat being vacated by Republican Dan Coats.

Young entered the race this summer, motivated by Coats putting his seat up for grabs. However, he was forced to surrender his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to vie for it -- a high-risk, high-reward proposition that would've put him entirely out of Congress had he lost.

Young served in the U.S. Navy for a decade and was elected as a class officer at the Naval Academy in Maryland. After his military career, he studied at the University of London, became class president and advised former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a university chairwoman, often on student concerns.

The 44-year-old former prosecutor won election to the House representing Indiana's 9th District in 2010 and 2012, receiving at least 52 percent of the vote on both occasions. in 2014, he won 62 percent of the vote, and won this year's GOP primary with 87 percent.

Bayh served in the Senate between 1999 and 2011, having decided in 2010 not to run for re-election.

Like Young, Bayh, 60, decided to run in July to replace Coats, the man who took his seat in 2011. Bayh was then chosen by state party officials as the Democratic candidate after their previous contender, Baron Hill, withdrew from the race

Prior to stints as Indiana governor (1989-1997) and senator, Bayh began his political career in 1986 when he left his private law practice to become Indiana's 56th secretary of state.