Republican Mike Braun faces Republican-turned-Democrat Jennifer McCormick in Indiana governor’s race

INDIANAPOLIS — Republican Mike Braun is looking to extend the GOP’s 20-year hold on the Indiana governor’s office in a race that pits him against Democrat Jennifer McCormick, a former Republican who turned away from the party after serving as superintendent from the state schools.

McCormick and Braun, the wealthy founder of a national auto parts distribution company, are vying to succeed retiring Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who cannot seek a third term due to term limits.

Braun is currently one of two Republican U.S. senators in Indiana, but he chose not to seek a second term in the Senate in order to run for governor.

Political observers say Braun, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump before the Republican primary in May, is strongly favored to win Tuesday’s election and keep the governor’s office in Republican hands in the Hoosier state, which Trump won in 2016 and won 2020 by large margins.

The Republican Party has controlled Indiana’s governor’s office since Mitch Daniels defeated the late Gov. Joe Kernan in 2004. And Democrats haven’t won statewide office in Indiana since 2012, when Glenda Ritz was elected superintendent of the state’s schools and Democrat Joe Donnelly won an American victory. Senate seat.

McCormick, then a Republican, then defeated Ritz for the school’s principal post in 2016 promising better relationships with Republican Statehouse leaders after numerous policy clashes between Ritz, then-Gov. Mike Pence and top Republicans Party lawmakers.

But McCormick split from the Republican Party over education policy and changed her party affiliation to Democrat after her term expired in early 2021. McCormick was unchallenged in the May Democratic primary.

Braun, 70, won the GOP’s Six-way May primaries to succeed Holcomb with about 40% of the vote in what was the most expensive gubernatorial election in Indiana history, said Laura Merrifield Wilson, a political science professor at the University of Indianapolis.

Braun quickly became the front-runner in the primaries, buoyed by several advantages: name recognition, money and Trump’s support. During his successful run for Senate in 2018, he reached into his own pocket — reporting more than $11 million in personal loans — to defeat Donnelly.

However, the general election has brought a new challenge. Ultraconservative Christian preacher Micah Beckwith was not Braun’s choice as his statewide running mate.

Braun had endorsed the state Representative Julie McGuire as the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor.

Indiana delegates typically support the nominee’s chosen running mate without any challenge. But this time, party delegates rejected McGuire chose Beckwith at the Republican Party convention in June after lobbying delegates for a year to secure the nomination.

Beckwith, who promotes uncompromising positions on abortion, gender and sexuality, co-hosts his podcast “Jesus, Sex and Politics,” and he has caused controversy with some of his comments.

McCormick’s running mate is Terry Goodin, a Democrat who served in the Indiana House from 2000 to 2020. Those two decades were marked by conservative voices against key Democratic issues, including abortion and gay marriage.

Goodin has since apologized for those votes and promised Democrats he has changed his mind.

Leading up to Election Day, Braun and McCormick met for three debates covering a wide range of issues, but Wilson said education has been “overwhelmingly” the most important issue in the race.

“And that makes sense because in Indiana, about half of the state budget goes to education,” she said.

Braun and McCormick are joined in the race for governor by Libertarian nominee Donald Rainwater.

In the 2020 gubernatorial race, Rainwater won about 11 percent of the statewide vote, after conservatives who rejected Holcomb’s coronavirus actions excessive supported him against the Republican incumbent. That margin was about triple the typical support for libertarian gubernatorial candidates in recent elections.

Hoosier voters will also decide the state’s attorney general’s race, choosing between Republican incumbent Todd Rokita and Democrat Destiny Wells. Rokita, a conservative former congressman, is seeking a second term. Wells, an attorney and Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, ran unsuccessfully for Indiana secretary of state in 2022.