Despite entering his final year in office, Gov. Eric Holcomb does not plan to downshift, saying “I was hired ultimately for eight years.” (Photo/Kyra Howard, The StatehouseFile.com)
By Sydney Byerly
The StatehouseFile.com
December 20, 2023
As Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb winds down his final term as head of the Hoosier State, he reflected on his goals for the next year and his time after the Statehouse in a one-on-one interview with TheStatehouseFile.com.
He said he’s not just a lame duck biding his time—he has plans.
“I don’t see myself as a lame duck—I don’t think that’s delusional. I think that’s just my posture or my approach in life …” Holcomb said. “I was hired for ultimately eight years. I’m going to do all the years, and I’m not going to downshift in a time when you need to do the opposite.”
Holcomb said though he’s technically what some would call a lame duck—a politician who is winding down their time in office and consequently seeing a decline in their power—there’s an upside to the title.
“I’m not seeking another office, which is also very liberating. No one is, like, talking to me in a transactional way,” he said. Aside from that, he’s still paddling away.
“My to-do list is so—I always say, it’s multiple pages and small font,” he said. “My mother has teased me about being the kid that always had a checklist.”
He continued: “The world doesn’t take a break because I’m in my eighth year. The competition is fiercer today than last year, so you must come to work every day early and stay late.”
Holcomb said he’s excited about announcements he plans on making closer to the State of the State address—things “that just haven’t ever been done before in our state’s history”—but which he did not specify.
Holcomb said over the next 12 months, his administration will focus on economic, workforce and community development. He hopes to improve the state’s overall health and wellness status—including improving access to and awareness of programs tackling Indiana’s infant and maternal mortality rates—as well as maintain the historically low unemployment rate of 3.1%.
“What I’ve learned here is no matter how hard the situation is, the sooner you take your medicine—it may taste bad going down, but the sooner you do it, the better you are, and the faster you get better. But it’s hard, and it takes some courage from others. It takes, certainly, intellect. It takes a lot of sacrifice.”
Holcomb said he wished other government officials would learn this lesson too.
“This is one of my biggest disappointments with our collective federal government—not to be all negative here, but it seems it’s just a political game show, and we’re not solving problems, and somebody’s gonna pay the bill.”
People are already asking him what he’ll do when he leaves his Statehouse office and transitions back to “normalcy.” For one, he will enjoy being a regular citizen again.
“You kind of lose your anonymity in this job, which is good if you like people, I would say, and you’re comfortable in your own skin,” Holcomb said. “So when I go to a buffet, and I do a lot, it’s not unusual for the owner of the place to say, ‘Could you take your tray and step aside for a second?’ because people will come up and [ask me questions].”
Holcomb joked that he’s also had to learn to be mindful in restaurants of keeping his elbows off the table and chewing with his mouth closed, in fear that someone might sneak a photo.
“There’s no going to CVS and buying Q-tips and not having a conversation, and somebody else, like five or six people going, ‘He’s buying Q-tips,’” he said. “And that will be all kind of welcomed back—people not caring so much.”
Leaving other parts of the job will be bittersweet, he said, but he’s looking forward to continuing to serve in whatever way he can.
“A lot of people, when they pose that question, it’s almost like it’s the Last Supper, like it’s the end—it’s not,” he said. “This is a chapter in life, and to me, it’s all about public service.”
He said while the job has come with its challenges, when he thinks of leaving behind his time as the 51st governor of the Hoosier State, it’s the people he’ll miss the most.
“I used to be in the Navy, and I miss that camaraderie to this day—the friends that you’ve made, that you count on, that you’ve spent every day with and know everything about them, and they know everything about you,” Holcomb said.
“Eight years here, and we’ve all grown up together, and some in different stages of their career. But everybody has grown.”
Sydney Byerly is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
