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Gubernatorial hopeful and U.S. Sen. Mike Braun published a new advertisement Tuesday morning targeting competitor Eric Doden in a 17-second clip.
Doden has twice published spots against Braun, including one from Monday night and a November ad that prompted the two to trade jabs.
Braun’s campaign repeated accusations from the fall—again dubbing his competitor “Desperate Doden”—in a rebuttal to Doden’s Monday ad, which criticized Braun for a 2020 bill to reform qualified immunity for law enforcement.
“Eric Doden is desperate, as he opposed Donald Trump’s Tax Cuts, spent Hoosier taxpayer dollars on China, sent jobs overseas, and is now lying about Mike Braun’s conservative record,” Josh Kelley, senior advisor to Mike Braun for Indiana, said in a written statement. “While Desperate Doden lies, the fact is Mike Braun is the only candidate endorsed by the National Troopers Coalition, he has multiple county sheriff endorsements, he has authored the Thin Line Blue Act, and Donald Trump endorsed him because Braun supports law enforcement and securing our southern border.”
Braun said Doden—as the Indiana commerce secretary under Gov. Mike Pence—struck deals that benefited China, including a multi-million dollar deal for a GE Aviation plant that built engines for Chinese aircraft. In a release, the campaign criticized Doden for lackluster fundraising, despite being the longest-running candidate, and for Doden’s opposition to Trump tax cuts.
Doden’s campaign dismissed the attack, saying it was a “17-second video, not an ad” Braun couldn’t put on air “because the stations would pull it down for being inaccurate.”
Instead, it pointed to a fact-check from State Affairs-Indiana to dispute Braun’s allegations.
Braun remained resolute in his support for the cuts, even as several prominent conservatives reconsider the move that slashed corporate taxes and moderately boosted worker salaries. A recent study found those cuts contribute $100 billion annually to the nation’s $34 trillion deficit and increased average worker salaries by $750.
At a Monday night debate, one of Braun’s other opponents used that vote to attack the frontrunner, who had the biggest share of Republican voters for a gubernatorial candidate in a recent poll. But the percentage of undecided voters stood at 43%, higher than Braun’s 33%, leaving the race open for another candidate.
“You voted for $7 trillion in tax overages in the Senate; you’re not a fiscal conservative,” Brad Chambers, also a former commerce secretary, said.
The primary vote to select the Republican candidate for governor is May 7.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, not-for-profit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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