INDIANAPOLIS — Democratic leaders on Wednesday said they hoped their midterm election successes would lead to a greater focus on everyday issues at the Indiana Statehouse.

Democrats went into Tuesday with 30 of the 100 seats in the Indiana House of Representatives. They needed to flip four seats to break the Republican supermajority.

On Wednesday, House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta, D-Fort Wayne, said his caucus appeared on track to win 46 seats, five short of taking control of the chamber. He pointed out that some races were still too close to call.

Among the Republicans who lost were House Speaker Todd Huston of Fishers, Majority Caucus Chair Greg Steuerwald on Avon and assistant majority whips Julie Olthoff of Crown Point and Dave Hall of Norman. Republicans lost in the Indianapolis suburbs, Fort Wayne, South Bend and northwest Indiana. In a statement, Huston called the midterm challenging and said “national headwinds” were too difficult for some members of his caucus to overcome.

“While I’m disappointed by the results, I’m incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made in Indiana to grow our economy, bring good-paying jobs to our state, lower taxes and create thriving communities where people want to live, work, start a business and raise their family.

“It’s been the honor of my life serving Hoosiers in Hamilton County and across our great state. I’m grateful for the opportunity and all that we’ve accomplished together.

House Speaker Todd Huston R-Fishers

“It’s a common theme of the issues issues that matter most to Hoosiers, and that’s talking about affordability,” GiaQuinta said. “It’s something that our caucus has been talking about for the past three years.”

GiaQuinta said the larger Democratic caucus means Republicans will need Democrats present to conduct House chamber business, and Republicans will have to include more Democrats on more committees. He said that, in his experience, closer margins lead to greater bipartisanship.

“I was in the majority when we had 51 and 52 (seats), and you definitely had to go across the aisle to get some Republican support or co-author, because there’s always going to be a couple on my side, frankly, that were going to vote the other way for whatever reason.”

Senate Republicans fared better in the midterm elections, but Democrats still defeated Republicans Liz Brown of Fort Wayne and Ron Alting of Lafayette. They also won the seats vacated by Sen. Kyle Walker of Indianapolis, who did not seek another term, and Sens. Dan Dernulc of Highland and Linda Rogers of Granger, who lost their primaries. Sen. Chris Garten, a Charlestown resident whom Senate Republicans unanimously elected Wednesday as the next president pro tempore, was leading his election by fewer than 500 votes as of Wednesday morning, with 97% of the votes tallied.

“All INdiana Politics” contributor Matt Bell, a former Republican state representative, said House Democrats’ successes Tuesday exceeded those of Republicans in 2010, when they flipped control of that chamber. He said unseating a speaker or president pro tempore is extremely rare. He said he knew of only two other instances in the past 30 years, the most recent being when former state Sen. Greg Walker of Columbus challenged longtime Senate President Pro Tem Bob Garton of Columbus in a 2006 primary.

Bell said several of the defeated Republicans were committee chairs. Reps. Robert Behning of Indianapolis and Ed Soliday of Valparaiso, for example, chaired the House Education and Utilities committees, respectively. Both lost Tuesday.

“That’s a lot of institutional knowledge that goes out the door with those leaders that will make directing those caucuses more challenging,” Bell said. “But it creates tremendous opportunities as well. There are a lot of legislators who have served for a long time, and served honorably, who will now assume those positions, and they will leave their mark on the Indiana Statehouse just as their predecessors did.”

Bell said the election also gives both parties a chance to bring in fresh ideas, and it gives voters a chance to establish new relationships with their legislators.

With the election over, all four caucuses must now choose people for leadership roles, such as caucus chairs, floor leaders and whips.

GiaQuinta said Wednesday afternoon that House Democrats had made no changes to their leadership team.

Senate Republicans on Wednesday announced they had formally voted on the leadership team they had previewed earlier in the fall.

House Republicans on Wednesday announced Rep. Ben Smaltz of Auburn will be the new House speaker. The House Republican Caucus also selected Rep. Matt Lehman of Berne to serve as House majority leader and Rep. Jake Teshka of North Liberty) to serve as majority caucus chair.

Senate Democrats said they would make their selections Friday.

Leadership decisions are made in caucus, but the House and Senate as a whole will need to elect a new speaker and president pro tempore, respectively, on Organization Day, Nov. 17. On that day, new members will be sworn in and, typically, one or more caucuses will announce their top legislative priorities.