Jennifer McCormick, the Democratic candidate for governor, addresses a small crowd at a Carmel fundraiser on Sept. 26. (Whitney Downard/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Jennifer McCormick, the woman who defeated the last statewide elected Democrat as a Republican, wants to reverse course after switching parties and become the first Democrat elected statewide since 2012.
If she wins, the 54-year-old would also be the first Democrat to hold the state’s highest elected office in 20 years.
“The choice is clear: we can either get people into office that are going to lead us by fear and chaos … or we are going to say, ‘No, we deserve better,’” McCormick said before a small crowd at a September fundraiser in Carmel.
“I firmly believe this is on us. Are we going to lead with fear and chaos and frustration? No, we’re better than that. No Hoosier wants that,” McCormick continued. “We want optimism and opportunity. We want hope.”
A former educator and the last elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, McCormick has leaned into her deep New Castle roots to appeal to voters on both the debate stage and in person. Top priorities for the campaign, as detailed in Carmel, are the restoration of abortion rights in Indiana, education and good-paying jobs.
McCormick faces steep odds to succeed Gov. Eric Holcomb, but winds may be shifting slightly in her favor. Two national analysts have moved the race from a safe Republican status to leaning Republican, and Democratic-sponsored polls have put her within “striking distance” of her Republican opponent, especially as a Libertarian candidate erodes away at traditional party support.
U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, the Republican, has an additional hurdle with his running mate: pastor and self-described Christian nationalist Micah Beckwith. Most recently, Beckwith said that the Democratic ticket — which includes McCormick and attorney general candidate Destiny Wells — invoked a “Jezebel spirit,” a biblical phrase about wicked women.
Indiana has never elected a woman to the governor’s seat. Taking a note from national campaigns embracing divisive labels, the campaign now sells a “Team Jezebel” shirt. On the debate stage, Braun declined to apologize for the comment nor did he apologize for a digitally manipulated attack ad that falsely claimed McCormick wanted to ban gas stoves.
But in Carmel, before either attack, McCormick rallied the 50-plus attendees with a simple call-and-response chant:
“When we vote?”
“We win!”
Issues that resonate for voters
In contrast to Braun, who has a powerful fundraising apparatus and national dollars flowing his way, McCormick’s campaign hasn’t attracted the same number of high-dollar donations. Last week, following an interview with McCormick, the Democratic Governors Association opted to give McCormick $600,000.
“I know Indiana is a hard sell because we haven’t won in 20 years,” McCormick said. “… it’s easy to write off red states … (as) a lost cause. I think you’re starting to see a shift in that the more we message that we believe Hoosiers deserve better.”
Older polling has put Braun 11 points ahead of McCormick. But, perhaps concerned about narrowing race margins, the Republican Governors Association gave Braun $250,000 last week and two other GOP groups added another $200,000.
This year’s race differs from McCormick’s 2016 run, when she was part of a statewide Republican ticket that included Gov. Eric Holcomb and Sen. Todd Young. GOP candidates won up and down the ballots. But those votes came from a place of “complacency,” McCormick said — something she didn’t feel would be enough in 2024.
“I think (it’s) a totally different dynamic,” McCormick said. “I’m glad I had that first go around so I knew what a statewide race looked like and felt like … but this is very different.”
When asked about whether she worried traditional Democratic voters would be turned away by her Republican background, McCormick said she felt it gave her strength.
“It’s been very helpful for me, because it helps me with the moderate Republicans; it helps me with the independents,” McCormick said. “I’m so glad I had that experience and I am proud of the voters I got the first go-around. I was a big vote getter and I plan to do it again.
“… but I think it really helps the voter understand more who I am.”
This “relatability” seemed to ring true for two of the fundraiser attendees, Jackie Votapek and Wendy Mayes, both social workers in Hamilton County.
“I think she can relate to more people,” opined Mayes, who said she likes McCormick’s fresh ideas and welfare policies to support impoverished Hoosiers.
Votapek likewise was attracted to McCormick because of her “humanistic approach” to reproductive rights and social justice issues.
“I admire someone who is able to recognize that their knowledge and values have changed. Someone who is able to learn and evolve,” Votapek said. “I think it’s really easy for people to talk about poverty or health care in a narrow way that doesn’t reflect reality … The Republican party has become so narrow in its focus. It doesn’t recognize the complexity of some of these problems.”
But not all voters were on board yet. Three college students and a recent graduate, all currently or formerly affiliated with a Muslim student association on campus in Indianapolis, came to listen and learn more.
“We don’t know much; politics is not made easy for young people,” said Kunafa Mohammed, before sharing concerns about corruption and false promises from politicians.
“Sometimes, the student voice isn’t heard,” added Maya El-Chal, the current president of the association.
For the quartet, they wanted to hear from more politicians who listened to their concerns about hatred and discrimination on campus and off, which has spiked following the Hamas attack one year ago and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Palestine. Tens of thousands of people — nearly all of them Palestinian — have died in the conflict, which has now spread to include Lebanon, and many more are displaced.
More attention to issues impacting the Muslim Hoosier community is what the group hoped to hear from McCormick before Election Day, though each said they had a plan in place to cast their ballots in the coming weeks.
Campaign platform
Over the weeks, the McCormick campaign has released back-to-back plans tackling education, marijuana, government ethics, property taxes and more — roughly half a dozen proposals over as many weeks.
McCormick said many of those plans originated from discussion prior to her candidacy announcement in May, when she had an advisory committee. Other ideas were inspired by her town hall tours around the state.
“I’m doing this to help Hoosiers; because we deserve better,” McCormick said. “Obviously, I’m passionate about education. But the ethics side of it … we have got to get a handle on this because so many people were like, ‘We don’t trust the government; we don’t like the lack of transparency.’
“So the ethics plan kind of grew from just listening.”
Portions of McCormick’s plans even come from across the aisle. Republicans will likely maintain control of the General Assembly in November, meaning that McCormick will have to work with another party to pass her agenda, if elected.
“We are signaling, ‘Look, we can find some common ground and make — even if they’re smaller steps — we’re making steps toward improvement,” McCormick said. “And I really believe a (Republican) supermajority is also ready for a balance. I think they’re ready to get some things done.”
With that in mind, McCormick made a conscious decision to nominate former Rep. Terry Goodin as her running mate, someone with extensive lawmaker experience and connections with legislative leadership.
McCormick didn’t rule out the use of executive action to advance her goals, but said she wanted to “make sure we’re serving Hoosiers in a responsible way, that we’re being transparent (and) we’re being held accountable.”
“There are a lot of different avenues to get things done. And we certainly will look at every avenue,” McCormick said. “Look at what Michigan did when (Gov.) Gretchen Whitmer got elected, and the difference it made in the entire state. She had to be very thoughtful too about how she went about getting things done.”
Whitmer’s first win came on the heels of eight years of total Republican control. For her first term, Republicans controlled both the House and Senate, only flipping to Democrat when she won her reelection bid in 2022.
McCormick argued that much of her platform — expanding child care access and universal pre-K, investing in public education and property tax relief — aren’t radical or extreme, a label she’d use for her opponent.
“For years, I taught kids that their character matters. As a mom, I taught my son … and I meant it. So for me, it’s about empowering others and making sure that we’re doing everything we can to uplift Hoosiers, versus tear(ing) them down,” McCormick said. “We have the opportunity and optimism to do that … people are tired of the divisiveness; they’re over it.”
Today is the last day to register to vote before the Nov. 5 election. Visit indianavoters.in.gov to learn more. Early voting opens this week.
By Whitney Downard — The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, not-for-profit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
