By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
October 4, 2024
A little more than a month before the Nov. 5 general election, Indiana Democrats Jennifer McCormick, candidate for governor, and Destiny Wells, candidate for attorney general, tried to appeal to moderate Republicans during a virtual rally, saying they would reject the extreme positions and work to find common ground with lawmakers across the aisle.
The “ReCenter the Statehouse rally” was recently hosted by the political action committee of ReCenter Indiana Inc., a nonpartisan, pro-democracy organization that is seeking to return bipartisan balance to Hoosier government. Don Knebel, president of ReCenter Indiana, Inc., said the goal of the group is to end one-party rule in the state, which allows “the legislature to ignore the wishes of the majority of Hoosiers” and stifles innovation, leading to a “weaker economic future for everyone.”
McCormick is running against Republican Mike Braun and Wells is challenging Republican incumbent Attorney General Todd Rokita.
McCormick, who was elected Indiana superintendent of public instruction in 2016 as a Republican, is trying to become the first Democrat to win the Indiana governorship since Frank O’Bannon won a second term in 2000. She began her career in education in the classroom as a special education and language arts teacher and then became principal of Yorktown Elementary School, before serving as an assistant superintendent and, later, superintendent of Yorktown Community Schools.
Braun is currently serving in the U.S. Senate. He founded and was CEO of Meyer Distributing in Jasper, Indiana. After serving on his local school board for 10 years, he was elected to the Indiana House in 2014 and to the U.S. Senate in 2018. Currently, he is the ranking member on the Senate’s Special Committee on Aging.
Wells grew up on her family’s farm in Morgan County and joined the Army National Guard while she was a student at Indiana University. She worked as a deputy attorney general when Curtis Hill was the Indiana attorney general. Also, she ran in 2022 for Indiana secretary of state, capturing 40.2% of the vote in a loss to Republican Diego Morales.
Rokita has had a long career in politics. He served as Indiana secretary of state and five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. His tenure as the state’s top lawyer has been overshadowed by a public reprimand for misconduct and at least two more ongoing disciplinary investigations.
During the virtual rally, McCormick and Wells were given a few minutes to introduce themselves and outline their platforms before they answered a series of questions from Adrianne Slash, president of ReCenter Indiana PAC. The topics ranged from school vouchers, access to mental health services, immigration and fiscal responsibility.
Despite Indiana’s deep red hue, McCormick is optimistic about November.
Recalling her 2016 campaign for superintendent of public instruction, McCormick said there was a “lot of complacency” then, where now a sense of “urgency and energy” are coming together. She said her campaign is drawing support from moderate Republicans and even Trump Republicans, because “they are related to a teacher” or they are concerned about the impact of abortion bans on women. Also, a lot of independents, she said, are “trying to find a home this year” and Democrats are “clearly fired up.”
“We have had several town halls across the state of Indiana,” McCormick said. “What I love about our campaign is we are filling those rooms – standing room only – with Republicans and Democrats and independents and they’re ready to go.”
Both candidates noted restoring reproductive rights was a central plank in their respective campaigns. In the summer of 2022, the Indiana General Assembly passed a near-total abortion ban six weeks after a divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that women did not have a constitutional right to end their pregnancies.
“Most Hoosiers trust women and most Hoosiers trust their health-care providers,” McCormick said.
Polling supports McCormick’s assertion. The 2023 Hoosier Survey, released in January 2024 from the Bowen Center for Public Affairs at Ball State University, found 59.1% of Indiana residents said abortion should be legal in most or all cases, while 37.5% said abortion should be illegal in most or all cases.
A nationwide public opinion poll on abortion released in May 2024 by the Pew Research Center reported similar results. Among all Americans, 63% supported abortion being legal in most or all cases and 36% wanting abortion to be illegal in most or all cases.
The divide was most marked along party lines with 85% of Democrats saying abortion should be legally available while 57% of Republicans said abortion should be illegal or very restricted. However, the Pew poll showed divisions among the members of the GOP. A majority of conservative Republicans, 71%, said abortion should be illegal in most or all cases, but a nearly equal majority of moderate and liberal Republicans – 67% – favored abortion being legal in most or all cases.
