INDIANAPOLIS – Today, Indiana Republican primary voters selected Sen. Mike Braun to be the party’s nominee for the 2024 gubernatorial election against Democratic nominee Jennifer McCormick.
What was supposed to be the most competitive Indiana statewide primary in recent history turned into a coronation for Braun’s candidacy. Despite the tens of millions of dollars spent, fewer Hoosiers voted in the Republican primary than in 2020 or 2016.
The bottom line: Mike Braun is a MAGA acolyte who will criminalize women and doctors, won’t protect IVF, and will advocate for the most extreme policies coming out of the Statehouse, including book bans and healthcare bans.
“Tonight’s results show it’s clear that Hoosiers want a different, new direction for our state,” said Indiana Democratic Party Chair Mike Schmuhl. “Despite spending over $40 million dollars, the Republican candidates for governor saw historically low turnout in a presidential primary, lower than 2020 and just half the turnout of 2016.”
“Mike Braun’s campaign didn’t inspire Hoosiers and he hardly talked about what a governor actually does. He says he visited the border to do something, but he killed a bipartisan border security agreement in the U.S. Senate when he had a vote. He says he’ll stand up to China, but he and his company have been enriched due to its ties with the communist nation.
He’s been one of the Senate’s biggest MAGA cheerleaders while in Washington D.C. He celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the loss of reproductive freedom for millions of women across Indiana and the country. He even claimed that interracial marriage and similar issues should be left to the states and lose their federal protections. In a recent debate, he doubled down and said that IVF is not in danger, despite the fear the ban in Alabama has caused for thousands of Hoosier families. Braun is simply too extreme for Indiana.
“The results tonight couldn’t be more clear. Hoosiers are hungry to vote for someone to change our state for the better. Jennifer McCormick is focused on the issues that everyday Hoosiers face – not the daily D.C. controversy. Jennifer would work to restore reproductive healthcare for Hoosier women, invest in our local schools and communities, bring more high-paying jobs and union jobs to our state, and make sure that there’s more responsibility with the state’s tax dollars. As governor, she’ll make everyday Hoosiers the priority, and work to make life better in all of our 92 counties.
And to the majority of Republican primary voters who chose someone other than Braun to be their nominee, Jennifer will listen to you, hear your concerns, and will be a governor for all Hoosiers.”
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