INDIANAPOLIS — Mike Braun extended the Indiana Republican’s gubernatorial dynasty to five terms when he defeated Democrat Jennifer McCormick and Libertarian Donald Rainwater on Tuesday in the most expensive statewide race in Indiana history.

The Associated Press projected Braun the winner shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Braun told Republicans gathered at the JW Marriott, “I know our state has four corners. I come from one of them. And I’m going to make sure that all of us as Hoosiers prosper.

“I’m so anxious to hit the ground running,” he continued. “I promised all of you that I’d be the most accessible senator we’ve ever had and the most entrepreneurial senator we ever had. And I’ve proven that in just six years. Imagine what you can do when you set the agenda? You get along with the Legislature that believes in freedom, opportunity, faith and family?”

McCormick, who had hoped to ride a wave of female voters over the 2022 passage of one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws, found that the wave failed to materialize. 

McCormick teared up when thanking her supporters, including her father, for their support. “This race was about a lot of important things, and that has not changed,” McCormick said. “It is about making sure that women have reproductive freedoms. … This race is about making sure every Hoosier has access to affordable health care, and that has not changed. This race is about our kids, and it’s about celebrating public education and uplifting our teachers.

“I know we are moving forward, but during this last campaign cycle every single negative campaign ad went after our transgender kids,” she added. “And I want them to hear this from me: You are a part of Indiana. You are who we are. And hate has no place in the state of Indiana. … We love you, and we respect you. And you have to know that’s who we are.”

Braun, the sitting U.S. senator from Jasper, joins Gov. Eric Holcomb and former governors Mike Pence and Mitch Daniels in extending the GOP gubernatorial dynasty to a record five terms, coming after Hoosier Democrats had held the office for 16 years a generation ago. Former Gov. Frank O’Bannon was the last Democrat to be elected in 2000.

Normally it has been retiring governors who end up in the U.S. Senate, as was the case with Evan Bayh, Samuel Ralston, Thomas Hendricks and Oliver P. Morton, but Braun reversed that trend, consistently saying that he came from outside the “political farm system” and that his “real world business experience” made him an ideal candidate to become the state’s 52nd governor.

He won the U.S. Senate seat by defeating two congressmen — Todd Rokita and Luke Messer — in the 2018 Republican primary before upsetting U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly by 6% that November. In Braun’s quest for governor, he vanquished the sitting lieutenant governor as well as two self-funding former Commerce secretaries and a former attorney general, riding endorsements from Donald Trump in both cycles to win.

Braun told Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs on Monday that he will announce his transition team Wednesday morning and will also meet with Gov. Holcomb. In addition, Braun is also expected to name senior campaign adviser Joshua Kelley as his chief of staff.

“I’m going to be one of the first governors in 50 years who has come from the business world exclusively in terms of what I’ve done for most of my career,” Braun told HPI/State Affairs as he prepares to “navigate through a sprawling enterprise of 32,000 employees, 80 agencies, 30 of them major ones.”

Braun has appointed 2024 RNC chairwoman Anne Hathaway as the chairwoman of his inaugural committee. 

According to a news release from the Braun transition team issued Tuesday, his vice chairs will include:

• Betsy Wiley, president and CEO of Hoosiers for Quality Education and a board member of the not-for-profit Hoosiers for Opportunity, Prosperity & Enterprise (HOPE)
• Jim Bopp, a Terre Haute-based attorney and owner of The Bopp Law Firm PC, also secretary, treasurer and general counsel of HOPE
• Ryan Kitchell, interim CEO of the Crossroads of America Council and former chair of the Governor’s Workforce Cabinet under Gov. Holcomb and former director of the Indiana Office of Management and Budget under former Gov. Daniels
• James Purucker, president of John Frick & Associates and a board member of HOPE
• Brad Rateike, founding principal of Bar Communications and former deputy press secretary for Daniels and former director of cabinet communications under former President Donald J. Trump
• Randy Head, a Logansport-based former state senator, attorney and current chairman of the Indiana State Republican Committee
• Matt Bell, a former state representative from Fort Wayne who is a principal in Catalyst Public Affairs Group
• Dan Dumezich, a former state representative from Northwest Indiana and retired partner and tax attorney at Deloitte Tax LLP

“Transition and the mechanics of running state government I think will be easier for me than almost any governor we’ve had,” Braun said, “simply because I’ve done that in the real world, putting together a heck of a staff in the Senate that brought those kinds of results. In the six years we spent there we solved 13,000 cases for Hoosiers. The whole transition thing is not going to be as intimidating as it would be for your typical governor. We put enough of it in place without losing [the] focus we need to cross the finish line.” 

In October, Braun promised to conduct an exhaustive agency-by-agency review between now and when he takes office in January. 

“I’m guessing 3% to 5% can be saved in efficiencies,” Braun told Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs in October. “There is always room to run things more efficiently, and that’s a subject for looking at processes and technology. Government is notorious for not embracing technology, and it doesn’t have a lot of incentive to fix things. It’s not a for-profit operation. Many things run better once you lean it up.” 

The campaign for Indiana governor was the most expensive primary in Indiana history, with over $48 million spent by Braun, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Brad Chambers, Eric Doden, Curtis Hill and Jamie Reitenour. Braun won the primary with 40% of the vote, setting up the November showdown with McCormick, the former Republican state school superintendent, who ran unopposed in the primary. By mid-October, Braun had raised $12.87 million for the cycle, compared with $2.35 million for McCormick.

Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs, Sabato’s Crystal Ball and “The Cook Political Report” had rated the race “safe Braun” until this past month, when the dueling national governors associations began spending what would be more than $2 million that fueled twin TV and digital ad blitzes. HPI/State Affairs rated the race “leans Braun” last week.

McCormick had intended to position the race as a referendum on abortion, given that Indiana does not provide for citizen-generated ballot options. Conservative states such as Kansas, Ohio, Kentucky and Montana had passed referendums guaranteeing abortion access since the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that returned the issue to the states.

She told HPI/State Affairs in mid-October that voters “are concerned they are going to go after their birth control and IVF,” she said of legislative Republicans. “They [voters] are not confident that they won’t do that. They are worried about the rhetoric around taking it even further to the extreme, taking out the rape and incest exceptions. So, yes, we are seeing a lot of that.”

But McCormick struggled with fundraising, posting $170,000 in cash on hand as of June 30, while failing to find traction from the unions beyond the Indiana State Teachers Association’s I-PACE PAC until the final weeks. She was not endorsed by former governors or nominees Evan Bayh and John Gregg, though former first lady Judy O’Bannon campaigned with her in Jeffersonville last weekend and made several donations.

State Affairs reporters Jarred Meeks and Rory Appleton contributed to this article.

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

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