Another tight race for an open gubernatorial seat finds Republican nominee Mike Braun and his Democratic counterpart, Jennifer McCormick, crisscrossing the state seeking undecided voters the final weekend before Tuesday’s election.

Sen. Braun will appear Saturday at Hummel Park in Plainfield at 9:30 a.m., the Vigo County Fairgrounds in Terre Haute at noon, the Knox County Courthouse in Vincennes at 2:45 p.m. and in downtown Evansville at 4:30 p.m. Central Time.

McCormick will join Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear for a 10 a.m. rally at Warder Park in Jeffersonville on Saturday. It will be the second time Beshear has campaigned with McCormick during the campaign homestretch. On Friday, McCormick campaigned with Evansville Mayor Stephanie Terry in the Pocket City.

Both candidates seemed bullish about their chances in a race that Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs moved from “Likely Braun” to “Leans Braun” on Thursday. We had listed the race as “Safe Braun” on Labor Day. That designation means we believe this race is at or just outside the typical polling margin of error of around 4% to 5%.

The Republican and Democratic governors associations have been pouring money into this race during the final weeks. Braun has received $999,000 in large contributions (at least $1,000) since Oct. 21, with $500,000 coming from the Republican Governors Association.

McCormick had received $961,000 in large contributions since Oct. 21 , with $775,000 from the Democratic Governors Association. I-PACE, the political action committee associated with the Indiana State Teachers Association, contributed another $10,000 earlier this week.

McCormick described the race as a “statistical tie” in an interview with Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs Wednesday afternoon. “The energy is good. We feel good,” McCormick said. “I know early voting has been extremely busy, which is a good sign.”

Nationally, TargetSmart, a Democratic polling and analytics firm, believes Democrats are seeing about a 10% advantage in early voting, though it is unclear if that extends to Indiana.

McCormick focused on Braun’s controversial running mate, Micah Beckwith, who is a self-described “Christian nationalist.”

“It’s never usually the focus on the lieutenant governor because it hasn’t had to be,” McCormick said. “I remind Hoosiers that 20% of our governors did not finish their term for various reasons, so when you have a 1 in 5 chance that Micah Beckwith could be the governor, there are not too many Hoosiers I’ve talked to that want to take that risk. So he’s playing huge into this.”

Of the past five governors, Democrat Frank O’Bannon died in office in 2003. In 2016, Gov. Mike Pence resigned his nomination to seek the vice presidency with Donald Trump, though he finished out his first term.

Braun was buoyed by an increase in Republican early voting. “I feel good about next Tuesday,” the one-term senator told Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs Wednesday morning. “I’m not taking anything for granted. I’m working hard.”

Has he seen a surge in female early voters, which would be good news for McCormick? 

“No,” Braun responded, “but we have seen a surge of Republican voters. When it comes to who they’re hoping to turn out, we’ve not seen that.

“I think Randy Head has done an excellent job,” Braun said of the state GOP chairman he chose last June. “We have a heck of a ground game. It’s the first time ever absentee ballot requests and returns, along with early voting, is split percentage-wise toward Republicans. Republicans are now motivated due to the fact that Trump has turned it around on the national scene.”

Early voting ends Monday at noon local time. Polls open Tuesday at 6 a.m. Polls in parts of northwest and southwest Indiana are on Central Time, meaning results will likely start coming in after 7 p.m. Eastern Time.

Brian A. Howey is senior writer and columnist for Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs. Find Howey on Facebook and X @hwypol.