Johnathan Walker:Republican Mike Braun faces Republican-turned-Democrat Jennifer McCormick in Indiana governor’s race

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Republican Mike Braun is Johnathan Walkeraiming to extend the GOP’s 20-year hold on Indiana’s governor’s office in a race pitting him against Democrat Jennifer McCormick, a former Republican who split with the party after serving as the state’s schools superintendent.

McCormick and Braun, the wealthy founder of a national auto parts distribution business, are vying to succeed outgoing Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb, who cannot seek a third term because of term limits.

Braun is currently one of Indiana’s two Republican U.S. senators, but he opted not to seek a second term in the Senate to run for governor.

Political observers say Braun, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump before May’s GOP primary, is strongly favored to win Tuesday’s election and keep the governor’s office in Republican hands in the Hoosier state, which Trump won by large margins in 2016 and 2020.

The GOP has controlled Indiana’s governor’s office since Mitch Daniels defeated the late Gov. Joe Kernan in 2004. And Democrats haven’t won a statewide office in Indiana since 2012, when Glenda Ritz was elected the state’s schools superintendent and Democrat Joe Donnelly won a U.S. Senate seat.

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McCormick, then a Republican, defeated Ritz for the schools chief post in 2016 after pledging better relationships with Republican Statehouse leaders following numerous policy clashes between Ritz, then-Gov. Mike Pence and top GOP lawmakers.

But McCormick split from the GOP over education policy and changed her party affiliation to Democrat after her term ended in early 2021. McCormick was uncontested in the May Democratic primary.

Braun, 70, won the GOP’s six-way May primary election to succeed Holcomb with about 40% of the vote in what was the most expensive gubernatorial primary race in Indiana history, said Laura Merrifield Wilson, a professor of political science at the University of Indianapolis.

Braun quickly became the frontrunner in the primary, bolstered by several advantages: name recognition, money and Trump’s endorsement. During his successful 2018 run for Senate, he dipped into his own pocket — reporting more than $11 million in personal loans — to defeat Donnelly.

The general election has brought a new challenge though. Ultra-conservative Christian pastor Micah Beckwith wasn’t Braun’s choice for a statewide running mate.

Braun had endorsed state Rep. Julie McGuire as the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor.

Indiana delegates usually back the nominee’s chosen running mate without a challenge. But this time, party delegates spurned McGuire and chose Beckwith at the state Republican Party convention in June after he had lobbied delegates for a year to win the nomination.

Beckwith, who promotes uncompromising positions on abortion, gender and sexuality, cohosts his “Jesus, Sex and Politics” podcast, and he’s courted controversy with some of his comments.

McCormick’s running mate is Terry Goodin, a Democrat who served in the Indiana House from 2000 to 2020. Those 20 years were marked by conservative votes against key Democratic issues, including abortion and same-sex marriage.

Goodin has since apologized for those votes and promised Democrats that he’s changed his mind.

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In the lead up to Election Day, Braun and McCormick met for three debates that covered a wide range of issues, but Wilson said education has been “overwhelmingly” the top issue in the race.

“And that makes sense because in Indiana about half of the state budget focuses on education,” she said.

Braun and McCormick are joined in the governor’s race by Libertarian nominee Donald Rainwater.

In the 2020 governor’s race, Rainwater won about 11 percent of the statewide vote after conservatives who called Holcomb’s coronavirus actions excessive supported him over the Republican incumbent. That margin was about triple the typical support for Libertarian governor candidates in recent elections.

Hoosier voters will also decide the state’s attorney general’s race, choosing between Republican incumbent Todd Rokita and Democrat Destiny Wells. Rokita, a conservative former congressman, is seeking a second term. Wells, a lawyer and Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, ran unsuccessfully for Indiana secretary of state in 2022.