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The five leading Republican candidates for Indiana governor shared the same room for the first time on Monday at the Hamilton County GOP Fall Dinner.
About 700 people filled the conference center at Embassy Suites by Hilton in Noblesville to wine, dine, network and hear from one of the possible successors to Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who is term-limited and cannot run for a third term in 2024.
While the candidates did not share the stage all at once, each contender was given five minutes to lay out their platform. The evening also provided a rare chance to see prominent politicians let their guard down among a friendly audience of wealthy donors and party faithfuls.
As guests dined on grilled chicken and vegetables served with cranberry sauce, U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz took the stage to provide a detailed report on the goings on in the nation’s capitol.
“I can summarize what is happening in Washington, D.C., with one word: It’s a shit show,” said Spartz, who is not running for reelection.
“Let me tell you something,” the Ukranian-born congresswoman continued. “Our republic went through much darker times. Our republic survived and our republic will survive because of the strength of our republic, not our politicians in Washington, D.C. The strength of our republic is really in, ‘We the People.’”
Rep. Jim Banks, a U.S. Navy veteran who is running for U.S. Senate with full support from the Indiana GOP, called the mayoral race in Carmel “ground zero for Republicans” and offered his endorsement of Sue Finkam, the Republican nominee running against Democrat Miles Nelson.
The five candidates
In his remarks, U.S. Sen. Mike Braun decried wasteful government spending by federal lawmakers (“They don’t do budgets anymore”) and criticized the Holcomb administration’s response to the COVID pandemic (“I look back at some of the things we did in our own state. Never take for granted that your freedom and your liberty are going to be there.”)
He told the crowd that he votes “on principle,” and that his record reflects that.
“If you like me as a senator, I think you’ll like me better as a governor,” Braun said.
Internal polling from the campaign of Jennifer McCormick, the former state superintendent of public instruction and the Indiana Democratic Party’s candidate of choice in the governor’s race, indicated that Braun would be the strongest candidate against McCormick in the November election.
Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch touted her years of experience as a public servant, both at the local and state level.
“I’m running for governor. I’m not a self-funder. I’m running against men who are,” Crouch said, referring to Brad Chambers, the former Indiana secretary of commerce who recently gave himself $5 million toward his gubernatorial campaign, and Doden, who has partially funded his campaign with his own money, along with support from his business and family members. It could have also been a reference to Braun, who self-funded his 2018 U.S. Senate campaign and could dip into his own fortune should the governor’s race become even more expensive.
She also reiterated her promise to eliminate the state’s individual income tax, though her plan remains light on specifics.
“We’re going to have to limit government spending, and we’re going to have to cut wasteful government spending. We’re going to have to find efficiencies, and when we do, Hoosiers will benefit and our state will prosper.”
Curtis Hill, the former Indiana attorney general who has positioned himself as a law-and-order candidate, promised to deploy the Indiana National Guard to “fight back against Mexican cartels and everything else crossing the border into the United States of America.”
He also took shots at the Holcomb-Crouch administration for “watching Indianapolis burn at the hands of looters and thugs” in an apparent reference to riots that broke out in downtown Indianapolis in June 2020 during the George Floyd protests.
Hill received the biggest applause of the night when he poked fun at Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the longtime Republican leader who recently froze up on camera in two separate instances.
“On my watch, we won’t see … we won’t see … we won’t see … a Mitch McConnell moment,” Hill said, pausing for effect to appear as if he had lost his train of thought.
It was a reminder of why Hill, who was elected attorney general in 2016 but failed to win his party’s endorsement in 2020 after becoming mired in a groping scandal, was once seen by some as a rising star in Indiana politics.
Fort Wayne businessman Eric Doden, the former CEO of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. who was the first candidate to enter the race, in May 2021, pitched his plan for zero-cost adoption, exempting schoolteachers from paying state taxes to fix a teacher shortage, and revitalizing small towns.
“What I hope that we can take away from tonight is to be inspired to serve with a servant’s heart in a way that honors and respects others and that inspires them and gives them a better life,” Doden said.
While Doden is well-funded, his biggest challenge is name recognition, especially in the southern two-thirds of the state.
His campaign plans to spend $2 million on ads this fall.
Brad Chambers, who was appointed secretary of commerce by Gov. Holcomb in 2021, read carefully from a script as he described himself as “the new guy” and a “political outsider.”
“Unlike others in the race, I have never run for office before,” Chambers said. “Indiana needs a governor who thinks differently, who can move with urgency and grow our economy, putting more money into your pockets.”
His remarks focused on building “an economy of the future,” raising wages, improving education outcomes and “playing economic offense.”
Chambers, a late entry into the race, is expected to receive strong support from the business community but lacks the statewide name recognition of other high-profile candidates.
The primary election is May 7.
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