Republicans at the federal level lost focus on affordability issues, and it cost them an election. That’s one election takeaway from Indiana’s Gov. Mike Braun, who told reporters Thursday his office never lost sight of what mattered.
Democrats saw major gains across the state on election night, upsetting the balance of power at the Indiana Statehouse and claiming two statewide offices.
Gov. Braun said he believes state Republicans are paying for failures at the national level. He said voters were angry about inflation and the economy.
“They were cranky, irritable, and we did not read that well,” Braun said.
But Indiana Democrats have repeatedly noted that frustrations with things like rising gas prices are due to policy decisions from the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump’s costly war with Iran is one of the initial reasons Braun instituted his gas tax holiday to keep the state’s gas prices down.
While Braun and other Republicans, including House Speaker-elect Rep. Ben Smaltz (R-Auburn), have nodded towards national headwinds, others have underscored that state Republicans opened the door to President Trump’s national influence.
That was especially true in efforts to redistrict at Trump’s behest, a fight that many Senate Republicans resisted before losing their seats in the primaries.
Sen. Spencer Deery (R-West Lafayette) said Tuesday night that he felt Republican losses were self-made.
“There are a lot of people who lost and are in a lot closer races than they needed to be,” he said. “By not keeping the commitments they made to voters or to prioritize voters or the Constitution or really the Hoosier way of doing things.”
Deery is one of the senators who opposed redistricting and one of only two to retain their seat, following an extremely close vote and a recount battle.
“Sure there were national forces at play, but we allowed those national forces to come into Indiana,” he said. “Those that stood up to that, that were able to get through the out-of-state spending in the primary, did quite well.”
That framing was something Rep. Smaltz resisted Wednesday, after being nominated by House Republicans to the speakership. Smaltz was one of redistricting’s chief architects in Indiana.
“Local officials didn't have anything to do with redistricting, but yet they still lost in many places,” Smaltz said. “I'm not really sure I see the connection.”
And Gov. Braun said his own focus on affordability helped protect his party from worse “carnage” that ensued nationally Tuesday for Republicans.
“Look at Texas. Look at Florida. Look at Kansas. Those places have been hit extremely hard. Here, we lost on the national scene a seat that we were probably going to lose soon anyway because of demographics changing,” he said.
Braun acknowledged that Republicans “weren’t listening enough.” He told reporters that the state’s Republican supermajority may ultimately have hurt the party.
“Whenever you have such large majorities, I do think you get a little off focus on what the issues are,” he said. “I've never been off focus on the issues.”
Braun believes affordability is an issue Democrats will work with his administration on.
“I view everything that happened on Tuesday as a golden opportunity and a wake-up call,” he said.
Beyond affordability issues, Braun said he is supportive of newly elected Democrat Beau Bayh’s effort to audit the office of the Secretary of State under Diego Morales.
"Whenever it comes to audits and transparency, I'm going to be for them," he said.
Priorities for Indiana’s next legislative session have not yet been released.
Contact Government Reporter Benjamin Thorp at bthorp@wfyi.org
