Rupert Vance Hartke (May 31, 1919 – July 27, 2003) was an American politician who served as a Democratic United States Senator from Indiana from 1959 until 1977.

He also worked as deputy prosecuting attorney of Vanderburgh County (1950–1951) and mayor of Evansville (1956–1958), integrating the city swimming pools, before being elected to the United States Senate in 1958 and reelected in 1964 and 1970.

In his first term, Hartke was a member of the Finance and Commerce committees, lobbied for programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In 1970, after a very bitter and tight race against Republican Congressman Richard L. Roudebush and a ballot recount, Hartke won a third term by 4,283 votes.

In 1976, after narrowly surviving a primary challenge by freshman Eighth District Congressman Philip Hayes, Hartke lost the general Senate election to Indianapolis Mayor Richard Lugar in a landslide.

[3] During the previous November's general election, a Kentucky-based casino firm had employed him as a consultant to support it during a casino-legalization referendum.

[5] Their daughter Anita Hartke was the 2008 Democratic nominee for the United States House of Representatives from the 7th congressional district of Virginia.

[5] In 2009, Hartke received the JFK Club of Vanderburgh County's John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Posthumous Award, "to carry forward the legacy and principles of President John F. Kennedy by supporting legislation and government officials or candidates that promote social justice and equality, in order to build a better community and society for all."