Dominick Kavanaugh

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Dominick Jack Kavanaugh

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

May 7, 2024

Education

High school

Castle High School

Bachelor's

Louisiana State University

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Army Reserve

Personal

Birthplace

Evansville, Ind.

Religion

Catholic

Profession

Civil engineer

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Twitter

Personal LinkedIn

Dominick Jack Kavanaugh (Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Indiana's 8th Congressional District. He lost in the Republican primary on May 7, 2024.

Kavanaugh completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Dominick Jack Kavanaugh was born in Evansville, Indiana. Kavanaugh served in the U.S. Army Reserve starting in 2023. He earned a bachelor's degree from Louisiana State University. Kavanaugh's career experience includes working as a civil engineer.

Elections

2024

See also: Indiana's 8th Congressional District election, 2024

Indiana's 8th Congressional District election, 2024 (May 7 Republican primary)

Indiana's 8th Congressional District election, 2024 (May 7 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Indiana District 8

Mark Messmer defeated Erik Hurt and K. Richard Fitzlaff in the general election for U.S. House Indiana District 8 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mark Messmer (R)	68.0	219,941
		Erik Hurt (D)	29.5	95,311
		K. Richard Fitzlaff (L)	2.6	8,381

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 323,633
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Indiana District 8

Erik Hurt defeated Edward Upton Sein, Michael Talarzyk, and Peter Priest II in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Indiana District 8 on May 7, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Erik Hurt	45.1	8,204
		Edward Upton Sein	22.5	4,087
		Michael Talarzyk	20.9	3,796
	Submit photo	Peter Priest II	11.5	2,098

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 18,185
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Kellie Moore (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Indiana District 8

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. House Indiana District 8 on May 7, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mark Messmer	38.5	30,668
		John N. Hostettler	19.7	15,649
		Richard Moss	14.1	11,227
		Dominick Jack Kavanaugh	11.8	9,397
		Kristi Risk	9.2	7,350
		Luke Misner	2.9	2,287
		Jim Case	2.6	2,107
		Jeremy Heath	1.2	944

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 79,629
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jon Schrock (R)
• Larry Bucshon (R)

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Kavanaugh in this election.

Pledges

Kavanaugh signed the following pledges.

• Taxpayer Protection Pledge, Americans for Tax Reform

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Dominick Jack Kavanaugh completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kavanaugh's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Born and raised in Southwest Indiana, Dominick Kavanaugh learned the value of family and faith thanks to the example set by his parents, and his upbringing in the Vincennes community. His direct exposure to the construction industry instilled in Dominick an appreciation for a hard day’s work and a passion to serve his community as a whole. With this unique perspective, due in part to his family’s long involvement in the construction trade, Dominick graduated with a Civil Engineering degree from Louisiana State University in 2020. His appreciation of and desire for public service led Dominick to work in President Donald J. Trump’s White House in the Office of Press and Communications, where he assisted in the crafting and deployment of President Trump’s message to the American people across multiple mediums. Seeing first-hand the success of America First policies and understanding how critical it was to our nation’s future to ensure they continued, Dominick continued in the Communications Department of President Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign. Kavanaugh then shifted to working as a general contractor that entailed overseeing the completion of dozens of projects involving heavy-civil construction operations. Believing that there was still more for him to offer his country, Dominick took the oath-office as a direct commissioned officer into the United States Army Reserves on February 4, 2023. He currently serves as a Second Lieutenant with the 758th Engineer Company.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• America-First
• Farmers
• Energy Independence (Coal and Ethanol)

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Transportation, Agriculture, Energy, Armed Services

What is your favorite book? Why?

For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. This book demonstrates the commitment to service and believing in a cause much greater than one's self.

What committees interest you?

Transportation, Agriculture, and Armed Services

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Dominick Jack Kavanaugh campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	U.S. House Indiana District 8	Lost primary	$528,366	$528,366
Grand total			$528,366	$528,366
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

See also

2024 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. President U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

U.S. House Indiana District 8

Website

Twitter

Personal

LinkedIn

Footnotes

[show]

Indiana's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Jim Banks (R)

Todd Young (R)

Representatives

District 1

Frank Mrvan (D)

District 2

Rudy Yakym (R)

District 3

Marlin Stutzman (R)

District 4

Jim Baird (R)

District 5

Victoria Spartz (R)

District 6

Jefferson Shreve (R)

District 7

André Carson (D)

District 8

Mark Messmer (R)

District 9

Erin Houchin (R)

Republican Party (9)

Democratic Party (2)