Wells said Indiana’s ban was rippling beyond abortion care and making the recruitment and retention of physicians difficult. The state, which already has medical care deserts, is seeing an “exodus of providers,” she said.
“I served in Afghanistan,” Wells said, pointing to her service in the Army National Guard. “What it taught me was that women’s rights are really a barometer of a healthy democracy. When you chip away at women’s rights, so goes the democracy.”
Even if the Democrats are able to win enough seats to break the GOP’s supermajority in the Indiana legislature, Republicans will likely still dominate both chambers. McCormick was asked how she would work with the lawmakers on the right, especially on such a divisive issue as reproductive rights.
She replied that as governor, she would look at every means available to “push that needle a little further.” In particular, she noted, she would have the ability to make appointments to boards, commissions and state agencies.
Moreover, McCormick highlighted her running mate, former state Rep. Terry Goodin, who will be on the November ballot as the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor. Ironically, when Goodin was tapped for the No. 2 slot, he was criticized for his conservative voting record, including supporting restrictions on abortion.
Still, McCormick said Goodin would be an asset in fighting for reproductive rights because he has worked with Republicans in the past on legislation and has a good relationship with many of the GOP members in the General Assembly.
“So, utilizing that and making sure that we’re being smart about reaching across the aisle,” McCormick said, “I know we can find some common ground and we’re really going to work hard to do that.”
On their campaign websites, Braun and Rokita identify as anti-abortion.
Braun does not specifically mention abortion under the “pro-life is pro-family” tab on the issues page of his campaign’s website, but he does assert, “State lawmakers must work to ensure the gains we have made to protect life are secured and strengthened.” Also, he calls for helping mothers and their infants “receive the care and social support they deserve,” but he did not offer any specifics.
Most recently, Braun voted in the Senate against a bill to protect and expand access to fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization, according to Vote Smart.
Rokita’s website says he has worked consistently to uphold Indiana’s “strong Pro-Life law” passed by the legislature. In addition, he claims he won the court battle over Indiana’s law prohibiting second trimester abortions. The Southern Indiana District Court had issued a preliminary injunction, blocking the law from taking effect in 2019, finding that it posed an undue burden on women. However, when Dobbs overturned precedent set in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, the district court had to vacate the injunction.
Another question highlighted that within Indiana, gun violence kills more children and teenagers than any other cause of death, including traffic accidents. Both McCormick and Wells were asked what they would do, if elected, to curb gun violence.
Wells said as attorney general, she would support the decades-old lawsuit the city of Gary filed against gun manufacturers. That case, filed in August 1999, is the lone survivor among numerous legal actions taken by municipalities and state legislatures in the late 1990s to hold the firearms industry accountable for illegal gun sales linked to crimes and violence.
In 2024, the Indiana General Assembly passed House Enrolled Act 1235, which gave the Indiana attorney general sole authority to bring or maintain a lawsuit against a firearm or ammunition manufacturer, seller, dealer or trade association. A provision made the law retroactive to three days before the Gary lawsuit was filed, which immediately spurred a motion to dismiss the case, but the Northern Indiana District Court denied the motion, ruling that applying the law retroactively would “violate years of vested rights and constitutional guarantees.”
Wells said she has been in conversation with attorneys representing Gary and other people who want to see the case continue to be litigated.
“That is where Indiana can do some really great things, where we can finally start to hold gun manufacturers accountable for these illegal sales,” Wells said.
McCormick said Hoosiers that she has spoken with are supportive of “common sense gun-violence-prevention measures,” such as strengthening the state’s red flag law and reversing permitless carry. The governor’s office, she said, can work through agency heads and use the bully pulpit to address gun crimes. Also, the governor can reach out and work with the General Assembly, she said.
“If we’ve learned anything in the last few (legislative) sessions, it is there is a willingness there” to find common ground, McCormick said. “It gets stopped by a small group of people, but they have got a lot of power and that goes back to that one-party rule.”
Braun and Rokita say they will defend the Second Amendment and both have been endorsed in their November races by the National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund.
Dwight Adams, a freelance editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He is a former content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and worked as a planner for other newspapers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.
The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org.
