Braun: Election results a ‘wake-up call’ for GOP

Gov. Mike Braun hinted Republicans should pick statewide candidates through public primaries, backed off mid-decade redistricting and dismissed concerns about his administration’s performance in wide-ranging comments Thursday about this week’s midterm election results.

The governor described Democrats’ sweeping gains Tuesday as a “wake-up call” and an “opportunity” for Republicans to refocus their agenda on issues of affordability, speaking of his desire to reach across the aisle to Democrats on issues like healthcare, education and childcare.

But Braun, who is expected to announce his re-election campaign Nov. 16, repeatedly blamed the GOP’s losses on national issues rather than a referendum on his administration, saying voters were preoccupied with inflation.

“They were cranky, irritable and we did not read that well,” Braun said.

Indiana Democrats broke the GOP supermajority by flipping 16 seats in the House, ousted House Speaker Todd Huston and picked up seats in the state Senate. The party also claimed two statewide offices and picked up a congressional seat.

Indiana House Republicans pick new leader after big election losses

Braun suggested Republicans suffered fewer losses in Indiana than in states like Texas because his administration paid more attention to inflation, touting his gas tax suspension and firings at the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission as examples.

“That is a question I anticipated, and I think that is where you’re completely wrong, because here, what they say out of the gate, it was nationalized, and my administration has done nothing other than emphasizing the big issue out there,” he said.

Still, Braun conceded Republicans lost support in places like Hamilton County because “we weren’t listening enough there.”

He seemingly retreated from his support of mid-decade redistricting — months after backing President Donald Trump’s retribution campaign to oust Republican state senators who opposed the effort last year.

“I think that was probably clearly litigated by the results of the election Tuesday,” he said.

Braun also suggested support for selecting future statewide GOP candidates through public primaries following the election of Secretary of State-elect Beau Bayh and Comptroller-elect Jessica Bailey — the first Democrats elected to statewide office since 2012.

Currently, state convention delegates choose the GOP’s nominees for secretary of state, attorney general, comptroller, treasurer and lieutenant governor. But the top post of governor goes through an open primary.

“When it comes to our system, which uses a convention, that’s a few people. We’ve done it traditionally. I had to run in a primary. To me, the more you open anything up to the people, you’re probably going to get a better result,” Braun said. “That’s going to be a big discussion for our party, because we still, at this point in time, have all those levers to play with. And again, the more you democratize how you pick people, I’m going to be for it rather than doing it behind closed doors, or where fewer people can weigh into it.”

Some Republicans believe convention delegates — the hard core party faithful – are choosing nominees that aren’t best suited to win in a General Election environment.