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There have been various breeding grounds for future Indiana governors.
After the American Civil War, the governors. Conrad Baker, Isaac Gray, Alvin Hovey, Ira Joy Chase, James Atwell Mount, and Winfield T. Durbin used their battlefield experiences at Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chickamauga, and Sherman’s March to the Sea to forge political careers that brought them to power supreme in the Capitol. .
After World War I, the governors. Paul V. McNutt and George N. Craig became commanders of the American Legion based in Indianapolis before being elected to head the state. After World War II, the governors. Matthew Welsh, Roger D. Branigin, Edgar Whitcomb and Robert Orr used their military experiences for politics.
And there was a flurry of lieutenant governors (Orr, Frank O’Bannon, Joe Kernan and, finally, Eric Holcomb) ascending to the top spot.
With the nomination of Mike Braun in the Republican primary in May, a new trend is taking shape: the road to the second floor of the House of Representatives begins in our nation’s capital, dysfunctional Washington, DC.
Braun joins the governors. Mike Pence and Mitch Daniels as Hoosiers who abandoned the labyrinths of power in or near the Capitol to win the governorship of Indiana. Braun is finishing a single term in the United States Senate. Pence spent 12 years in Congress before returning to Indianapolis to run for governor in 2012. Daniels served on U.S. Senator Richard Lugar’s staff, on the National Republican Senatorial Committee, as a political adviser to President Reagan, and as budget director for the White House during the presidency. George W. Bush when he decided to return in 2003 to end a 16-year Democratic dynasty.
This trend may not end with Braun. U.S. Rep. Jim Banks is the favorite to win Braun’s Senate seat in November. Had Braun not run for governor, Banks almost certainly would have and likely will be positioned for the 2032 race. When reporters asked Braun’s senior adviser, Joshua Kelley, earlier this week whether the senator would seek the re-election in 2028 if he wins in November, Kelley responded: “Absolutely.”
Last November, in an interview at Meyer Distributing’s Braun Jasper office, I noted that in Indiana’s history, from Gov. Oliver P. Morton to Evan Bayh, former governors have ended up in the U.S. Senate. “You’re trying to do the opposite.”
“You know why?” Braun responded. “Because they are from the agricultural system of politics. The people who stopped being governors were simply not done with politics. They wanted to continue. My blessing is that I first did something in the real world before I decided to get into politics at a level of significance.
“When I decided to run for governor, it was an either/or situation,” Braun continued. “If I hadn’t done it now, it would be another nine years. I vowed not to run for more than two terms in the Senate. I would never have reneged on that. This was basically a decision about what made the most sense.”
I asked Braun, do you feel like you’re more of a heart and soul executive?
“I feel like I’m good at both because legislatively I knew what to do as a legislator,” he said. “To me, if you’re an entrepreneur, you know how to get from here to there. I had to figure out almost everything in terms of how to take that struggling business and turn it into a successful one. I think the difference is basically whether you come from the typical political background from the agricultural system, earns a law degree, moves almost immediately into elected or appointed politics, and even practices his craft. But most people who end up wanting to become senators chose politics in elected or appointed office as their goal. race. I think it’s a big mistake.
“I don’t think you learn enough once you get there,” he said. “If you don’t have the real experience, you will be very dependent on your chief of staff.”
He cited Gov. Mitch Daniels, who combined his political resume working with Mayor and Senator Lugar with an executive position at Eli Lilly Company. “Mitch knew business and government,” Braun said. “That’s why he felt comfortable about what to do when he became chief executive of the state.”
Braun likes to tell the story of how he took on the rising costs of health insurance for his employees and switched to a self-insurance plan that turned them into “consumers” who have “skin in the game.” He saved his employees and his company hundreds of thousands of dollars. He believes he can do the same for Indiana’s 30,000 state government employees.
Braun is now beginning to put his stamp on the Indiana Republican Party. A unity event in Carmel on June 24 will include Braun’s main opponents, Suzanne Crouch, Brad Chambers and Eric Doden, along with much of the Republican establishment.
Republican Speaker Anne Hathaway has an open invitation from Braun to retain her current (and temporary) position… if she so chooses.
“I don’t want to speak for Anne,” Kelley said. “She’s probably working on a process about where she wants to go next. She can write her own ticket when she decides to move to the next step.”
And then there are Fridays in Jasper, when Braun invites Hoosiers to stop by and chat. Kelley told reporters that will continue, although there is now a long waiting list.
Brian Howey is a senior writer and columnist for Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs. Find Howey on Facebook and X @hwypol.
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