INDIANAPOLIS — The leading Republican gubernatorial candidates spent more than $20 million during the first three months of this year, according to campaign finance reports filed Monday. Those reports show Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch’s campaign had the most cash on hand at the end of March with about $3 million in the bank. But Crouch’s $2.1 million in spending during the January-March period was much less than the $6 million spent by U.S. Sen. Mike Braun and the other top-tier candidates, Brad Chambers …

INDIANAPOLIS — A self-funding spending spree is happening in four Indiana congressional districts, with Republican candidates loaning their campaigns an unprecedented $13.88 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings on campaign activity through March 31. Former Indianapolis mayoral candidate Jefferson Shreve’s two-year political spending spree continues after he reported $4.5 million in loans to his 6th Congressional District campaign. State Rep. Chuck Goodrich has loaned his campaign $2.6 million; Siddharth Mahant $2 million; state Rep. Mike Speedy $1.3 million; Tim …

In 1999, Sue Anne Gilroy’s campaign for Indianapolis mayor had received a batch of tepid poll numbers. The campaign’s brain trust — Mitch Daniels, Mark Lubbers, Mark Massa — pored over the data and concluded Gilroy was lagging among females. It prompted the future Indiana governor to aptly declare, “Win the women, win the election.” Gilroy ended up losing the election to Democrat Bart Peterson 53%-42%, halting a three-decade Republican dynasty in the state capital’s city hall. In campaign postmortems, …

The Indiana Department of Health wants to create an overarching maternal and child health data system that officials say will improve the health and well-being of mothers, children and families. According to an active request for proposal, the state is looking for a contractor to build an integrated data system to replace “outdated” systems that “do not provide actionable data to the [Maternal and Child Health] Division and its partners in a timely fashion.” The health department believes the integrated …

An Indianapolis City-County Council member and the daughter of another council member are the candidates for the upcoming Democratic caucus to replace the late state Sen. Jean Breaux. La Keisha Jackson, who has been a council member since 2014, and Chunia Graves were the only candidates filing for the vacancy by the deadline for the Thursday evening caucus, state Democratic Party spokesman Sam Barloga told State Affairs. The winner of the caucus will complete Breaux’s current Senate term that runs …