Whatever else it may be, the 2024 Indiana GOP governor’s race won’t be pretty.
There are five candidates seeking the Republican nomination as of now. Three of them will be well-funded. The other two have natural and devoted constituencies.
Because the campaign will be so crowded, the winning candidate likely will not have to secure anything close to majority support. The first one to reach a threshold of 25% support could walk away with the nomination.
That will make for an interesting contest—much closer to a demolition derby than Lincoln and Douglas.
That much is clear already.
U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Indiana, who probably is the frontrunner, sent out a press release the other day touting his support for U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to be the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Jordan has been dogged for years by accusations that he either ignored or covered up hundreds of instances of sexual abuse. He was the assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University at the time. Many of the wrestlers Jordan coached said a team doctor sexually abused them.
Several said they reported the abuse to Jordan.
Jordan denies that anyone came to him and says he knew nothing about it, even though it appears the abuse was widespread.
Thus, his defense is that he saw nothing, heard nothing and knows nothing—hardly a recommendation for leadership.
But that’s not what Braun cares about.
Jordan is one of the most devout acolytes to worship in the temple of former President Donald Trump.
Braun’s betting that, especially in a crowded primary, the Republican candidate who can lay claim to the Trump mantle wins the nomination.
Braun himself has been an abject supplicant at the Trump altar but making it clear that he’s willing to overlook Jordan’s alleged role in widespread sex crimes can’t hurt the would-be governor’s chances of getting the former president’s blessing.
Another Republican contender, former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill, won’t have to endorse sexual misconduct secondhand.
While serving as the state’s lawyer, Hill had his license to practice law suspended. That happened because he groped and harassed at least four women—one of them a state lawmaker—at a party marking the end of a legislative session.
When confronted about his actions by the Indiana General Assembly’s four caucus leaders, Hill first tried to excuse his actions by saying he was drunk. Then, he tried to use the power of his office to intimidate the women and those who stood with them into silence.
At the end, in true Trump fashion, he claimed that he, not the women he assaulted, was the real victim.
With a record like that, Hill, too, will be a formal contender for the Trump vote.
Then there are the other three candidates, all of whom are more traditional Republicans. They will focus more on standard conservative priorities, such as cutting taxes and curtailing regulations governing businesses, than they will on launching cultural crusades to rid the state and Statehouse of infidels.
Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch has rendered impeccable service to the current governor, Eric Holcomb, and can draw upon experience as the state’s auditor and as a legislator. She also can make the case that she and she alone can serve as a voice for rightward-leaning female voters in key suburban districts.
But despite aggressive campaigning, she’s still struggling to raise enough money to cover the cost of traveling town to town—and she will be battling with other contenders who have deep pockets.
That will make it tough.
Eric Doden served as head of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation under then Gov. Mike Pence, who went on to become Trump’s vice president. Like his former boss, Doden’s base is evangelical Christians, many of whom have abandoned the pious Pence for the, uh, more earthy Trump.
He, too, will have an uphill climb.
Then there’s Brad Chambers, who just stepped down as leader of the IEDC. He’s positioning himself as the heir to the Mitch Daniels wing of the Republican Party, which has been under increasing attack from within the GOP in recent years.
Chambers will be well-financed and likely will offer cogent points about running a leaner, more cost-effective state, but he’ll speak a language fewer and fewer Republicans understand—or embrace.
All in all, this race could be a first-rate smash-up.
But definitely not Lincoln/Douglas.
John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. The views expressed are those of the author only and should not be attributed to Franklin College. Send comments to [email protected].
